Senate passes bill beefing up hazing prevention, penalties
The Ohio Senate on Wednesday passed an anti-hazing measure, which would increase criminal penalties for hazing and require a statewide plan to prevent the acts at colleges.
Senate Bill 126, also known as Collin’s Law: The Ohio Anti-Hazing Act, passed unanimously.
It now heads to the House for consideration.
Under the bill — sponsored by Republican state Sens. Stephanie Kunze of the Columbus area and Theresa Gavarone of Bowling Green — teachers, consultants, alumni, school volunteers of any K-12 or post-secondary school could be subject to hazing laws. Currently, the law only subjects administrators, employees and faculty members to the law.
The bill would increase the penalty for recklessly participating in or permitting hazing to a second-degree misdemeanor, instead of a fourth-degree misdemeanor under current law.
The law would require the Ohio chancellor of higher education to adopt a statewide educational plan for preventing hazing at all colleges, with a model anti-hazing policy and guidelines for anti-hazing education and training. Each public and private college in Ohio would have to adopt an anti-hazing policy, report hazing incidents and provide students and faculty training.
“Universities will now have a website where parents and students can access this information, so they can make an educated, informed decision about what organizations to join or not,” Kunze said.
“This legislation is not only about enhancing penalties but pushes a change in campus culture, and increased consequences for hazing show how serious we as a state will take hazing.”
Collin’s Law is named after Collin Wiant, an Ohio State University student who died in 2018 in an unofficial, off-campus fraternity house.
His family said he was beaten, forced to take drugs and waterboarded as part of hazing.
The bill died in the last legislative session, but was introduced again after the March 7 death of Bowling Green State University student Stone Foltz, who the Lucas County coroner determined died of alcohol poisoning during a college fraternity induction ritual. He was at an off-campus Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity party.