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Hazing News

Time for aggressive Change

Here is the Link and excerpt

Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College in Indiana who has studied hazing since the 1970s, said there has been at least one hazing-related death every year in the U.S. since 1961 — with some years up to nine. About eight in 10 hazing deaths are alcohol-related, according to Nuwer.

“That’s one of the most common ways young men die in fraternity hazing,” Nuwer said of the “bottle exchange” ritual that took place shortly before Coffey’s death.

Nuwer outlined several ways schools can prevent such deaths, including a complete shutdown of “rogue chapters” — unaffiliated local chapters that have “absolutely no supervision” — as well as affiliated chapters that defy mandates of the national chapter outlawing hazing.

“The Penn State fraternity [Beta Theta Pi] was doing a lot of hazing behind closed doors,” he said.

“There’s definitely a movement going on now as a response to the four pledging-related deaths last year. I think there’s a great sense of public outrage.”

– Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College in Indiana who has studied hazing since the 1970s

While Nuwer’s research spotlights a culture of dangerous hazing rituals spanning decades, he said he is encouraged by recent measures enacted by various college and universities around the country to change Greek life.

Nuwer cited Iowa State University’s announcement Wednesday that it is adopting new alcohol policies for its sororities and fraternities. Chapter funding cannot be used to buy alcohol, and liquor can’t be part of rush or initiation induction events, according to the new requirements.

“I was gratified to see that Iowa State has come up with dramatic sanctions regarding alcohol,” Nuwer told Fox News. “There’s definitely a movement going on now as a response to the four pledging-related deaths last year. I think there’s a great sense of public outrage.”

In a statement to Fox News on Wednesday, Pi Kappa Phi said it closed the Florida State chapter in early November.

“We continue to await the conclusion of the criminal proceedings to determine what additional discipline is appropriate for former student members of the chapter,” Pi Kappa Phi spokesman Todd Shelton said in an email.

FSU President John E. Thrasher said that the arrest warrants served Wednesday in Coffey’s death represented “the first step in seeking justice for Andrew and his loved ones.”

Coffey was remembered by his friends and family as a charitable young man who was also a fierce competitor on his high school swim team.

However, Nuwer said, “when you make someone go through this hazing, you’re not looking at the pledge as human.”

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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