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
Excerpt: Attorney Douglas Fierberg told the jury that what members of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity were doing to Brett Griffin and other pledges was terrible and wrong and was a clear violation of Delaware’s law on hazing.
“Is it moral? Is it right what was done to Brett and the rest of the pledges?” he asked, recalling such rituals as “onion night” where pledges were forced to eat a raw onion covered in hot sauce, causing some to vomit.
He said that the testimony at trial showed defendants Jason Aaron, the former chapter president, and Matthew Siracusa, the former pledge master, were deeply involved in planning and carrying out the hazing of the pledges, which he said conditioned Griffin and the other pledges to drink to excess on Nov. 7, 2008, “Big Brother” night.
Griffin, 18, of Kendall Park, N.J. died early on Nov. 8, 2008 of alcohol poisoning and a medical expert testified he had the equivalent of a full bottle of Southern Comfort in his system when he died.
He also noted that it took 9 minutes after a fraternity brother noticed that a passed-out Griffin had started to foam at the mouth – according to the timestamp on a text he sent – before anyone called 911 for help. “Nobody gave a damn at all,” Fierberg said, suggesting the brothers used that time to hide the beer and liquor before authorities arrived.
Moderator: Two defendants accepted plea bargaining rather than go to trial and take the full consequences of a possible manslaughter and Chad Meredith (Florida) Law hazing conviction with 20+ years possible for both. If anyone continues to even think about beating a pledge or band member in the future, thinking about nine years in prison ought to give real pause. Hank Nuwer
Band member Harold Finley gets off relatively easy with one year of house arrest.
The prosecutor’s fingers point to Jesse Baskins as perhaps the key beater in the Robert Champion death. Sentencing for him comes later. –Hank Nuwer