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 and Best Humorist, second place.

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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Hazing News

Editorial: Injustice in Pennsylvania: We condemn the decision of Judge Pamela Ruest

Moderator: My editorial stance is this. Judge Pamela Ruest is wrong in ignoring the serious verdicts in the Baruch College fraternity sentencing of four senior members last week as she makes this catastrophic poor judgment call. Not only is it a travesty that thanks to Ms. Ruest this Magistrate Allen Sinclair is in position to duplicate his previous flawed decision to toss the most serious charges, but she has probably eliminated any possibility this case can be tried before a jury. I editorially condemn the poor legal decisions of both Magistrate Sinclair and Judge Ruest. Injustice in Pennsylvania this time has been served. At the very least a trained attorney–something Sinclair is not–needs to assess the charges put forth by the prosecution.

From WJAC 6

BELLEFONTE, PA – A Centre County judge has denied an attempt to remove the presiding magisterial judge from the Penn State Beta Theta Pi hazing case.

After a preliminary hearing in September, Judge Allen Sinclair dismissed the felony charges filed against the fraternity members charged in the death of a pledge, Timothy Piazza.

The prosecutor, former Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller, claimed Sinclair had made a mistake, and not only refiled the felony counts, but also asked for another presiding judge to be assigned to the case.

This week, Centre County Judge Pamela Ruest ruled against that request, saying there wasn’t sufficient evidence presented that Sinclair had made a legal mistake.

That means Sinclair remains in the position and he may again decide on whether to dismiss the refiled felony counts from the first set ofof criminal charges.

A second set of charges were later filed.

The state Attorney General’s officeOffice recently took over the prosecution of the Beta Theta Pi case and said they’ll first do an independent review-before before deciding how to proceed.

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Hazing News

Update on the Florida State Greek ban

Here is the link

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Hazing News

Fox analysis of Baruch convictions for Kenny Kwan, Raymond Lam, Charles Lai and Sheldon Wong

Fox on hazing convictions http://fox43.com/2018/01/09/fraternity-banned-from-pennsylvania-for-pledges-hazing-death/

 

Excerpt

Kenny Kwan, Raymond Lam, Charles Lai and Sheldon Wong were also sentenced Monday for their involvement. Kwan was sentenced to 12 to 24 months in prison, Lam and Wong received 10 to 24 months, and Lai received 342 days to 24 months.

WNEP reported Lai received time served for his sentence. Each defendant will have seven years probation following their time in prison.

In a victim impact statement, Deng’s mother said her son’s death feels “like there’s a cat clawing and scratching at my heart.”

“Since he left,” Mary Liu Deng wrote, “the lines between real life and a dream are blurred.” She described her son as a “kind, generous, loving person,” even when he was a child.

“Now Michael is gone and I cannot understand why,” she wrote. “Why would other young men like Michael not value his life like he did theirs? Why would they tackle him and not take care of him? Why did they do this to him?”

“Based on the verdict, I think it’s an appropriate sentence,” Wes Niemoczysnki, an attorney for Pi Delta Psi, told WNEP, adding that the fraternity will appeal the verdict.

“There can be no question that the death of Michael Deng was tragic,” said Todd Greenberg, an attorney for Lam, on Sunday.

“To a lesser extent it’s also a tragedy for Mr. Lam and the other young men. They never intended for this to happen,” he said, adding Lam had been “guilt ridden for his conduct since the day it happened.”

An attorney for Wong told CNN on Sunday, “Sheldon remains, and will always be, deeply saddened and devastated by Michael Deng’s death.”

Lawyers for the two other individuals could not be reached for comment.

Courts taking harder look at hazing cases

Some experts believe the prosecution and subsequent outcome of the Deng case is a signal that courts are taking a tougher stance on hazing deaths than they have in the past.

Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College in Indiana and a journalist who has been writing about and tracking hazing deaths for decades, described the fraternity’s sentence as “groundbreaking.”

“I think it’s one of the toughest ever,” he told CNN on Monday.

“It’s sending a definite message,” he continued. “It’s sending a message that (national fraternities) are considered — by this court and by the judge — to be accountable when one of their pledges are killed.”

