Hank Nuwer, Author; Hazing Deaths Database 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
Here is the link to the Orlando Sentinel story.
Excerpt:
A UCF fraternity pledge said he was forced to do exercises while his brothers pulled out a blindfold for him, screamed at him and threw a ball at him, according to an investigative report released by the university.
Sigma Chi, a fraternity at the University of Central Florida since 1974 and has 51 active members, is now under investigation.
Police in Gwinnett County decide not to prosecute Parkview High baseball players. The incident happened out of state. Here is the excerpt from WSBTV:
“He just said, ‘We’re not going to prosecute,’” attorney Kurt Hilbert, who represents one of the freshman players, told Channel 2’s Aaron Diamant. “What was going through my mind was, ‘I don’t understand.’ It’s the duty of the police to serve and protect. Clearly, my client is not being protected.”
Hilbert’s 14-year-old client and two other incoming freshmen say they were victims of inappropriate sexual contact by upperclassmen in a North Charleston hotel during a June tournament.
….So far, Hilbert’s client is the only one of the alleged victims to push for criminal charges. But despite the teen’s statement to North Charleston police about his ordeal, police decided not to move forward.
“The detective said that at most this would be assault and battery in the third degree, and therefore, it was such a low level crime that they were not willing to extradite and prosecute,” Hilbert said. “He didn’t give a reason. He just simply said we’re not going to drag a 15-year-old kid across state lines to prosecute for this type of a low level crime.”
Three players and a volunteer coach were suspended in a hazing incident as a football sports camp. Some parents complain that the actions of a few players have caused the school to cancel the next football game.
Here is the link to the editorial. It was prompted by a lawsuit filed by a swim team member.
Excerpt:
….The former student, Anthony Marcantonio, alleges he and other first-year swimmers were subjected to numerous forms of hazing, including being forced to drink beer, liquor, milk and prune juice and suffering verbal abuse and forced sexual contact. Marcantonio’s allegations serve as a necessary reminder of the pervasive nature of hazing — that it is not just confined to Greek life.
The tendency to link hazing and Greek life does not exist without reason. But sometimes this association can make us forget about the prevalence of hazing in any hierarchically or competitively organized student group, including those at our University. Contractually independent organizations face similar risks to fraternities and sororities; hushed anecdotes of what club sports teams, a capella groups and even debating societies make their new members do could certainly qualify as hazing….
Moderator: This article tries to make some sense out of the polarities and divisions ripping apart Florida A & M some years after the death of Robert Champion. There are no winners and losers here, but there is a divided community that I did not see or observe when A & M invited me here as part of a panel. I hope this conflict can be worked out.