Hank Nuwer, Author; Hazing Deaths Database Here are useful links. Moderator
Recent college crackdown reported– The Times of India
Ragging: the second hazing. Victim becomes goat in videos
Probe focuses on four students in death of student Aman Kachru. Those under investigation in the brutal killing are Ajay Verma, Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma and Mukul Sharma.
Settlement reached with fraternity in Dallas teen’s hazing death; Robin Penn Wright to appear at Haze screening.
11:41 PM CDT on Wednesday, March 18, 2009
By MICHAEL GRANBERRY / The Dallas Morning News
mgranberry@dallasnews.com
The mother and stepfather of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr., who died in a binge-drinking incident on a Colorado mountaintop in 2004, have reached a settlement with the fraternity that they contend provoked his death as part of a hazing ritual.
“Gordie,” as friends and family called him, was 18 and had just entered the University of Colorado. He and 26 other Chi Psi fraternity pledges were marched blindfolded to the top of a mountain in Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest near Boulder, Colo., and made to drink four bottles of whiskey and six bottles of wine, police said. He passed out at the fraternity house and was left unattended for nine hours, during which fellow Chi Psi members left vulgar markings on his body.
Reached at the fraternity’s national headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., a spokesman who asked not to be quoted by name declined to comment.
Bailey graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts in the spring of 2004 but until 10th grade had attended St. Mark’s School of Texas and The Lamplighter School. His mother, Leslie Lanahan, and her husband, Michael Lanahan, chairman of Dallas-based Greystone Communities, live in North Dallas, where they founded the Gordie Foundation in his memory.
Financial details were not released. But the family has pledged to devote the entire amount reached in the settlement to the Gordie Foundation, which Michael Lanahan says promotes awareness of “the dangers of alcohol, peer pressure, hazing and alcohol poisoning.” The Lanahans addressed Bailey’s death during a recent episode of 60 Minutes.
“We both think it’s really unfortunate that it’s taken four years to come to this, where the fraternity would agree to take steps to make future pledges safer,” Leslie Lanahan said Wednesday. She said the family never wanted to sue.
Michael Lanahan said the family had negotiated with Chi Psi since the incident happened to force the fraternity to acknowledge Bailey’s death and to change its behavior, “so the outcome is not what we wanted. This is really not a happy day for us, to get an admission 4 ½years after Gordie’s death that this was, in fact, hazing.”
The settlement’s first component is just that – the admission that Bailey was fatally hazed. In addition, Chi Psi agrees to prohibit alcohol from being served at pledge events, and if it is, violators will be subject to penalties that may include expulsion. An alumni chaperon must be present at all formal activities, and by 2012 all chapters must agree to the presence of a live-in adult house director.
The fraternity also agrees to use Bailey’s story to educate pledges and other members about the dangers of peer pressure, hazing and alcohol poisoning.
As part of their national effort through the Gordie Foundation, the Lanahans have released a documentary about Bailey’s death titled HAZE , which will be shown at the Magnolia Theatre on March 27 and 28 as part of Dallas’ AFI International Film Festival. Actress Robin Wright Penn, the chairperson and national spokesperson of the Gordie Foundation, will be present at the screenings.
CHI PSI SETTLEMENT (correction appended 3/23)
•   Chi Psi agrees that Lynn Gordon Bailey, Jr. was hazed by Chi Psi brothers in Boulder the night of September 16, 2004, preceding his death acting in violation of Chi Psi Fraternity policies and in violation of University of Colorado policies.
•   Chi Psi will prohibit alcohol from being served at any pledging, pinning or initiation ceremony, whether at a ceremony formally recognized by the National, or a ceremony unique to a local chapter. Violators will be subject to discipline which may include expulsion from the fraternity and from designation as alumni.
•   Chi Psi will investigate, understand and keep records on file of all pledging ceremonies and traditions at all Alphas to assure they are in compliance with national Psi Chi policies.
•   Chi Psi will develop a national pledge curriculum to ensure pledge education and ceremonies are consistent from campus to campus.
