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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
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Chico editorial
Editorial: Mother’s story should be heard
Chico Enterprise-Record
Posted: 02/04/2009 12:00:00 AM PST
Our view: Only when adults like Debbie Smith speak out will college students know the dangers of hazing.
Matthew Carrington’s legacy can’t be measured by the number of people who show up to a candlelight vigil.
Carrington’s mother, Debbie Smith, seemed disappointed that only about a dozen friends and family members — and nobody from the university or community — attended the remembrance. It came on the fourth anniversary of his death.
There were two big reasons for the sparse turnout. First, it was at 10:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. Second, the vigil was barely publicized.
“If they forget about him, they’ll forget what happened to him and it will happen again,” she said. “I don’t want someone else to get that phone call.”
While we certainly understand a parent’s grief, Smith needs to realize that her actions alone have helped spread a powerful message. She pushed for prosecution of the fraternity members who presided over the hazing ceremony that killed Carrington. Her son died not from drinking alcohol, but from drinking too much water. She later encouraged the state Legislature to pass a law — “Matt’s Law” — that bans hazing, which strangely enough was not in the criminal code.
All the laws and candlelight vigils in the world won’t stop college students from irresponsible behavior, however. Drunk students were rioting in the streets just a few blocks away, three days before the anniversary. An 18-year-old college student died in an
alleged hazing incident just two months ago in San Luis Obispo. Two years after Carrington’s death, Chico State University stripped a fraternity of recognition after a hazing incident. It happens.
But it happens much less because of people like Debbie Smith speaking out and a university adopting a zero-tolerance policy toward hazing.
There’s no room for hazing at a university. Most college students understand that — and every parent does. We want Smith to know her efforts are not in vain.
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Kappa Alpha Psi suit in Kentucky
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Matt Carrington Remembered
FSU officials investigate allegations of hazing
By Corey G. Johnson
Staff writer
Fayetteville State University officials are investigating allegations that a campus fraternity has been physically beating students who are trying to join the organization.
FSU’s Student Affairs Office and campus police have received e-mails and calls this week from concerned parents about possible hazing being done at the undergraduate chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
According to sources familiar with the complaints, fraternity leaders have allegedly used a wooden paddle to repeatedly beat a group of male FSU students. The students are blindfolded and taken off-campus when this occurs, the sources said.
Landon Hadley, the university’s dean of students, met with several student fraternity members Tuesday afternoon to learn more about the allegations.
Janice Haynie, FSU’s vice chancellor for student affairs, said her office and the campus police are pursuing the matter.
“At this point, all we have are allegations,†said Haynie. “But we certainly don’t condone hazing.â€
Jeff Womble, who serves as an adviser to Alpha Phi Alpha’s local chapter and FSU’s director of public relations, declined to comment on the allegations, citing a desire not to compromise the school’s inquiry.
“There is an investigation going on, and it would be too premature to comment at this point,†he said.
The history of Alpha Phi Alpha is rich within the black community. Founded in 1906 at Cornell University, Alpha Phi Alpha is one of the oldest black fraternal organizations still in existence. Prominent members include civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Olympian Jesse Owens and former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
State law, FSU policy and Alpha Phi Alpha rules all forbid hazing. Students interested in joining fraternities and sororities sign agreements at FSU promising not to engage in the practice.
Staff writer Corey G. Johnson can be reached at johnsonc@fayobserver.com or 323-4848, ext. 487.