BGSU students call for action against hazing
Look for accountability of Greek organizations from university
Nearly 100 students rallied at Bowling Green State University on Tuesday to remember the life of Stone Foltz, a classmate who died Sunday from an alleged hazing incident. They also called for greater accountability of Greek organizations by the university.
Foltz, a 2019 graduate of Buckeye Valley High School in Delaware County, was placed on life support Friday after he was given “a copious amount of alcohol” at an off-campus event Thursday evening organized by the BGSU chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha and then dropped off at his apartment by fraternity members, according to Sean Alto, an attorney for the family. He was a pledge of the fraternity.
BGSU officials said Pi Kappa Alpha, commonly known as PIKE, has been stripped of its status as a student organization, and the international fraternity has said it instructed leadership at the Bowling Green chapter to cooperate with the university’s investigation.
But many students at the Bowling Green university – who are both involved with and opposed to Greek life – are demanding punishment beyond just a suspension.
Student organizers of Tuesday’s protest listed four demands for university leaders, including the resignation of President Rodney K. Rogers for what some
students say is his allowance of “dangerous practices” in Greek life during his tenure at Bowling Green.
They also called for the permanent expulsion of PIKE from campus; a better system to report hazing and other negative behaviors within the Greek system; and acknowledgement from BGSU administration that this wasn’t an isolated hazing incident at PIKE and the university would hold the Greek life system more accountable.
Organizers said those involved in Tuesday’s rally are not giving interviews because they want “the protest to speak for itself.”
University officials said Rogers did not attend Tuesday’s protests because he was in a phone conference with Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine and other university presidents to make Ohio a “hazing-free” state. A statement from the university about the protest was not immediately available Tuesday afternoon.
Students gathered at Bowling Green’s Greek Village, the university’s on-campus townhouses for its 32 fraternity and sorority chapters, around 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The Greek letters on PIKE’S fraternity house had already been stripped from the tan vinyl siding by the time students gathered to protest. Pictures of Foltz, candles and bouquets of white daisies were placed at a memorial for the 20year-old business major in front of the house.
Students and faculty members participated in a moment of silence for Foltz before marching across campus to Mcfall Center, where the offices of university administrators are located. Some carried signs with such sayings as “Justice 4 Foltz” and “HAZING KILLS.”
On the steps of Mcfall Center, protest organizers led chants and invited students to share their own experiences with hazing.
Connor Oneal, 21, of Whitehouse in Lucas County, said one of the first things he remembers being told during his freshman year was to steer clear of PIKE parties because “PIKE spikes,” referring to members spiking drinks with date rape drugs.
He later rushed a fraternity himself, but said he dropped out once he started being hazed.
“I left, but what about all the people that don’t?” Oneal said. “Stone came to this university looking to be accepted. Instead, he was put in a position where he was vulnerable and taken advantage of.”
Hope Schneider, 20, of Cincinnati, said she also left her sorority after she was hazed.
“I was hazed, tried to report it and nothing happened,” Schneider said.
Schneider wouldn’t disclose the sorority, saying she still has friends in the
“Stone came to this university looking to be accepted. Instead, he was put in a position where he was vulnerable and taken advantage of.”
Connor Oneal, 21
organization. But she said she wanted people to know that hazing happens in sororities just as much as in fraternities but that it’s more about emotional manipulation than physical abuse.
“I’ve been ostracized by the Greek community here. I was silenced by my sorority,” she said. “But we need to make sure that we never forget Stone.”
Schneider said many Greek life members are explicitly told by their international organizations not to speak out or talk to the media about instances of hazing. She added that she’s skeptical that things will change at the university, but hopeful that the protest and the speaking out by students are a step in the right direction.
Her friend, Lindsey Taylor, said she also felt obligated to speak out. The 19year-old Delaware native said she graduated with Foltz and knew him personally.
“He was a friend of mine and he deserves justice,” Taylor said. “These fraternities can’t keep getting a slap on the wrist.
“His life was just starting, and now that frat has caused so much trauma on so many people who loved him.” shendrix@dispatch.com @sheridan120