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Family alleges Adam Oakes dies from hazing at VCU: ABC

Here is the LInk

Virginia Commonwealth University said it shut down Delta Chi fraternity and the police are investigating after a freshman student was found dead this weekend.

Adam Oakes, 19, was found dead at an off-campus residence early Saturday morning by authorities, the university and the Richmond Police Department said in statements. The medical examiner’s office is working to determine the cause of death, according to Richmond Police. Family members say it was a big-little bottle exchange, a form of hazing, but that has yet to be confirmed by authorities.

Virginia Commonwealth University said it shut down a fraternity and the police are investigating after a freshman student was found dead this weekend.Adam Oakes, 19, was found dead at an off-campus residence early Saturday morning by authorities, the university and the Richmond Police Department said in statements. The medical examiner’s office is working to determine the cause of death, according to Richmond Police.

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“This is a tragic loss for Adam’s family and members of our community, and we encourage any students in need of support to contact University Counseling Services,” the school said in a statement.

Oakes’ cousin, Courtney White, told ABC News that the teen had rushed the university’s Delta Chi fraternity, and this weekend was the night of his “big little reveal.”

By 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, 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 Warsaw, Poland and 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 and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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