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Wabash severs ties with chapter

Wabash disbands Delta Tau Delta

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. ­ Wabash College is disbanding a fraternity chapter
after an 18-year-old freshman died of accidental alcohol poisoning at its
house.

The college says it’s withdrawing recognition of the Delta Tau Delta
chapter and ending its lease. Wabash officials say an investigation found
“a culture and practice of ungentlemanly behavior and irresponsible
citizenship.”

Delta Tau Delta executive vice president Jim Russell says the
Indianapolis-

based fraternity had hoped to work together with the school to
resolve the matter.Delta Tau Delta already had suspended the chapter following the death of
Johnny D. Smith of Tucson, Ariz.

Smith was found unconscious at the fraternity house on Oct. 5. Paramedics
pronounced him dead at the scene.

Wabash is an all-male liberal arts school of some 900 students.

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. 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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