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Hazing News

Wilson case will take long to unravel. Phone number for informants is (716) 434-5588

Excerpt from the Buffalo News story and link to larger story

The case has sent shock waves through much of Wilson, though some in the district have told police and The Buffalo News that hazing has been part of district sports for years.

Cummings said the investigation is taking time because troopers have been interviewing the 30 students on the bus, and in some cases, reinterviewing them. He said investigators also have been talking with “three to five” adults who were on the bus to determine why they were unaware of what was happening.

“This is an opportunity for the students and the school . . . to make sure our children are not subjected to criminal behavior in our schools anymore,” Cummings said.

Any parent or student with information relevant to the investigation is encouraged to call police at 434-5588.

“The School Board is very concerned,” School Board President Timothy F. Kropp said. “But we are taking the part of ‘wait and see’ what the investigation produces. To pass judgment now is very premature, and we can’t do that.”

Kropp said the decision to suspend the coaches was made by the superintendent. Those decisions are expressly within the purview of the superintendent’s duties, Kropp said, adding that the board is responsible for reviewing those decisions.

“We set policy for the district, and we maintain policy,” Kropp said. “This is all a policy issue.”

Kropp acknowledged hearing the “rumors and speculation going around” suggesting that hazing is not new to Wilson, but he said that no such behavior has yet been confirmed.

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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