Dr Jason L. Meriwether
There are numerous cases where lives could have been saved by calling for help instead of hiding evidence or failing to act in a timely manner. Tyler Hilliard, Stone Foltz, Harrison Kowiak, and Michael Deng died under such circumstances.
The playbook to violently haze then distort the truth to protect the fraternity isn’t new.
Letters Over Life
Max Gruver died in 2017 with a .496 blood alcohol level caused by a drinking ritual while pledging Phi Delta Theta Fraternity at Louisiana State University. Among the four criminally sentenced, Matthew Naquin faced evidence tampering charges for deleting hundreds of text messages and photographs. Naquin received 2 ½ years in prison, probation, a fine, and community service.
In 2017, Timothy Piazza was pledging Beta Theta Pi Fraternity at Penn State University. Following alcohol-fueled hazing, members waited 40 minutes to seek medical help after discovering Piazza unconscious. Brendan Young and Daniel Casey, who led the rituals, pled guilty and were sentenced to two to four months in prison, probation, work release, and community service. Twenty-six others faced a range of hazing and alcohol charges, mostly resulting in probation and community service. In 2019, The Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research was founded to provide hazing prevention resources.
Tyler Hilliard died in 2018 while pledging my organization, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., at the University of California Riverside. When confronted at the hospital by his mother, Myesha Kimble Hilliard, chapter members lied, claiming Tyler had simply passed out before a hike, not disclosing a violent "Golden Paddle" ritual. Most fraternity members and pledges have remained silent, invoking their Fifth amendment rights. Hilliard’s family led the crusade for Tyler’s Law, which expands the ability for California families to sue schools, instead of limiting hazing lawsuits to individuals.
In 2021, Stone Foltz was forced to consume a liter of Evan Williams Bourbon in less than an hour as part of “Big” night, leading to his death. Without regard for Stone’s life, members of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at Bowling Green State University took him to his apartment, unconscious from the hazing ritual, leaving him alone until he was found unresponsive by his roommate and girlfriend. Punishments for Stone’s death included 14 - 28 days in jail, house arrest, and probation.
The 2014 death of Tucker Hipps while pledging Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity at Clemson University remains unsolved. Following an alleged altercation with an older member, Hipps is reported to have slipped from a bridge guardrail, hitting his head on the rocks below. Fraternity members reportedly obstructed the investigation by lying about Hipps’ whereabouts, sending a fake text to his girlfriend, and deleting chapter group chat messages. As Tucker's family seeks the truth, loyalty to letters over valuing life persists.
In 2013, Michael Deng, and other Baruch College Pi Delta Psi Fraternity aspirants, were subjected to the brutal “glass ceiling” ritual in the Pocono Mountains. Pledges carried backpacks filled with rocks while being viciously tackled. After Deng’s collapse, colony members hid fraternity paraphernalia and researched Deng’s symptoms online, reportedly following guidance from their national president. Focused on protecting their fraternity, two hours passed before Deng was taken to a hospital. The local medical examiner noted the delay "significantly contributed" to his death. Punishments ranged from 10 - 24 months, time served, probation, and community service for charges including evidence tampering and involuntary manslaughter.
The Wilson family placed billboards in New Orleans during Omega Psi Phi’s April 2025 9th District Meeting to draw attention to Caleb’s story and note the inaction of the national organization to offer condolences. It appears that protection of the organization even supersedes concern for a grieving family.
Each case highlights a pervasive lack of compassion or care. When it mattered most, acting to protect letters and tradition outweighed value for human life across all spectrums of chapter, council, and organization. In the 2022 documentary, Hazing, Byron Hurt, explores this phenomenon through his personal story and those of families shattered by hazing violence. Dr. Ricky Jones, scholar and professor, questions the very existence of fraternities when considering the risk of another death.
While the sentences above do not align with common sense expectations when someone dies, the victims’ families fought vigorously to achieve any accountability at all.
Southern University undergraduate students Caleb McCray and Kyle Thurman, and graduate student Isaiah Smith, are charged in the hazing death of Caleb Wilson. In 2019, Louisiana passed “The Max Gruver Act” to strengthen enforcement and punishments for hazing. This pivotal case can set new precedent for sentencing beyond those in the deaths of Foltz, Piazza, Collin Wiant, and Adam Oakes, the horrific injuries to Danny Santulli, and the violent cases of Marcus Jones and Jonathan Silas. Many more are chronicled by scholar, Hank Nuwer, who has tracked hazing deaths from the 1800s until 2025.
Campus Leadership Commitment
University leaders must treat hazing like a problem before there is one. If the first conversation a college president has with professional fraternity and sorority life leaders follows an incident or pending lawsuit, it is too late. Having led hundreds of hazing prevention workshops, I can only name three college presidents, Dr. Tim Cost at Jacksonville University, Dr. Dwaun Warmack at Claflin University, and Dr. Rodney Rogers at Bowling Green State University, who actively participated in training with their students.
Seminal hazing prevention scholar, Dr. Elizabeth Allan, has produced the eight-component Hazing Prevention Framework, encouraging campus leaders to commit to research-based practices, which is also a requirement of the 2024 federal Stop Campus Hazing Act.
Adults Seeking Validation
When I conduct peer intervention training, undergraduate students frequently request strategies to combat alumni and older members, some who never earned a degree, that perpetuate hazing.
College president, Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, describes “extended adolescents” such as McCray, 23, Thurman, 25, and Smith, 28, who “pose a particularly alarming risk to college campus safety.” Kimbrough, my fraternity brother, notes that they “have not matured enough to engage with their adult peers and instead cling to their “old head” status and seek the respect of younger students.”
Campus leaders, advisors, and national orgs must collaboratively support college chapters facing this burden. Increased presence, sanctions, and direct adult-to-adult intervention can combat this phenomenon.
Peer and Behavioral Intervention
My dissertation investigated intent to report hazing in fraternities and sororities. This study adapts Allen Berkowitz’ model for peer intervention to prevent sexual assault in fraternal spaces to the context of hazing. Research-based training about risks and hidden harms, realistic role-play, and review of rituals prepare individuals to challenge hazing in the moments when advisors or campus and national organization leaders are absent.
Fraternity (and sorority) members must be prepared to call out dangerous behavior and to interrupt, interject, and intercede. By standing true to the notion that life matters more than fraternal tradition, they may save lives, one person at a time.
Dr. Jason L. Meriwether serves Campbellsville University in Kentucky as Vice President of Enrollment Management and Assistant Professor of Education. He is the author of Dismantling Hazing in Greek-Letter Organizations: Effective Practices for Prevention, Response, and Campus Engagement and has served as an expert witness in hazing lawsuits. Meriwether's forthcoming book, Hazing in College Athletics: Combating Destructive Practices and Hidden Harms, published by Routledge, will be released in Fall 2025.
