Coverage by Jen Smith in Daily Mail of London
Excerpt:
America has a long, dark history of college hazing that has seen nearly 300 young students die in accidents while being initiated into Greek life.
The latest incident to shock the country was the October 2021 hazing of Danny Santulli, a 19-year-old who survived severe alcohol poisoning but is now blind and wheelchair-ridden as a result of it.
Danny’s family’s lawyer, David Bianchi, described it as the worst case of hazing injury the country has ever seen.
‘You can’t be more injured and still be alive,’ he told DailyMail.com this week after filing a lawsuit against two of the frat boys involved. While Danny survived, more than 200 other kids have not.
There is no official database for hazing deaths or injuries thanks largely to the blanket of secrecy that is immediately thrown on incidents by universities, fraternities and sororities.
There have been hundreds of hazing deaths across America in the last 20 years. Some of the most recent incidents – dating back to 2011 – are shown above
The closest count to an official tally is that of Hank Nuwer, a journalist who has covered hazing and written multiple books on the topic.
By his count, there were 179 hazing deaths at American colleges between 1838 and 1999, and an additional 101 between 2000 and 2022.