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Up until a few years ago, ‘hazing’ horror stories coming out of US colleges were something British parents only ever read about in utter dismay.
But according to students at UK universities, the extreme culture of abusive (and often life-threatening) initiation rituals has well and truly made it across the Atlantic.
Earlier this week, the Mail reported how British teens wishing to join sports societies have been made to eat live goldfish and tins of dog food by older peers after already consuming potentially lethal amounts of alcohol.
Meanwhile, one Cambridge University fresher detailed how he was part of a group of students who doused themselves in lighter fuel before setting the toilet paper they had stuffed into their shorts on fire.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the ‘hazing’ ritual almost had a tragic end for one of the young men – whose thighs became engulfed in flames, leading to him being hospitalised that night.
First year university students are taking part in ‘hazing’ in which would-be members of sports clubs and other groups must perform humiliating or dangerous tasks before they are eligible join them. Pictured: a student at St Andrews covers themselves in foam to honour their ‘academic family’
However, other US students haven’t had such a lucky escape. In the past 24 years, over 100 students have died as a result of ‘hazing’ – while others have been left severely disabled from alcohol poisoning.
The phenomenon dates all the way back to the 1730s – when the Philadelphia Masons threw boiling liquid over their new member Daniel Rees, who had already been made to kiss the backsides of his older colleagues. He died as a result of the burns two days later.
That said, the culture of extreme hazing has reached fever pitch in recent years – prompting the U.S. House of Representatives passing a new law in September establishing stricter punishments for hazing.
Schools must now enforce anti-hazing policies as part of the legislation and there are now felony offences for serious injuries or deaths caused by hazing.
Here MailOnline looks back at just five of the tragic cases that have shocked the US in recent years – as the ‘hazing’ crisis hits the UK.
Forced to consume 18 drinks in 90 minutes and ‘body-slammed’ following 15-feet fall
On 2 February 2017, Timothy Piazza – a second-year engineer student from New Jersey – took part in an initiation for the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Pennsylvania State University.
In order to join the fraternity, initiates were ordered to drink repeated shots of vodka before running a ‘gauntlet’ while drinking beer, wine, and playing beer pong.
Timothy Piazza, 19, consumed 18 drinks in less than 90 minutes before he collapsed and fell down a flight of stairs during a Beta Theta Pi hazing event at Penn State in February 2017
Beta Theta Pi president Brendan Young pleaded guilty to 14 counts of hazing and a single count of reckless endangerment
During the evening, the high school track star was made to consume 18 drinks in 90 minutes – and later fell 15-feet down a flight of stairs.
Video played in court showed that Piazza collapsed just before 11:30pm but no one came to his assistance.
According to a grand jury report, Timothy was slapped in the face following the fall and then thrown onto a sofa by fellow students.
He was then seen repeatedly collapsing as he attempted to crawl, rolled around the floor, vomited in his sleep, and went in-and-out of consciousness over the course of the next eight hours.
As the hours passed he was body-slammed into a couch by one frat member, had a beer or multiple beers dumped on him by another, and later lay comatose while one young man threw his shoes at the visibly inebriated college student.
Video played in court showed that Piazza collapsed just before 11:30pm but no one came to his assistance
Timothy (right, pictured with his family) died due to a fractured skull and lacerated spleen – injuries he suffered during initiation night for the pledges of Penn State’s Bet
The next morning, he was carried to another sofa in the fraternity house after he was found with blood on his face on the basement floor.
A group text among the fraternity members read: ‘Also, Tim Piazza might actually be a problem. He fell 15 feet down a flight of stairs, hair-first, going to need help.’
Almost 12 hours after Timothy’s fall, a fraternity member called 911 and requested an ambulance.
Tragically, Timothy Piazza died of a traumatic brain injury the next day. He was 20 years old.
Last month, the two Penn State students who organised the hazing ritual responsible for Timothy’s death were sentenced to four months in prison.
Beta Theta Pi president Brendan Young, 28, and vice-president Daniel Casey, 27, pleaded guilty in July to 15 counts of hazing and reckless endangerment.
Following their release, they will both serve three years’ probation and complete community service.
Timothy’s father, Jim, told DailyMail.com after the sentence was handed down that he does not believe Young or Casey showed ‘real remorse.’
‘But let’s see what their future actions are,’ he said.
Jim accepted there are ‘no winners’ in such a tragic case, but expressed disappointment in an initial decision to dismiss several more serious charges, including manslaughter.
Pictured: Timothy Piazza’s parents Jim and Evelyn, who spent the years following their son’s death working on the Timothy J Piazza Hazing law
On 2 February 2017, Timothy Piazza (right, with his family) – a second-year engineer student from New Jersey – took part in an initiation for the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Pennsylvania State University
As a result, the charges that the duo pleaded guilty to were lesser misdemeanours and limited potential reasonable sentencing options.
‘I do believe that with the remaining charges that Judge Marshall had to work with, his statements after the sentencing about the defendants lack of leadership and his sentencing overall was well reasoned and fair.
‘Hopefully this sentencing makes a statement that hazing someone to death and hazing in general is not acceptable in Centre County or the state of Pennsylvania, especially with the new Timothy J Piazza Hazing law.’
