Fraternity hazing at PSU - pledge dies

Same here.

Is there not enough natural/"act of God" misery on earth for some people? They have to go out of their way to invent ways to inflict pain on each other and then celebrate it and call it "tradition?"

What will it take until people grow up (emotionally) stop with the infantile "tests" of loyalty that are usually spun up with anxiety, fear, hurt and sometimes even death?

"At first, Cordell Davis thought his fellow pledge had just had too much to drink, he said. They were new initiates to Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Penn State and had just run the gantlet — a series of stations where they guzzled beer, wine and vodka as fast as they could....

At about 1 a.m., fraternity brothers put a backpack full of books on Piazza, who had thrown up and was twitching, in an attempt to keep him from rolling onto his back, according to the grand jurors’ findings. After 3 a.m., Piazza tried to stand but fell, hitting his head on the floor. He fell again at 4 a.m. At 5 a.m., he fell, hit his head on an iron railing and landed on a stone floor.

He got up, trying to get to the front door, but fell and hit his head on the door. Fraternity brothers stepped over him, according to the findings. After 7 a.m., Piazza fell down the basement stairs again. When fraternity members found him, unconscious, cold to the touch, and with blood on his face the next morning, it was more than 40 minutes before they called 911."

www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/05/07/penn-state-student-said-frat-brothers-ignored-pleas-to-help-classmate-who-died-after-hazing/

That is just all kinds of messed up.   How sad for that poor kid and his family.

That poor family. How tragic!

I like that so many are being charged. I don't thinks kids need training on how to act in an emergency situation to be decent human beings with common sense.

This is big news here, and now it seems to be national news. It is very sad and tragic.

What's hard is I am sure not all the kids are "bad kids", i'm sure they've had the training and speeches and their parents probably tell them what to do, yet no one actually did the right thing.

Very hard to see from all sides.

My DD shared the story with me last night and read me the timeline. I was horrified. I could not believe not one person called 911. My heart broke just hearing it. I would hope my children if ever confronted with a situation like that would do the right thing. Alcohol and peer pressure can cloud judgment but for this situation to go on as long as it did is pure evil. I feel so bad for the family.

This poor young man was tortured. Sickening.

I couldn't even finish reading the article...it's horrifying.

I am so sad for the family of that pledge and also for everyone whose life is impacted by this horrific event.

I think people are much more apt to call 911 these days, even for things that are not an emergency. Therefore I can't imagine seeing some one so drunk and /or twitching on a floor and not calling 911 or at the very least bringing them to the emergency room.  What was happening to that poor kid was so beyond a "he is just wasted let him sleep it off" attitude.  

Many peoples' lives have been completely shattered and it can't even be blamed on an accident.  They can't even console themselves in that they did everything they could to help him...they will forever live with the pain and trauma knowing that they just left someone there to die.

I have made numerous "questionable" decisions and participated in activities that l am thankful ended okay in my life, but I can't imagine there being that many people to witness this and that no one called 911.

It's so upsetting and I am very happy those evil boys are being charged. VERY HAPPY.

My daughter was in a sorority her freshman year at a very large university. The drinking was outrageous, but she said the fraternities (at least those she frequented) were EXTREMELY strict about the drinking. The pledges were sober and were the drivers AND the watchers. They took care of the kids who got wasted completely. I'm sick about that, but was glad at least at every party they had people watching out for them.

Things have to change. When did all of this become okay? Has it always been? My university didn't have sororities/fraternities. We had a party or two each weekend, and people did drink too much, but not like this. Or at least not that I was aware of.

This made me very sad when I first heard about it in February. The rumors immediately started flying and I didn't want to believe them, but I just finished reading the entire 81 page document last night and I am beyond disgusted and sickened by the events leading up to Timothy Piazza's death.  

This goes way beyond knowing what to do in a medical emergency. The sheer amount of alcohol these pledges drank in a short period of time is abhorrent. Most of all the behavior and obvious thought process of some of the brothers makes me lose faith in humanity. There was such little regard for human life. The victim was clearly in very very bad shape and they refused to get help, I'm sure because they didn't want to get themselves or their fraternity in trouble. My heart breaks for Tim's family.

I can't even fully put into words what I'm feeling after reading the document.

This guy was on Good Morning America this morning.  After listening to him, I'm not sure why he wasn't charged.  While he wanted to call 911, it's hard for me to understand why he didn't.  Granted he is young, as were all the others, but if he was really concerned about the guy, why didn't he go against the others and step into another room and make the call?  Was he only not charged because he said he wanted to call 911? 

Rushing is simply visiting all the sororities/fraternities before deciding which one you might want to pledge.  Not to be confused w/hazing which involves whatever activities the sorority/fraternity deem 'necessary' for pledges to complete before being initiated into the organization.  Two very different things. 





This.  It all depends on the sorority/fraternity and/or the school.  Drinking was very prevalent when I was in college (81-85).  Sororities & fraternities held most of the parties, so drinking was a given, at my sorority as well.  However, hazing was NOT on our agenda.  In fact, it's the main reason I chose the one I pledged.  I know for a fact that drinking was a big part of hazing in a lot of other sororities and most of the fraternities.  Humiliation & scare tactics were also pretty common. 

That all being said, this is beyond repugnant and I hope they all get the book thrown at them.  And as for the kid who wanted to call but didn't?  He's just as guilty, imo.  It's like the bystanders when someone else is getting bullied.  Almost worse - you know it's wrong and you still don't do anything.  Back in my day, there was one pay phone for the sorority house.  Each room had it's own phone, but doors were locked during a party, so calling 911 might have been harder.  Definitely not impossible, but harder.  In today's world, when you have a cell phone?  No excuse.

This is just an educated guess on my part -

The charges that were filed against the 18 people included involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, hazing, furnishing alcohol to minors, tampering with evidence, and unlawful acts relative to liquor. I'm quite sure that Kordel Davis was "merely" a fraternity brother in attendance that night. I don't remember reading anything about him being part of purchasing the alcohol, serving the alcohol, he wasn't a pledge officer so was not part of the planning and executing of the events, etc. 
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