List of hazing deaths in the United States
This is a list of hazing deaths in the United States. This is not an exhaustive list. An exact list is not available because there is no central system for tracking hazing deaths, and the role of hazing in some deaths is subject to disagreement. Inclusion in this list requires that the incident was described by the media as a hazing-related death. Incidents involving criminal or civil proceedings that did not find a definite link with hazing may still be included if they meet this criterion.
According to the National Collaborative for Hazing Research and Prevention at the University of Maine, hazing is defined as "any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers them, regardless of a person's willingness to participate". Although hazing is often associated with the activities that take place as a prerequisite for joining a group, it can also include activities that take place as an established member, such as the 2011 death of fraternity brother George Desdunes.
There has been at least one university hazing death each year from 1969 to 2017. According to Franklin College journalism professor Hank Nuwer, over 200 university hazing deaths have occurred since 1838, with 40 deaths between 2007 and 2017 alone. Alcohol poisoning is the biggest cause of death.
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| Date of death | Victim | Organization | University | Cause of Death | Notes |
| October 15, 2010 | Tau Kappa Epsilon | Radford University | Alcohol intoxication | According to his mother, Mason died of alcohol poisoning after taking part in the fraternity's "family drink" ritual, where pledges are given a large amount of alcohol and told to finish an allotted portion. In this case, she claims the alcohol was in a 5-gallon gas can. His BAC was 0.48 at the time of his death. | |
| 2010 | and Briana Latrice Gather | Delta Sigma Theta | East Carolina University | Traffic collision after sleep deprivation and fatigue | Carter and Gather died in a traffic accident around 6:30 am on the way to a hair appointment to prepare for initiation. Gather and Carter had undergone a number of grueling hazing activities that week, including the "Delta TV," in which the pledges were forced to get into and hold a push-up position, do "wall sits" and maintain that stance for a long period of time, and do the "Delta Chair": standing on one leg and holding heavy bricks over their heads. The pledges also wore "Delta Lipstick": hot sauce rubbed on their lips, and ate a "Delta Apple," a large raw onion; they were also asked to eat large amounts of cottage cheese, and drink buttermilk. The driver of the vehicle, a fellow pledge who survived, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. According to the lawsuit filed by the family, she was suffering from "excessive and overwhelming fatigue, exhaustion and sleep deprivation and fell asleep behind the wheel" because of the pledging exercises. The night and morning hours prior to the accident, the pledges had been practicing the "probate death march," an aspect of the initiation ceremony. They did not have the opportunity to sleep as a result of the long hours of practice. |
| February 25, 2011 | Sigma Alpha Epsilon | Cornell University | Alcohol intoxication | Desdunes died of alcohol poisoning following a Sigma Alpha Epsilon ritual that is the reverse of traditional hazing rituals. Freshman pledges kidnap older members, blindfold them, and bind their wrists and ankles with zip ties and duct tape. The fraternity brothers are asked trivia questions about Sigma Alpha Epsilon and drink if they get an answer wrong. | |
| 2011 | Florida A&M Marching Band | Florida A&M University | Collapse | Champion was a drum major in the university's marching band, the Marching 100. He collapsed after undergoing a ritual referred to as "Crossing Bus C", in which band members must walk from the front of the bus to the back while other band members kick, punch, and hit him with straps, drum sticks, and other objects. Fellow band members told detectives that the ritual is required in order to be considered for leadership positions. The university president, James Ammons, resigned shortly after, as did two faculty members. The band was suspended for over a year. The leader, Dante Martin, was convicted of manslaughter and hazing charges and sentenced to six years in prison. | |
| November 2, 2012 | Pi Kappa Alpha | Northern Illinois University | Cardiac arrhythmia triggered by alcohol intoxication | Bogenberger died of a cardiac arrhythmia triggered by alcohol poisoning. "The event that night involved the pledges rotating between several rooms in the fraternity house, being asked a series of questions, and then being provided cups of vodka and other liquor to drink," police said in a statement. "This resulted in the pledges drinking a large quantity of alcohol in about a two-hour time period." Pledges were told to drink regardless of whether they answered questions correctly. In 2015, 22 former Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity members were convicted of various charges related to the death. None of the men were sentenced to jail time, mostly receiving fines and community service. Richard Schmack, DeKalb County State's Attorney, said it was the largest hazing prosecution in U.S. history. | |
