More on the Piazza case on CBS evening news tonight.
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
Categories
Who is Judge Allen W. Sinclair?
Allen W. Sinclair
JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE:
- Magisterial District Judge, Centre County District Court, Appointed, 1997 to 2012
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
- Supervisor, Juvenile Division, Clearfield County Probation Office
EDUCATION:
- Shippensburg University, 1996
- BA, Criminology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1989
Moderator. The great untold story in hazing is how many scrupulous, fair-minded chapter advisers kept the houses hazing free. The other untold one is how many chapter “mothers” and advisers hid in their rooms or left the premises when they knew a hazing event was due that night. PSU’s Beta Theta Pi adviser adviser Tim Bream, an athletic trainer, obtained a permit for alcohol at the event that killed Piazza during a booze-filled gauntlet. Insteads of watching like a hawk, he languished in his own room as the debacle and debauchery unfolded.
Editorial: First, investigating police need to subpoena Tim Bream’s cellphone records to clear him entirely or to see what and where he was situated as some evidence in a possible homicide was done away with. Did he think the brothers were going to serve milk ‘n’ cookies to Tim Piazza that night? One stern word from him could have restored order and saved a life.
Moreover, in my opinion, Bream should not be working with young adults in any capacity as adviser or athletic trainer. He should show the decency to resign. He chose to sleep in his room as a noisy, raucous hazing ordeal took place BEFORE HIS VERY EARS. He escaped having some of his post-tragedy handling of events under scrutiny at trial. Why? Because investigating officers erred on the side of caution and did not confiscate his cell phone as they had confiscated those mobile phones of the chapter’s fraternity members.
My second opinion is that the national Beta Theta Pi has suffered the same loss of reputation over hazing that befell Sigma Alpha Epsilon. SAE responded by instituting notable reforms.
It must be Beta Theta Pi national’s determination to do no less to regain its honor.
Some years ago the Beta Theta Pi national invited me to be a sort-of co-counselor working with incredibly impressive undergraduate members at a summer conclave in Oxford, Ohio.
It was one of the highlights of my writing about hazing death issues since I started in 1978.
My previous experiences make me hope Beta Theta Pi will do all the right things–especially re-evaluating its mission, Men of Principle program, hazing policies and each and every active chapter.
My sincerest and deepest condolences to the parents of Timothy Piazza.
The parents of Tim Piazza did not deserve the tragedy that befell them due to the abdication of responsibility of Tim Bream and the senseless lack of judgment and decency shown by chapter presidentBrendan Young, 21, of Malvern, Pennsylvania; Daniel Casey, 19, of Ronkonkoma, New York; Jonah Neuman, 19, of Nashville, Tennessee; Nicholas Kubera, 19, Downingtown, Pennsylvania; Michael Bonatucci, 19, of Woodstock, Georgia; Gary Dibileo, 21, of Scranton, Pennsylvania; Luke Visser, 19, of Encinitas, California; Joseph Sala, 19, of Erie, Pennsylvania; Michael Schiavone, 21, of Yardley, Pennsylvania; Parker Yochim, 19, of Waterford, Pennsylvania: Reckless endangerment, hazing, alcohol-related charges;Joseph Ems Jr., 20, of Philadelphia.
Craig Heimer, 21, of Port Matilda, Pennsylvania:
Lars Kenyon, 19, of Barrington, Rhode Island:
Edward Gilmartin, 20, of Scranton, Pennsylvania
Ryan McCann, 22, of Pittsburgh: Evidence tampering.
Lucas Rockwell, 21, of Washington, D.C.: Evidence tampering.
Braxton Becker, 20, of Niskayuna, New York: Evidence tampering.
Ryan Foster, 21, of Bedford, Massachusetts: Evidence tampering.
Here is the link to the Collegian coverage.
And here’s how Penn Staters reacted to Magistrate Sinclair’s decision to throw a feather at Beta Theta Pi.
Here is the link and an excerpt
From NBC
BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Fourteen members of a disbanded Penn State fraternity must stand trial in the hazing death of a pledge, but a judge on Friday tossed out the most serious charges, including involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault.
Eight of the former Beta Theta Pi brothers saw those serious charges dismissed. In addition, four of the total 18 defendants charged with only single counts were dropped entirely from the case.
The parents of Timothy Piazza, the 19-year-old who died following a party at the Beta house in February, said they were disappointed about the judge’s decision, but are looking to the trial for justice.
“There needs to be a deterrent because we lost our son,” mother Evelyn Piazza told NBC News.
She added that if the defendants “acted like a brother or a friend or a responsible human being, it would have been a lot different. We wouldn’t be here.”
Judge to rule on whether Tim Piazza fraternity hazing case can go forward 0:39
The charges that still remain against some of the former fraternity brothers are misdemeanors, including a reckless endangerment charge, which carries up to a two-year prison sentence, as well as hazing and alcohol-related charges.
Some originally faced aggravated assault counts, a first-degree felony, and could have seen as many as 10 to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
“This court has dismissed those charges and has done it in a resounding way,” defense attorney Theodore Simon, whose client, Luke Visser, had been facing a felony charge, told reporters.
After the judge’s ruling, District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller announced that she plans to refile charges and denied there was prosecutorial overreach because the more serious charges were dropped.
“We obviously believe in the original charges or we wouldn’t have brought them,” Miller said.
She added that the Piazzas are “devastated” and “we have to go through this terrible process again.”
It was not immediately clear if the students will be tried together, but District Judge Allen Sinclair said he wouldn’t expect the trials to begin until at least the spring.
Two other fraternity members had earlier waived their right to a preliminary hearing, but must still have their cases heard before a jury.
The defendants have denied all charges.