8 Shocking and Disturbing Hazing Stories from Universities

Summary

Hazing is a form of initiating a person into a group through abusive, humiliating and oftentimes embarrassing activities. In most colleges and schools, hazing is not allowed and many times illegal. Many times hazing can lead to injury and sometimes death.

Hazing includes: various rituals and other activities that involve harassment, abuse, and or humiliation as a way of initiating a person into a group.  In many hazing cases, one common experience that students endure is an over-consumption of alcohol. Pledges are coerced to drink absurd amounts of alcohol, many times resulting in their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) reaching dangerously high levels.  But not all cases of hazing involve alcohol. Here is a list of some of the most shocking hazing stories to have taken place over the years.

Texas A&M - Kappa Alpha Pledge Loses Testicle

About a decade ago, the Kappa Alpha fraternity at Texas A&M was indicted on criminal hazing charges when one of its pledge members was given a wedgie.  This wasn't just some ordinary run of the mill type of wedgie, but a wedgie of Herculean proportions.  The pledge was lifted clear up off the ground by his underwear, smashing one of his testicles against his thigh like a nut cracker.  The damage was so severe that doctors later had to remove said testicle.  A great start to the new semester.  The Fraternity was suspended until August of 1999.

Chico State University - Pledge Collapses And Dies

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On Feb 2, 2005 in the dark, medieval dungeon-like basement of the Chi Tau fraternity house, two pledges were forced to do calisthenics in raw sewage that had oozed out onto the floor.  For hours Matthew Carrington and Mike Quintana were ordered to drink copious amounts of water from a five-gallon jug with fans blasting icy air onto their wet bodies.  All of the strenuous activity and water drinking caused them to urinate and vomit on themselves.  Shortly after, Carrington collapsed and started to seizure.  The brothers didn't call an ambulance right away, and by the time Carrington got to the hospital he was pronounced dead due to swelling in the brain and lungs from water intoxication.  He was 21 years old.

Southwestern Illinois School Of Law - Pledge Freezes To Death

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One of the worst feelings in the whole  world has got to be knowing that one is going to die alone.  Which is exactly what happened in October of 1990, to pledge Jacqueline Farnsworth Farwell.  Before joining this sisterhood, each pledge is required to spend a night outside during the winter.  On Farwell's turn, she was taken to Oak Knoll Cemetery.  She was only allowed a parka, and was given a wool blanket and a candle.  The members of her sorority left at 12:30am and returned at 7:15am to retrieve Farwell.  When they didn't find her in the spot she was left in, they started searching, and found her some 50 yards away sitting against a gravestone frozen solid.

Vasavi Engineering College, Hyderabad, India - Ragging

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In India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka ragging is a form of abuse on newcomers to educational institutions. Ragging is very similar to the American phenomenon known as hazing, usually involving physical, psychological, or physiological harm.  On June 9, 2009, unable to put up with ragging by his seniors, Devender Kumar, a 22-year-old MCA student of Hyderabad-based Vasavi Engineering College, committed suicide by jumping in front of a train in the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh.  A suicide note that was recovered from Kumar's pocket, said the ragging was so bad that he was going to the utmost extreme by taking his own life, so that he did not have to bear the taunting of the seniors at his private college any longer.

Southeast Missouri State University - Pledge Beaten To Death

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In 1994 at Southeast Missouri State University, the pledges of Kappa Alpha Psi went through two weeks of physical hazing during their "hell week" initiation rush.  The beating reached their climax during a Valentine's day event, where members of the fraternity set up "stations" to hand out multiple beatings and emotional abuse.  Michael Davis was beaten so badly that he was left with broken ribs, a lacerated liver and kidney, multiple bruises, and bleeding in his brain.  The trauma to his head is what eventually killed him. The death of Michael Davis exposed a harrowing tradition of hazing at the school, and brought the state of Missouri to make hazing a felony after this tragic escapade.

State University Of New York - Pledge Dies From Water Intoxication

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In March of 2003 at the State University of New York, Walter Dean Jennings III pledged at the Psi Epsilon Chi fraternity.  During this time, Jennings was involved in a hazing ritual that lasted ten days.  The ritual included drinking massive amounts of water, sometimes forced through a funnel, regularly forcing him to  vomit as a result of how much water he had consumed.  Ultimately, he drank so much water that his brain swelled, causing him to die from water intoxication.  As a result of his death, 21 students were punished by the university over Jennings’ death, and 13 were charged with, and plead guilty to, crimes that included criminally negligent homicide.

Water intoxication occurs when there is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that result when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body are pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water.

University Of Texas - Pledge Falls From Five Story Building

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In 2006, at the University of Texas, a student pledging Sigma Alpha Epsilon fell from a fifth-story apartment building.  The night Tyler Cross died, he had been given substantial amounts of alcohol and was physically hazed. In the days leading up to the fatal incident of Cross' fall, he went through severe sleep deprivation, was beat with a bamboo rod, and shocked with a cattle prod.  The parents of Tyler Cross sued the fraternity and the University of Texas and were initially awarded a $16.2 million settlement, that they pursued in hopes that such a severe reaction and legal case would prevent any more hazing related deaths at the University of Texas.  To add insult to injury, the $16.2 million settlement was later overturned.

Alfred University - Pledge Dies From Alcohol Poisoning

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In 1978, at the Klan Alpine fraternity of Alfred University, Chuck Stevens was taken from the dorms to a party at the fraternity house by his older 'brothers'.  Stevens and two other pledges were locked in the trunk of a car and given a pint of Jack Daniels, a 6 pack of beer, and a quart of wine that had to be finished by the time the car stopped.  After the car ride the pledges were taken back to the fraternity house where they drank even more till the point of passing out.  When Stevens passed out, he was carried upstairs and left on a mattress where he ceased breathing.  The pledges and members found him in the morning unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.