The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roswell teen honored in La. anti-hazing law
Maureen Downey: Max Gruver was a well-liked young man who died at Louisiana State University of an all-too-common practice.
Max Gruver lived in Louisiana for four weeks of his life, yet this month, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a law that bears the 18-yearold’s name.
The Max Gruver Act does not speak to how Gruver lived, but how the bright and well-liked teen from Roswell died — a victim of hazing by a Louisiana State University fraternity.
His death and those of three other young people from hazing in 2017 have rekindled the debate over whether universities should continue to permit organizations on their campuses that kill at least one student every year.
I have written a lot about the risks of Greek life, most often about studies showing higher levels of binge drinking among members of fraternities and sororities. Increasingly, I’ve been writing about deaths due to hazing.
A 2008 study, “Hazing in View: College Students at Risk,” found 55 percent of college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experienced hazing. Among the common forms of hazing: Alcohol consumption,
humiliation, isolation, sleep-deprivation and sex acts. Many students accept hazing as part of the campus culture.
Gruver is not the first metro Atlanta student to die from hazing. In 2011, Robert Champion of DeKalb County died aboard a Florida A&M University bus following a football game after being pummeled by other members of the school’s Marching 100 band with fists and instruments during a ritual known as “crossing Bus C.” Champion was a drum major, a coveted position awarded to band members who prove themselves as leaders.
Gruver’s death nine months ago at Phi Delta Theta was blamed on a raucous two-hour initiation ritual called “bible study” in which pledges were forced to gulp down 190-proof liquor. At the time of his death, Gruver had a blood alcohol level more than six times the legal limit for drivers. The cause of death was acute alcohol intoxication with aspiration.
Four former LSU students were indicted — one on negligent-homicide and three on hazing charges — in his death. In April, they pleaded not guilty. The frat has been
banned from LSU’s campus.
In reaction to Gruver’s death, Louisiana just enacted a set of new laws to discourage hazing and strengthen penalties. Gruver’s parents and two younger siblings attended the signing. Under the Max Gruver Act, some forms of hazing can now be prosecuted as felonies. Participants in hazing that leads to an alcohol-related death would face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. (Georgia law prohibits hazing, but treats it as a misdemeanor and leaves sentencing to the courts.)
One of the most sweeping responses to hazing from a university came after the death of Timothy Piazza
at Penn State. The 19-yearold died in February of 2017 after a Beta Theta Pi pledge acceptance party. In 82 minutes, Piazza consumed 18 drinks in a tradition called the gauntlet. He fell down a flight of stairs twice, yet no frat members called for help for 12 hours. On Wednesday, one of the 26 students facing charges in connection with Piazza’s death pleaded guilty to four counts of hazing and five counts of unlawful acts related to alcohol.
Penn State permanently ousted Beta Theta Pi from its campus and imposed multiyear suspensions on 13 other Greek organizations for safety violations, some uncovered by university monitors who now make spot checks. The university went further, assuming control of the fraternity and sorority organizational misconduct and adjudication process, and instituting a new recruitment policy delaying rush until students have completed a full semester. The state of Pennsylvania is considering a law to harshen penalties for hazing.
Both LSU and Penn State had prohibitions against hazing and alcohol, but the booze-soaked image of frats immortalized in “Animal House” still resonates with students. New research from the University of Michigan followed high school seniors through age 35, and found males who lived at least one semester in a fraternity house had significantly higher rates of binge drinking during and after college, compared to their college peers not involved in fraternities, and non-students of the same age.
The strategy at most campuses remains trying to reform frat houses rather than remove them. In researching his book “True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America’s Fraternities,” journalist John Hechinger said, “I was surprised in my research how much they are in the fabric of higher education.”