| February 17, 2012 | Delta Gamma Iota | Vincennes University | Alcohol intoxication | Torrance died of alcohol poisoning after a bid night ceremony. | |
| September 3, 2012 | Theta Chi | California State University, Fresno | Alcohol intoxication | Dhanens died of alcohol poisoning after a hazing event in which 15 pledges were placed in a room where they were told they had to drink eight bottles of hard liquor in order to leave. His blood alcohol level was 0.36. The fraternity president pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor charge of hazing and was sentenced to three years' probation and community service; two other fraternity members pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of hazing and providing alcohol to a minor causing death and were sentenced to 90 days and 30 days in jail, respectively. | |
| March 26, 2012 | Delta Sigma Phi | High Point University | Oxymorphone overdose after brutal hazing | 22-year-old Robert Eugene Tipton Jr. was pledging Delta Sigma Phi when he was found unresponsive in an off-campus apartment on March 26, 2012. He was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day. The state medical examiner ruled that an oxymorphone overdose was the cause of death and no criminal charges were filed. The family filed a lawsuit against the fraternity, the university, and members of the fraternity alleging that Tipton was "violently" assaulted and battered during a fraternity "counseling session," and suffered blunt force trauma to the head, which led to his death. The suit also alleges that a fraternity member deleted text messages from Tipton's phone after his death to cover up the hazing. The suit contends the school was aware of "outrageous conduct" by the fraternity and misrepresented "information about the frequency or incidence of hazing, violence, injuries, substance abuse, and/or other dangerous and/or illegal activities at HPU or within Delta Sigma Phi." | |
| April 20, 2013 | Marvell Edmondson and Jauwan Holmes | Men of Honor | Virginia State University | Drowning | Edmondson and Holmes drowned during an initiation rite for the underground fraternity known as Men of Honor. Seven students locked arms and attempted to cross the Appomattox River together. Fraternity members told police they completed the same rite several months earlier without issue and the water was shallow enough to make it across without swimming. On April 20, however, the river had swelled considerably due to a recent storm and was moving more swiftly. The students quickly became submerged and were swept downstream. The other five men were rescued by members of the fraternity. Four fraternity members pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and hazing charges. |
| December 8, 2013 | Pi Delta Psi | Baruch College | Head injury | Deng died following a hazing ritual called "glass ceiling" while on a retreat in the Poconos. He was blindfolded and wearing a backpack filled with 20 pounds of sand. He fell over after being pushed, striking his head. After he lost consciousness, fraternity members delayed seeking medical assistance for two hours. He died two days later. | |
| July 1, 2014 | Pi Kappa Phi | California State University, Northridge | Heat stroke while hiking | Villa died following an 18-mile group hike with other pledges near Big Tujunga Canyon Road in Angeles National Forest. According to an attorney who represented Villa's parents, the group ran out of water at some point during the hike and Villa left the group in search of more water. He was later found unresponsive lying face down in a culvert. Other pledges told authorities that they didn't realize Villa "was any worse off than the other hikers," according to court documents. He died from heatstroke. His family is suing CSUN and the fraternity. Prosecutors declined to charge the fraternity president, stating that a group hike on a hot day with inadequate water supply did not fit the traditional definition of hazing. They argued that hazing deaths are usually the result of excessive alcohol consumption, drugs or physical injury inflicted by fraternity members, and Villa's death was not due to those causes. | |
| September 22, 2014 | Sigma Phi Epsilon | Clemson University | Head injuries after fall | Sigma Phi Epsilon pledge Tucker Hipps was participating in a group run with his fraternity around 5:30am when he fell from a bridge into shallow waters of Lake Hartwell. He died of head injuries from the fall. The fraternity members reported that he got separated from the group and didn't return from the run. He was reported missing and his body was found later on that day. The police investigating his death released a statement that they were unable to find any link between hazing and his death, but it was widely speculated, particularly on social media, that the death resulted from hazing. Because of the widespread rumors, the president's Interfraternity Council at Clemson voted to suspend pledge activities. Hipps family filed a lawsuit against Clemson University, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and three fraternity brothers. Citing an unnamed witness, they allege that Hipps was forced to walk the narrow railing of the S.C. 93 bridge before the fall. | |
