“It really shook me to the core. To be honest, it hit way too close to home,” said Gavarone, a BGSU alum whose son also attends college there.
Police are investigating the death of 20-year-old Stone Foltz. The sophomore was found by friends after an event late Thursday. BGSU placed Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity on interim suspension, halted other Greek life social events and announced support for “Collin’s Law.”
A message for the BGSU community. pic.twitter.com/jiQUfEpUjy
— BGSU (@bgsu) March 10, 2021
Collin’s Law, sponsored by Gavarone and Kunze, is named after Ohio University student Collin Wiant, who died in November 2018 at an off-campus fraternity house event.
Kunze said the new version of the bill will focus solely on hazing at colleges and universities, expand the definition of hazing to cover more behavior and mandate reporting and education for students and college personnel. It would elevate hazing to a felony, up from a fourth degree misdemeanor.
Hazing is any humiliating, degrading, abusive or dangerous act expected of a person who joins a group regardless of whether the person is willing to participate. The practices — excessive drinking, heavy drug use, dangerous stunts, sleep deprivation, sex acts — can lead to physical or mental trauma or even death.
Hazing is rampant and under-reported, studies show. A 2011 study by the University of Maine found 55% of college students experience hazing. While it is most common in athletics and fraternities and sororities, hazing occurs across other organizations as well, researchers found.
Presidents of Ohio’s 14 public colleges and universities signed a letter to legislative leaders and Gov. Mike DeWine in support of the anti-hazing bill.
Some significant hazing incidents have included:
- March 2021: Bowling Green State University student Stone Foltz, 20, died following an alleged hazing incident involving alcohol, his family said.
- October 2019: Ohio University launched an investigation into hazing allegations in the school’s marching band.
- November 2018: Ohio University student Collin Wiant, 18, died following an off-campus event at his fraternity.
- June 2018: University of Dayton settled a lawsuit brought by a former football player over hazing allegations.
- February 2018: Miami University suspended all fraternity activities on campus in response to reports of hazing.
- November 2017: Ohio State University suspended all social, recruitment and new member activities for all 37 fraternities on campus.
- Spring 2016: Wright State University expelled seven of nine men’s tennis team members and cancelled the spring season over hazing allegations.
- July 2014: Ohio State University fired its marching band director, Jon Waters, after an investigation documented a culture of hazing and sexual harassment.
- 2014: University of Dayton permanently expelled the Sigma Chi fraternity after a member’s death revealed the chapter had not been abiding by the parameters of its suspension.
- October 2013: A Wilmington College pledge lost a testicle as the result of hazing at an initiation ritual.
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