Under the new legislation, hazing that results in death or serious bodily injury will be considered a fourth-degree crime.
Forced to consume gallon of alcohol in an hour and ‘pelted with eggs’
Collin Wiant´s family has sued the Sigma Pi fraternity, alleging the teen from the Columbus suburb of Dublin died of asphyxiation after ingesting nitrous oxide provided to and forced on him by fraternity members
On 12 November 2018, Collin Wiant became another student to fall victim to hazing when he attended an initiation at the Sigma Pi fraternity.
That evening, the Ohio University freshman was ‘forced to consume a gallon of alcohol in an hour’, according to a lawsuit filed by his family.
They claim Collin had been selected as a ‘pledge’ two months before he died and was required to be ‘on call’ at all hours of the day for other Sigma Pi members, which contributed to an sharp decline in his academic performance and mental health.
On the night he died, Collin was allegedly also beaten with a belt, pelted with eggs, deprived of sleep and forced to consume a toxic cocktail of cocaine, marijuana, Adderall and Xanax.
Collin’s family sued the Sigma Pi fraternity, alleging the teen from the Columbus suburb of Dublin died of asphyxiation after ingesting nitrous oxide provided to and forced on him by fraternity members.
Collin was rushed to Ohio Health O’Bleness Hospital in Athens where he was pronounced dead. His unconscious body had been found surrounded by nitrous-oxide cannisters (pictured: Owen poses with his sister, and his parents Kathleen and Wade, in 2018)
Pictured: the fraternity house where Collin Wiant was found unresponsive in November 2017
The Sigma Pi fraternity was ordered to shut down immediately in the wake of Wiant’s tragic death.
Then in October, all fraternities at Ohio University were indefinitely suspended after claims of rampant hazing.
In November 2019, nine men were charged over Collin’s death. Two former students indicted for involuntary manslaughter and another for reckless homicide.
Most of the defendants faced drug- or alcohol-related charges, such as permitting drug abuse or trafficking in cocaine, LSD or harmful intoxicants. Five were charged with misdemeanour hazing.
In July 2021, Collin’s Law, which is also known as the Ohio Anti-Hazing Act, increased the penalty for hazing to a second-degree misdemeanour while hazing resulting in serious harm is now a third-degree felony in the state.
The law also means the Ohio Department of Higher Education is required to enforce a state-wide anti-hazing plan. Meanwhile, failure to report incidents of hazing could also result in a first-degree misdemeanour.
Nine men were charged over the alleged hazing death of Ohio University student Colin Wiant, 18, (pictured), who was forced to take drugs and drink a gallon of alcohol in an hour
‘Left to die’ on sofa after being forced to drink 40 shots
Tragedy struck for another Ohio student in March 2020 – when Stone Foltz died after he fell victim to hazing at an initiation for Pi Kappa Alpha’s Delta Beta chapter.
The Bowling Green State University student was in his second year of a business major when he attended the event – where he was allegedly blindfolded and forced to drink 40 shots.
After the initiation, Stone was reportedly dropped off at his apartment by members of the fraternity and was discovered unconscious by a roommate.
Stone died in hospital three days later – and his mother Shari has previously said she feels her son was ‘murdered’.
The family of Stone Foltz (pictured) who died from alcohol poisoning while pledging a fraternity were awarded a nearly $3million settlement from Bowling Green State University
Foltz’s parents Cory and Shari filed a lawsuit saying pledges were blindfolded and taken into a basement where they were encouraged to down an entire bottle of alcohol each
Discussing her son’s death on Good Morning America in 2020, Shari said: ‘I can’t describe the pain – there’s a piece of my heart that’s gone.
‘To me he was forced into something, the outcome is he was murdered.’
The family’s lawsuit describes how fraternity pledges, including Stone, were allegedly blindfolded and taken into a basement, where they were encouraged to down an entire bottle of alcohol each.
The suit states that Stone was forced to drink the bottle, the equivalent of 40 shots, then dropped off at his apartment and left on the sofa unsupervised.
His roommate later found him still breathing and called Stone’s girlfriend, then 911. The 20-year-old was rushed to hospital where he died a few days later.
In January 2023, Stone’s family were awarded a nearly $3million settlement from Bowling Green State University.
‘I can’t describe the pain – there’s a piece of my heart that’s gone. It’s just unimaginable, I can’t even explain to you’: Shari is pictured with Stone at his high school graduation
Foltz’s parents Cory and Shari, pictured, have started a foundation and said during a joint announcement of the settlement on Monday that they will work with the university to eliminate hazing on college campuses
Eight former fraternity members either pleaded guilty or were found guilty on various charges, including reckless homicide, hazing and giving alcohol to a minor.
Two of the eight were acquitted last year of more serious charges including involuntary manslaughter. Their defense attorneys had argued Foltz was not forced or required to finish an entire bottle of alcohol and made that decision on his own.
In their wrongful death lawsuit, Foltz’s parents accused the school of failing to stop hazing in fraternities and sororities despite being aware of it.
It stated they were seeking damages as the defendants’ conduct was ‘utterly intolerable in a civilized society’.
