Anti-hazing bill passes through Ohio House
Just days after the second anniversary of Collin Wiant’s death, an anti-hazing bill bearing his name was approved in the Ohio House.
Legislators passed House Bill 310, also known as Collin’s Law: The Ohio Anti-bullying and Hazing Act, on Thursday. It is expected to move to the Senate after Thanksgiving.
Collin’s Law would strengthen consequences for acts of bullying and hazing, making it one of the most-comprehensive laws of its kind in the country, said sponsor Rep. David Greenspan,
R-westlake. Greenspan said the bill also would bring much-needed consistency across the state when dealing with allegations of bullying and hazing.
Wiant, a freshman at Ohio University from Dublin, died after collapsing on the floor of an unofficial, off-campus fraternity house on Nov. 12, 2018. A coroner ruled that Wiant died of asphyxiation due to nitrous oxide ingestion after he inhaled a canister of the gas, also known as a whippit. His parents, Kathleen and Wade Wiant, have become anti-hazing advocates and worked closely with legislators on the bill.
The Dispatch spent much of last year investigating hazing on college campuses and in other areas of society. In the spring of 2019, the newspaper found that only five hazing charges had been filed in at least 25 years in the courts near Ohio’s largest universities. The newspaper then spent months investigating the death of Wiant.
The calls for tougher laws and reforms came after The Dispatch published a six-part digital series, Broken Pledge, that detailed the severe hazing, life and death of Wiant.
Under the bullying section, the bill would require allegations of hazing of or by students in fourth- through 12thgrades to be investigated by the school district.
If a student were identified as a bully, that person would serve a disciplinary period up to 10 days. Bullies would not be allowed to participate in extracurriculars during that time. The student also could be required to participate in a community service related to his or her offense. The bill also encourages schools to offer tutoring, academic support and counseling services to both bullies and victims.
Greenspan said that under the bill, the definition of who is identified as a bully and the victim of bullying are expanded to include adults, such as teachers, staff members and parents.
On the hazing front, Collin’s Law would expand the definition of hazing in Ohio to include the forced consumption of drugs and alcohol.
Most notably, Greenspan said, the bill increases the criminal penalties for hazing, which in Ohio is now a fourthdegree misdemeanor, comparable to not paying a parking ticket. Under Collin’s Law, that would be raised to a seconddegree misdemeanor for general hazing and a third-degree felony for any hazing involving drugs or alcohol.
“These types of activities taint the overall purpose of these groups’ missions,” Greenspan said. “It diminishes the value of what these groups – these teams, these fraternities and sororities – set out to do.”
Ohio would become the 11th state in the nation to make hazing a felony charge if the Senate passes the proposed law and it’s signed by Ohio Gov.
Mike Dewine.
“This important passage puts Ohio on the short list of states that take hazing seriously enough to impose a felony with lifetime consequences for the hazers,” said Hank Nuwer, a professor emeritus at Franklin College in Indiana, who tracks hazing deaths and is the author of “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives.”
“It could help save a life, but it won’t stop hazing. It’s an important step toward addressing the problem and gives national fraternity and school leaders an important cudgel to hold over the heads of hazers who ignore basic human decency and personal safety.“
Nuwer said there have now been 92 hazing-related deaths in the United States since 2000. Nuwer said there have been thousands of others who have suffered mental and physical abuse, been forced to leave campuses or live in fear of retribution from those in Greek life if they tell anyone they were hazed.
Ohio University began investigating and suspending Greek organizations for hazing before the Dispatch series was even published. Sigma Pi, the fraternity Collin had rushed, was permanently banned from OU.
Dewine was among the first to call for the state to make hazing a felony and called up universities to do more to stop the dangerous behavior in Greek life.
Kathleen Wiant said she hopes that Collin’s Law is further strengthened in the Senate to increase all hazing penal
ties to a felony and force colleges and universities to increase hazing education and transparency.
“If we had known what Sigma Pi was doing, we would’ve said ‘no way’,” Kathleen Wiant said. “Collin would 100% be alive today.”
We’re going to keep fighting no matter what,” Wade Wiant said. “I just hope Collin is looking down on us and is proud of all we’re doing.” shendrix@dispatch.com @sheridan120 mwagner@dispatch.com @Mikewager48