NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Hank Nuwer about concerns that a pandemic-induced lull in hazing-related deaths may reverse as college students return to campus.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

There were zero reported deaths from college hazing incidents in 2020, but the pandemic lull on campuses is fading. And six young men have been charged with manslaughter after a sophomore at Bowling Green State University died of alcohol poisoning at a fraternity party. It's the second hazing-related death this year. Experts like Hank Nuwer are concerned that more may be on the way. He's an emeritus professor of journalism at Franklin College. He's written five books on hazing.

Welcome to the program.

HANK NUWER: Thank you.

CORNISH: Can you give us just shortly the details of the Ohio case?

NUWER: Well, Ohio's had several problems this particular year. But Stone Foltz died at Bowling Green State University. He was asked to drink a handle of alcohol, which amounts to 40 shots.

CORNISH: As I mentioned, several people have been charged in this case. And among those charges, there's involuntary manslaughter, hazing, obstruction of justice. How common are charges at all in these kinds of cases and these particular charges in this one?

NUWER: There have been charges all along, but often they get dropped or they're unsuccessful. So I would consider this to be a landmark case because of the possibility of at least five years of imprisonment if the prosecutor is successful.

CORNISH: Can we dig into that a little bit more? Why is it common for these cases to be dropped or dismissed? What's going on legally?

NUWER: Some states like Texas - doesn't matter if there's, quote-unquote, "consent" of the victim. It doesn't matter, but other places, it does. The other is we have 44 state laws out there on hazing, but some are very, very weak. And Ohio's is weak now, but they're trying to strengthen it after a death at Ohio University and now Bowling Green.

CORNISH: It's pretty clear the pandemic had an effect on all this, right? Because kids weren't around, they weren't on campus, and therefore there were zero deaths reported. Now that campuses are bringing students back, what do you expect to see?

NUWER: Well, what I'm seeing is, in effect, we have two freshman classes in that the sophomores have been taking online classes. Now they're going to be out there, and they haven't had any hazing or alcohol education programs. They're coming out there with a gusto because now they're the people of status who have power over these pledges. And then the regular freshman class is coming in all excited, as usual. And we've seen so many times where a death occurs in the first couple of days of the students on campus, sometimes before they've taken a single class.

CORNISH: We've been talking about this issue for years. What are some of the challenges that have really made it difficult to try and end fraternity hazing?

NUWER: Well, in my opinion, campuses are the perfect storm for something like this because we're all about status and power. All of these obstacles have led to today when alcohol has been added to the mix. There wasn't a single death from alcohol before 1940, now it's one of the most major. There were 62 deaths from 2009 to 2021. Thirty-nine were alcohol related.

CORNISH: Finally, is this an opportunity for a reset for some of these campuses, some of these schools and universities? And what would that look like, especially given the constraints of the pandemic?

NUWER: OK. I want a hard approach. You have to go after the alumni who are encouraging this. You have to punish all of the hazing, not temporarily. This is - this tradition has to stop, and it can't be looked at as tradition as Mr. Dodson, the prosecutor, is doing in the Stone Foltz case. You have to prosecute to the fullest extent.

CORNISH: That was Hank Nuwer, an emeritus professor of journalism at Franklin College.

Thank you so much for speaking with us.

NUWER: Thank you, Audie. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Tags: greek life  college campuses  higher education  hazing