Rite of Passage: “If he fell it would be a disgrace he would carry for life, Mr. Biwa had warned me. But the youth never faltered — the next morning he would awake a man, able to sit among the elders.”
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
Great column by Thomas Farragher on a chef who overcame the brutal hazing we are only hearing about the last few years in the restaurant business. Men used to (sometimes still do) insist the restaurant kitchen is a man’s domain.
Excerpt:
[Denise Graffeo in 1974]
In 1974, she was 24 and newly divorced. She lived on the top floor above that restaurant, working a grueling morning-to-night schedule, scarcely feeling sunshine on her face for six months.
She carried 50-pound boxes of grease to melt in the deep fryer. She peeled potatoes, made her own french fries, and served club sandwiches on 12 kinds of bread.
“This was my first experience in the world where it was all up to me,’’ said Graffeo, who became the first woman elected into the American Academy of Chefs Hall of Fame this year.
“I was going to succeed because I would not let myself fail. I’m all pumped up because I had a cookbook from the Culinary Institute of America. It wasn’t much. But it was mine.’’ …..
…By the time she walked into the Ritz-Carlton kitchen in 1979, she was one of a handful of women working among 50 men. She also learned a valuable lesson: Never let them see you cry.
“Two years, I cried,’’ she said. “Always in the locker room. In the maids’ locker room.’’
She remembers colleagues who bumped her, who sabotaged her stock pot, who counted on the complicity of managers who displayed no sympathy. Her thick skin saved her.
“I had the Tap behind me,’’ she said, referring to her start in Haverhill. “You’re not going to kill me with this stuff because I could do the job. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. I knew the sous chef who hired me had my back because he didn’t want me to fail because if I failed, he wasn’t going to look good.’’
Moderator: I am waiting for news reports to confirm or to provide another explanation for the fall.
Frightening moments for a group of Cal Poly students early Friday morning, as one of their friends fell from a second story balcony.
LINK: Carson Stuckey hazing death at Cal Poly
His friends tell us he’s in serious condition and in a coma. They tell us his name is Parker Patierno. We’re told he had have brain surgery Friday and is expected to have another surgery.
Friends who we spoke to were pretty shaken up – many of them preffering not to talk on camera.
“Yea he lives in our building.. he actually has a thing with one of my good girlfriends right now,” Cal Poly student Lauren Robertson said.
Ruby Tincup and Lauren Robertson told us that they had to break the news to that good girlfriend that Patierno fell from a second story student housing building on campus.
“It’s sad because apparently he was drinking with guys in his frat.. and that could be anyone,” Cal Poly student Ruby Tincup said.
Friends showed us a picture of Patierno and his twin brother.
“Like imagine being the mom getting that call.. that could literally be my brother,” Tincup said.
Students are taking the incident hard.
“My friend who lives near me is in his pledge class and everyone is just destroyed by it,” Robertson said.
“Parker is just so sweet, I’ve gone over.. he’s super cute.. big blue eyes, super nice, friendly, always holding the door open for you,” Tincup said. “It’s always the best people who have the worst things happen to them and it’s just really sad.”
Students told us everyone is rooting for him to recover.
“Everyone hopes he’s going to be ok, everyone hopes this stops happening, the hazing stuff,” Tincup said.
“We’ve heard that they were getting back from hazing and that’s when he fell off,” Robertson said.
“We’re just hoping he pulls through because that’s all we can ask for at this point,” Tincup said.
Sebastian Froman was just in class with Patierno on Thursday.
“It’s really tough because we just did a presentation together so it’s really hard to hear,” Cal Poly student Sebastian Froman said.
Froman, like everyone is pulling for a speedy recovery.
“I just hope his twin brother is doing alright.. his family.. I just really hope they’re there supporting him.. and that he wakes up soon and gets alright,” Froman said.
Moderator: My summary of Dyad’s evaluation of Greek oversight at the Univ. of Missouri. What oversight? http://www.columbiatribune.com/assets/MO296361026.PDF …
Here is some background before you read the report
University of Missouri External Review Report October 24, 2017 Gentry R. McCreary, Ph.D. W. Scott Lewis, J.D. OGL External Review Report|
Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller refiled charges including aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter against former members of Beta Theta Pi fraternity in connection with the February death of Penn State student and pledge Timothy Piazza.
After a seven-day preliminary hearing that stretched throughout the summer, District Judge Allen Sinclair dismissed charges of aggravated assault, simple assault and involuntary manslaughter against eight men and a charge of involuntary manslaughter against the Alpha Upsilon Chapter of Beta Theta Pi. He also dismissed various misdemeanor charges against a number of defendants.
Parks Miller vowed at the time to refile some of those charges, and on Friday she did.
As of 1:10 p.m., the magisterial district court docket showed charges were refiled against former fraternity president Brendan Young and members Michael Bonatucci, Luke Visser and Gary DiBileo. Charges are expected to be refiled against other defendants as well and Parks Miller said more information would be made available later in the day.
For Young, the refiled charges include a felony count of aggravated assault, misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and simple assault, 36 counts of recklessly endangering another person, 36 counts of hazing and 36 counts of furnishing alcohol to minors.
Some of the hazing, reckless endangerment and furnishing charges against Young stem from pledge events in the spring and fall of 2016.
The docket for Bonatucci shows a felony charge of aggravated assault, misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter and simple assault, and 16 counts of furnishing and liquor law violations.
Felony charges of aggravated assault and misdemeanor charges of involuntary manslaughter and simple assault also were refiled against DiBileo and Visser.
All four had multiple misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, hazing and furnishing bound over following the preliminary hearing
Parks Miller also is expected to request a different district judge to oversee the new preliminary hearing for the refiled charges.