| November 14, 2014 | Kappa Sigma | West Virginia University | Alcohol intoxication | Burch, 18, died of alcohol poisoning following an initiation function referred to as "Big-Little" on November 12. Burch was taken back to the fraternity house following the function because of his "high level of intoxication." Shortly before midnight, another member of Kappa Sigma noticed that Burch's face had a blue coloration to it and was unable to wake him. The fraternity brothers started CPR and called 911, but he died two days later. His blood alcohol content was measured at.493 percent. The fraternity brother who provided Burch with the bottle of alcohol was charged with one count of hazing and one count of conspiracy to commit hazing. | |
| November 17, 2014 | Zeta Beta Tau | University at Albany | Alcohol intoxication | Duffy, 19, died of alcohol poisoning two days after a pledging ritual in which he was to consume a 60-ounce bottle of Belvedere vodka. He had a blood alcohol level of 0.58. The ZBT chapter lost its recognition in the fall of 1997, but continued to operate underground. In 2011, the national fraternity Zeta Beta Tau formed a new chapter at Albany with the underground fraternity continuing to use the same name. The recognized ZBT chapter on University of Albany's campus was not involved in the incident. | |
| March 18, 2016 | United States Marine Corps | Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island | Polytrauma due to falling | Private Raheel Siddiqui, a twenty-year-old Marine recruit, died after falling from a 40-foot-high stairwell landing while running from Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Felix, a drill instructor who had previously hazed him by ordering him into an industrial clothes dryer several times, causing burns. Allegations also surfaced that Felix had harassed Siddiqui, who was a Muslim with Pakistani ancestry, on the basis of his religion, who called him a "terrorist." The drill instructor, Felix was charged in court-martial proceedings on a variety of charges, including cruelty and maltreatment. He received a ten-year sentence for maltreatment, violation of a lawful general order and dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, and drunk and disorderly conduct. | |
| October 27, 2016 | Ryan Abele | Sigma Nu | University of Nevada, Reno | Head injury while intoxicated with alcohol | On October 16, 2016, Abele, 18, was a freshman pledge when he was woken up with the rest of his pledge class at 5:45am following a party. Abele was ordered "to get the fuck down the stairs" where he slipped and fell, rupturing the main artery to his brain. Upon arrival at the hospital at 7:00am his BAC was found to be.30. Abele died the following week. |
| February 4, 2017 | Beta Theta Pi | Pennsylvania State University | Polytrauma while intoxicated with alcohol | Piazza, a 19-year-old pledge of the fraternity, died two days after falling down the stairs while intoxicated. He suffered a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, and nonrecoverable brain injury following the fall. Paramedics were not summoned for nearly 12 hours. Piazza is estimated to have had a BAC of nearly.40 on the night of the fall. In May 2017, following a grand jury investigation, eighteen members of the fraternity were charged in connection with the death: eight were charged with involuntary manslaughter and the rest with other offenses, including hazing. | |
| September 14, 2017 | Phi Delta Theta | Louisiana State University | Alcohol intoxication | Gruver, an 18-year old pledge from Roswell, Georgia, was taken to the hospital after an alleged drinking game hazing ritual known as "Bible Study". He was pronounced dead the same day. The cause of death was stated as being from "acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration". He had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.495 grams per 100ml of blood — equivalent to consuming 24 standard shots. | |
| November 3, 2017 | Pi Kappa Phi | Florida State University | Alcohol intoxication | Coffey, a 20-year old pledge from Pompano Beach, Florida was discovered unresponsive Friday, November 3, after a house party occurred the previous night. It was determined that Coffey died of alcohol poisoning after drinking an entire bottle of bourbon. The coroner estimates that his blood alcohol level was 0.558 at the time of death. | |
| November 12, 2018 | Sigma Pi | Ohio University | Asphyxia | Wiant, a freshman at Ohio University, died of asphyxiation due to nitrous oxide ingestion from whipped-cream chargers, an alleged part of a hazing practice involving sleep deprivation, physical beating and the forced ingestion of alcohol and drugs. | |
| January 12, 2019 | Sigma Alpha Epsilon | UC Irvine | accidental acute ethanol poisoning | Domingo, 18, had a blood alcohol level of approximately 0.331 when he died around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 12, 2019 according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. | |
| November 10, 2019 | Phi Gamma Delta | San Diego State | TBD: apparent head injury | Hernandez, 19, is reported to have attended an event at the Phi Gamma Delta house on November 6, 2019, then fell off his bed on the top bunk and hit his head; during the investigation, police have uncovered information that alleges the fraternity was "involved in possible misconduct." |