Categories
Hazing News

STATEMENT OF JIM AND EVELYN PIAZZA REGARDING THE BARUCH COLLEGE SENTENCING AND TRANSFER OF TIM PIAZZA CASE TO PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE

STATEMENT OF JIM AND EVELYN PIAZZA REGARDING THE

BARUCH COLLEGE SENTENCING AND TRANSFER OF TIM PIAZZA CASE TO PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE

 

As we close in on the one year mark of the killing of our son Tim on the campus of Penn State University at the hands of the members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, we reflect back on the pain and misery that we have experienced during this time as the defendants, the fraternity and the University deny, deflect and dismiss any wrongdoings on their part. Today four students from Baruch College were sentenced to jail time and the Fraternity itself was fined and banned from operating in the State of Pennsylvania in the hazing death of a student in the state of Pennsylvania. First, we would like to express our sincere condolences to the victim’s family.  We would also like to applaud the prosecutors, the jury and the judge in this case for sticking with the facts and taking the time to fully understand the crimes that were committed and for not taking the easy road in the conviction and sentencing of these individuals and the Fraternity. In order for there to be real and meaningful change and to eradicate this bad behavior that continues to be all too prevalent, prosecutors and the court systems throughout the country need to take a tougher stance on these types of crimes. We also want to thank the Pennsylvania Attorney General‘s office for accepting the case in the death of our son Tim and can only hope that the AG and the Centre County Pennsylvania court system looks at the facts surrounding Tim’s death, which are unconscionable and well supported with video evidence, and considers those facts along with the results announced today in the recent case and seeks to deliver proper justice for any and all individuals and organizations which committed crimes in connection with Tim’s death. We are confident, through discussions with the president of Penn State University, that the University is supportive of prosecution and real and meaningful sentencing for any and all involved.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank 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. 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 new book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer, former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird, finished a stint as managing editor of the Celina Daily Standard to accept a new position as 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.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.