Moderator: The last court hearing of incontrovertible video evidence by a low-ranking local magistrate in the hazing death of Tim Piazza resulted in the most serious charges being tossed. The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office needs to play the trump card of video evidence that Beta Theta Pi brothers erased, but which subsequently was recovered by local law enforcement. In my view, the facts point clearly to a need for homicide charges against the chapter ringleaders to stick and to proceed to a jury trial. Justice was not served in Pennsylvania the last go around. It must be served now. —Hank Nuwer
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Our View: With Erased Evidence Back, New Hearing Needs New Outcome
- Post author By Hank Nuwer
- Post date February 13, 2018
- No Comments on Our View: With Erased Evidence Back, New Hearing Needs New Outcome
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 and April 2025 , 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.