His parents Cory and Shari have started a foundation and said during a joint announcement of the settlement they will work with the university to eliminate hazing on college campuses.
Left disabled and blind following ‘worst ever hazing incident’
Before: Danny is shown in 2020 before the hazing incident left him permanently disabled
Danny Santulli is now blind, unable to talk and in a wheelchair as a result of the brain damage he suffered on a brutal night of hazing last October
In October 2021, Danny Santulli was forced to drink so much alcohol during a Phi Gamma Delta fraternity event in October 2021 that he was left with permanent brain damage as a result of severe alcohol poisoning.
The events of that evening left the former University of Missouri student – who was only 18 years old – wheelchair bound, blind and unable to speak.
In the days leading up to the pledge initiation event, Danny’s mother Mary said that her son was ‘very sleep deprived’ and claimed the fraternity had ‘drained’ his bank account.
She told Fox News: ‘At that point, I talked to him and said, «Danny, you don’t have to go through this. You can quit. You have to do what’s best for you.»
‘He was… quiet about it. And then two days later, this happened… I just couldn’t believe what took place that night.’
Danny is shown slumped half-off of the couch inside the frat house after passing out
Danny Santulli is shown above being carried to a car to be driven to the hospital on October 20 after a brutal night of hazing at his University of Missouri fraternity
During the initiation, the teenager was ordered to down a 1.75 liter bottle of Tito’s and had beer force-fed to him through a tube.
Surveillance footage obtained by Good Morning America shows Danny and the other pledges being led shirtless and blindfolded down a staircase in the frat house.
Later, he is force-fed beer through a tube and then he is seen falling backwards, passing out on a table and then slumped on a couch.
The footage also shows his panicked frat brothers trying to carry him into a car to take him to the hospital once they realised how severe his condition was.
By the time he got there, he had stopped breathing for long enough to cause severe brain damage.
The teenager’s blood-alcohol content was 0.486 percent, more than six times the legal limit for driving.
Fraternity member Ryan Delanty had been designated Santulli’s ‘pledge dad’ at the hazing.
He allegedly sent a text to a friend at 10.57pm to a friend saying: ‘My son is dead.’ The friend replied asking what had happened and Delanty answered: ‘I left him’.
After months in a rehabilitation centre, Danny was recently taken home to Missouri where his mother quit her banking job to care for him round-the-clock.
Santulli now requires round the clock care which his family say has cost them around $2 million
Pictured: Danny Santulli’s mother, who quit her banking job to scare for her son around the clock
According to the family’s lawsuit against the two frat boys who organised the event, the pair wanted to make the night one ‘the pledges wouldn’t forget’ so filled the frat house with ‘cocaine, marijuana and alcohol’.
The lawsuit also claims the boys were under caution from the school for a previous hazing incident at the time.
‘This is the worst fraternity hazing case ever in the US in terms of injury. You can’t be any worse injured and still be alive,’ the family’s lawyer David Bianchi told DailyMail.com at the time.
‘He’s got massive brain damage, he’s blind, he cant walk.. it’s unlikely there will ever be any material change.’
Earlier this year, Danny’s parents said their son is ‘alive for a reason’ and are ‘on a mission’ to ensure the students responsible for the incident face justice.
‘I do personally want to see specific kids get felonies,’ Santulli told Fox News Digital. ‘That’s going to wake them up. A misdemeanor is not going to wake them up.’
‘I think Danny’s alive… because other kids were not as fortunate when there was a hazing incident,’ he added. ‘He’s alive for a reason.’
Found covered in urine and vomit
Phat Nguyen, 21, died in November after a brutal night of drinking at the Pi Alpha Phi off-campus fraternity house in East Lansing, Michigan
One month after Danny Santulli’s ordeal, Michigan State student Phat Nguyen died from acute alcohol intoxication after a brutal night of drinking at the Pi Alpha Phi off-campus fraternity house.
Witnesses from the party said they found Phat in a ‘dirty’ basement room, ‘stripped to his shorts’ with the word ‘simp’ written on his back.
He was one of four pledges who passed out and had to be taken to the hospital that night – the other three survived despite being found with blood dripping from their noses, and ‘convulsing’.
Speaking to State News, they explained: ‘We started walking into the basement and before we were down the stairs all the way, the smell of urine hit me. It was really, really strong. The air got really thick,’ an unidentified witness said.
The Pi Alpha Phi off-campus fraternity house in East Lansing, Michigan, where Nguyen died in November 2021 in the basement
Michigan State student Phat Nguyen died from acute alcohol intoxication after a brutal night of drinking at the Pi Alpha Phi off-campus fraternity house in November 2021
‘It was really gross like you could smell something, and it wasn’t even just urine, it was a mix of something just kind of like vomit.
‘It was a really dirty old room, no furniture, nothing.
‘The room looked like it was rotting and there were a couple of mattresses on the ground, super dirty.’
Ethan Cao, Hoang Pham, and Andrew Nguyen were all charged with one count each of felony hazing resulting in death, and three misdemeanor counts of hazing resulting in physical injury for three other boys who were also taken to the hospital on the night of the incident but who survived.