•   Chi Psi will mandate alumni presence at all formal activities, whether on or off campus, for all pinning, pledging and initiation activities, including at pledge activities which may be adopted by, or unique to, local chapters. Chapters violating these policies will be subject to discipline which may include having their charter revoked and their brothers expelled from the fraternity without being given alumni status.
•   Chi Psi will advocate in favor of efforts at any college campus where it has a chapter, or towards a national policy sponsored by, or applicable to, all fraternities, to delay rush/recruitment for all fraternities until spring of a student’s freshman year.
•   Chi Psi will use Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr.’s story annually to educate pledges and brothers about the dangers of peer pressure, hazing and alcohol poisoning, especially during fraternity pledging and pinning ceremonies. Gordie’s story will not be presented as one of a pledge who simply had too much to drink. All comments implying that Gordie had a drinking problem will be removed from all educational materials, and not repeated in the future.
•   This Chi Psi educational program will link to The Gordie Foundation website.
•   Chi Psi will develop and distribute a standard “bid†card that each Alpha will give to men invited to join the fraternity, and sent to the parents of each pledge. The card will include the fraternities policies against hazing, numbers to call if a pledge feels uncomfortable talking to a brother or another pledge, and a statement that the national fraternity will stand behind their effort to report any violations of these policies by investigating the complaint and ensuring that any chapter officers or members who are found to have violated such policies or retaliated against any pledge for reporting violations will be subject to removal from the chapter house with loss of fraternity membership.
•   Chi Psi will mandate that all newly constructed lodges built for the purpose of housing a Chi Psi chapter on any campus include a live-in adult house director, who shall not be an undergraduate student, and who shall receive training in all Chi Psi risk management policies, and be specifically instructed to immediately notify the national organization of any violations by the chapter of national risk management policies. Chi Psi will pass a resolution advocating that its alumni corporations establish live-in house directors to assist in the oversight and implementation of the national’s policies by 2012.
•   Chi Psi will require that all officers of each chapter sign an “agreement†stating that they understand their responsibilities, potential liabilities and consequences with regard to underage drinking, misuse of alcohol, hazing and alcohol poisoning, specifically as they relate to the initiation of pledges, and that they will not violate the National’s policies.
•   Chi Psi will mandate training and certification of all officers that must be completed each year and verified by the National Fraternity in writing before the Alpha may hold social functions or conduct business.
•   Chi Psi will send a letter to all pledges, and parents of new pledges, outlining the pledging process, the expectations for the local Alpha, how the fraternity policies require that the pledge process not involve hazing or the provision of alcohol to pledges, how they should speak with their son about his need to refuse to engage in these activities, and that pledges are encouraged to report any violations of this policy and that they will not be denied membership for demanding that the pledge process be in accordance with these national rules. The letter will also include phone numbers for parents and pledges to use if they have any questions or concerns.
•   Chi Psi will incorporate the Response Ability – Transforming Values Into Action – Program into its educational programs.
•   Chi Psi will develop risk management education targeted at the age of each student. Risk management education will be provided to pledges within the first week of the pledge process.
3.16.09
UNL Police searches Sigma Chi fraternity house for evidence of hazing
BY LESLIE REED
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — University of Nebraska-Lincoln police on Wednesday searched the Sigma Chi fraternity house for evidence relating to allegations of hazing.
UNL spokeswoman Kelly Bartling confirmed the search and an ongoing investigation, but could not provide further details, including when the possible hazing may have occurred. She said no one has been hospitalized in connection to the alleged activity.
She urged anyone with information relating to hazing incidents or allegations to contact UNL police.
UNL is on spring break this week and no students currently are staying at the Sigma Chi house, Bartling said.
The fraternity’s top student officer, Francis Acott, a junior marketing major from Northfield, Ill., said he is out of town during spring break and could offer no information about what is occurring on campus.
“We’re taking the allegations very seriously and working on getting all the facts,” he said. “We plan to work with the University of Nebraska and the national fraternity and will proceed accordingly.”
Hazing is a criminal offense under Nebraska law, which defines it as “any activity by which a person intentionally or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health or safety of an individual for the purpose of initiation into, admission into, affiliation with, or continued membership” with a college student organization.
Hazing is a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Organizations whose members commit hazing can be fined up to $10,000.