Four 2017 alcohol-related hazing fatalities forces a change
In Baton Rouge Thursday two students pleaded no contest to charges connected to the drinking death of an LSU fraternity pledge. The parents of a Penn State student who died in an alcohol-related hazing incident settled this week with the national fraternity that their son had pledged.
The drip of steady headlines linking young college students and deaths from consuming alcohol as part of fraternity pledges has prompted the North American Interfraternity Conference to change their policy, banning by a nearly unanimous vote the serving of hard liquor at frat houses nationwide.
NIC CEO and President Judson Horras says drinking on college campuses is not a problem exclusive to fraternities but is an issue they are working to address. At their annual meeting at the end of August, the Conference announced they will implement the new policy effective September 1, 2019, though Horras expects a number of the nation’s 800 chapters will respond before then. “They have a year to pass the policy individually and begin the implementation, although we see that many have already begun the process as of this week.”
He says on a swing through Texas he encountered a positive reception. “I was with a group of students last night at the University of Texas in Austin. The overwhelming feedback I got from student leaders was that this is a very thoughtful, reasonable policy and they saw the merits in it.”
Texas State University banned Greek Life from campus last year following a hazing fatality involving alcohol consumed off campus.