On February 4th, 2017, nineteen-year-old Timothy Piazza consumed over 18 alcoholic beverages over the span of an hour during a Penn State Beta Theta Pi hazing initiation. After having excessive amounts of alcohol served to him, he then fell down the fraternity’s stairs. Piazza lacerated his spleen, his abdomen filled with blood and he had multiple traumatic brain injuries. The fraternity brothers carried him to the couch and left him alone to struggle for his life for 12 hours, before finally calling the police.
Beta Theta Pi tried to cover up the incident by deleting camera footage, erasing text messages, and getting rid of any trace of alcohol. The members slapped Piazza in the face, poured water on him and kicked him to try to get him to waken. According to The New York Times, “At one point, the members of the fraternity placed a backpack full of textbooks on him to keep him from falling over and choking on his own vomit.” At least 25 Beta Theta Pi members are now facing criminal charges since the deleted footage was found and released.
In an interview with ABC News, Piazza’s father, Jim Piazza said, “This wasn’t boys being boys. This was men who intended to force feed lethal amounts of alcohol into other young men and what happened throughout the night was just careless disregard for human life. They basically treated our son as roadkill and a ragdoll.”
The brother, Mike Piazza said, “It looked like he got hit by a car. He was on full life support and I knew he wasn’t there.”
Piazzas’s case is unfortunately only one example. Tragedies such as this continue to be a hot topic in the news. Fraternities are unable to learn their lesson, despite the number of deaths and accidents that occur from treating new members in this dangerous manner. Hazing is defined as “the act of forcing someone to go through abusive activities in order to initiate them into a group.” Hazing allows these men to have a bond that no other group of guys will have, for a potentially deadly cost.
The “brotherhood” these fraternities promise, is not the type of brothers one would want to have. According to The Economist, over the last forty years, there has been at least one death a year due to hazing, even though it is illegal in over 38 states. These fraternities force drinks upon young men to the point of alcohol poisoning, puking and passing out. Sleep deprivation, kidnapping, paddling, beating and humiliation are common examples of hazing. While many fraternities “claim” to not participate in such events it has been proven that around 70 percent engage in some form of hazing.
These groups are self-guided without the role of a mature adult present, even though they have shown over and over again to be incapable of making rational decisions. Fraternities consist of drinking immoderate amounts of alcohol, having dangerous pledge initiations and are even known for degrading women through high rates of sexual assault. There is no such thing as reforming fraternities because this type of behavior has become embedded in their lifestyle.
Fraternities are centered around drinking and reckless behavior. If a person can step over a cold, unconscious body on the ground without so much as glancing their way, can they really be considered “brothers”? Who will the next Piazza become?