Nuwer previously said the verdict against Pi Delta Psi and the court’s handling of the case showed “huge changes” from when he first started tracking hazing deaths and the criminal proceedings around them in the 1970s.

“Judges are taking it more seriously,” Nuwer said Sunday, adding that lawyers who didn’t know how to bring a case against fraternities in the past now have greater understanding of how to handle such cases.

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Hazing News

Extensive analysis of prison sentencing for fraternity members and historic ban on a national

Extensive CNN coverage of the Pennsylvania verdict against a Baruch fraternity and its national http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/08/us/michael-deng-fraternity-sentencing/index.html

Excerpt

Four men plead guilty Monday May 15, 2017 in connection to the death of Michael Deng in 2013. Deng died of his injuries sustained during a hazing ritual during a fraternity trip to the Poconos in Pennsylvania.
“To a lesser extent it’s also a tragedy for Mr. Lam and the other young men. They never intended for this to happen,” he said, adding Lam had been “guilt ridden for his conduct since the day it happened.”
An attorney for Wong told CNN on Sunday, “Sheldon remains, and will always be, deeply saddened and devastated by Michael Deng’s death.”
Lawyers for the two other individuals could not be reached for comment.

Courts taking harder look at hazing cases

Some experts believe the prosecution and subsequent outcome of the Deng case is a signal that courts are taking a tougher stance on hazing deaths than they have in the past.
Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College in Indiana and a journalist who has been writing about and tracking hazing deaths for decades, described the fraternity’s sentence as “groundbreaking.”
“I think it’s one of the toughest ever,” he told CNN on Monday.
“It’s sending a definite message,” he continued. “It’s sending a message that (national fraternities) are considered — by this court and by the judge — to be accountable when one of their pledges are killed.”
Nuwer previously said the verdict against Pi Delta Psi and the court’s handling of the case showed “huge changes” from when he first started tracking hazing deaths and the criminal proceedings around them in the 1970s.
“Judges are taking it more seriously,” Nuwer said Sunday, adding that lawyers who didn’t know how to bring a case against fraternities in the past now have greater understanding of how to handle such cases.
Doug Fierberg, an attorney for Deng’s family who has represented multiple high profile hazing victims in the past, previously told CNN the verdict showed that “national fraternities can and should be held criminal and civilly responsible for the injury and death caused by their members. The criminal prosecutions shows that can happen and should proceed that way and they can be convicted.”

Grand jury slams Penn State for ignoring reports on dangerous hazing

Grand jury slams Penn State for ignoring reports on dangerous hazing
The sentencing came after a deadly year for fraternity pledges. At least four young pledges died in 2017 on the campuses of Pennsylvania State University, Louisiana State University, Texas State University and Florida State University.

Pledge died during hazing ritual

Deng was a freshman when he traveled to a rented house in Pennsylvania’s Poconos Mountains for the Asian American fraternity’s “crossing over” weekend, according to a criminal complaint.
It was there Deng ultimately suffered and died from a traumatic brain injury while participating in “the glass ceiling,” a ritual that required pledges to run through a line of fraternity brothers who shoved, pushed and tackled the aspiring members to the ground.
At some point, Deng, who was blindfolded and wearing a weighted backpack, fell, struck his head and was immediately unconscious, according to police. Some fraternity members placed Deng by a fire while others searched the internet for his symptoms and tried to wake the pledge.

Frat death shows something is terribly wrong with Greek life

Frat death shows something is terribly wrong with Greek life
Meanwhile, the criminal complaint said, other fraternity members were told by a member and the national fraternity president to “protect the fraternity and hide all the memorabilia” from police — including clothes, fraternity paddles, banners and signs. They were also instructed to conceal cellphones, marijuana and mushrooms, the complaint said.
Deng arrived at a nearby hospital for treatment 2 hours after he was injured — a delay that a forensic pathologist concluded “significantly contributed to the death of Mr. Deng,” the complaint said.
Deng’s death was ruled a homicide.
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Hazing News

Baruch brothers sent away to jail

Jail time in Michael Deng death, Baruch University http://wnep.com/2018/01/08/fraternity-sentenced-in-hazing-case/