Author: Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024 and April 2025 , the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com

Categories
Hazing News

37 fraternity males implicated in death of a Baruch pledge in Poconos

Here is the link

 

And excerpt:

More than 30 people were charged — including some with criminal homicide — in connection with the death of Chun “Michael” Deng, 19, a Baruch College student who died after a hazing incident in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.

Five people and Pi Delta Psi Fraternity Inc. were charged with criminal homicide, involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, hindering apprehension, hazing and criminal conspiracy, the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department said today.

Twenty-seven people were charged with hindering apprehension, hazing and criminal conspiracy, police said.

Three people were charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, hindering apprehension, hazing and criminal conspiracy, and two people were charged with simple assault, hindering apprehension, hazing and criminal conspiracy, police said.

Categories
Hazing News

Humboldt State removes Chi Phi after video surfaces

Here is the story link

abstract from the article

Humboldt State University has suspended the Chi Phi fraternity as it investigates possible violations of the student code of conduct. During the suspension, the fraternity will not be allowed to recruit new members or to use campus services that are available for recognized student organizations.

The suspension follows discovery of a video that was allegedly shown to potential new members during a Greek recruitment event. The video shows what appears to be alcohol use during fraternity events as well as actions that could be construed as hazing. These activities are strictly prohibited by University policy and potentially violate state law.

Categories
Hazing News

Public documents released in Chelmsford , NH football hazing

Here is the link.

Abstract: The events at the camp remained a mystery for two years, until Aug. 7 when Lowell attorney Brian Leahey filed a notice of intent to sue the town on behalf of the alleged victim’s family. The Sun has received two copies of the 41-page document — one from the town that was heavily redacted by its legal counsel, Kopelman & Paige, and another unredacted document from an anonymous source.

Leahey’s document, known in legal terms as a presentment letter, describes in graphic detail the alleged hazing incident at the camp in August 2013. It allegedly involved a group of players who carried out a series of harassment and assaults, some sexual in nature, against another player — his client. The players, while not named, are identified by first- and last-name initials.

Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_28805357/hazing-allegations-surface-from-13-chelmsford-high-football#ixzz3ljLX663N

Categories
Hazing News

Miami of Ohio suspends 3 fraternities, including Sigma Nu

Here is the link: 

Abstract:

In April, the university obtained photos sent through SnapChat and text messages that noted Sigma Nu’s newest members were told to drink 100 beers and banned from showering or shaving. The photos show pledges with tallies on their chest, according to records.

In disciplinary hearings, the fraternity denied those allegations. Representatives with Sigma Nu, however, did admit to hosting alcohol-fueled parties, which was prohibited at the time since the fraternity was on probation.

The fraternity was suspended until May 2018 and while an appeal of the decision was denied in June, the chapter can submit a proposal to reopen as early as next year.

Sophomore student Austin Worrell, who was a freshmen pledging to join Sigma Nu last spring, said he was never hazed during his time with the fraternity.

“I definitely was showering and shaving that week,” Worrell said in an interview with the Journal-News.

Worrell had planned to live in the Sigma Nu fraternity house this year. Instead, he had to scramble to find a dorm room on campus.

“I thought it was a great injustice,” Worrell said. “During our candidate process we weren’t just sitting there beating each other up. We were building up a brotherhood.”

Although he didn’t see all of the evidence the college collected to suspend the fraternity, he believes Sigma Nu was unfairly punished and suspects the university’s evidence was mostly fueled by rumors and social media posts.

That’s unlikely according to Glenn Muschert, a sociology professor at Miami who wouldn’t comment on specific causes but said the university compiles a lot of evidence — from interviews to photos — to discipline students or organizations.

Muschert sits on the college’s disciplinary board and said those accused of violating the university’s code of conduct are allowed to bring in lawyers and their own evidence to defend themselves.

Organizations that are already on probation, like Sigma Nu, are often doled out tougher punishments, Muschert said.

Categories
Hazing News

Sheriff accused of falsely covering up a hazing death in 2013

Sheriff Accused of Covering Up Hazing Death
By COURTNEY WALTERS

     ATLANTA (CN) – The Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office deliberately covered up the death by hazing of a 29-year-old recruit to avoid culpability, the dead man’s family claims.

     George Ward died on May 22, 2013, after being rushed to a local hospital’s trauma unit from a physical assessment test administered by the sheriff’s office.
In a complaint filed September 2, Ward’s family says former Sheriff Thomas Brown refused to allow his mother, plaintiff Lorraine Fredericks, to see her son’s body in the hospital, and gave the, very few details about his death.
“This is the first time that such an incident has occurred during my 12 years as a sheriff,” Brown told the local CBS affiliate shortly afterwards.
However, the training video released to the public by WSB-TV nearly seventeen months later challenged Brown’s vague assertions about the incident, the family says.
The complaint alleges Brown actively took steps to cover up the hazing that caused Ward’s ultimately fatal injuries, as well as the initial lack of medical attention provided the recruit after his extreme physical distress became obvious.
“At one point … George laid down on the ground in agonizing pain due to his physical inability to stand. Other recruits were instructed to place flowers around his body and simulate a mock funeral,” the complaint says.
Ward’s family also claims that officers forced their loved one to wear pink clothes while taunting him with insults and nicknames like Pinky.
The complaint says the video release prompted the DeKalb Medical Examiner to alter Ward’s cause of death from “natural causes” to “undetermined” in November 2014.
Autopsy reports do not include record of the pink clothes worn by Ward in the video just moments before he became unresponsive.
According to the complaint, Brown ordered the Office of Professional Standards not to investigate the death and to “just let George Ward’s death go.”
Brown also allegedly conspired with other agents and officers to conceal details surrounding the incident, encouraging a “really simple and almost vague” report be compiled investigators.
WSB-TV reported that the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council met in late March 2015 and suspended the DeKalb County sheriff’s authority to train recruits.
POST Director Ken Vance saw the GBI report and told WSB-TV, “There is a lot about this case that borders on hazing. There is no way to spin this that makes it look right and appropriate.”
According to the Virgin Islands Free Press, Ward was a corrections officer in the Virgin Islands for several years before moving to Atlanta. At the time of his death, he was living with a cousin while preparing to move his children and fiancé to Georgia.
Ward’s family is seeking $20 million in damages on claims of civil rights violations, fraud, and conspiracy.
It is represented by Harry Daniels of Daniels & Cauble in Newnan, Ga.