Now it’s the local chapter Beta Theta Pi, which was already on double-secret probation for some malfeasance a few years back, and was supposed to be “alcohol free.”
I guess that means “free alcohol” because here’s what happened per CNN:
Piazza, 19, died following his first night pledging Beta Theta Pi, a fraternity that was supposed to be alcohol-free as a result of a suspension eight years ago. Surveillance footage played in court shows Piazza falling repeatedly, including down a flight of stairs, following the event involving heavy drinking.
Most of us might be in some degree of trouble if we did that to a 19 year-old. But not the Beta bros. They’ve got a friend in Magisterial District Judge Allen Sinclair of Centre County, who dismissed, pre-trial, all the involuntary manslaughter charges against eight of those lovable scamps.
But don’t take my word for it. Per CNN:
The cause of death was traumatic brain injury that resulted from several falls, including a fall down a set of basement stairs, according to a 65-page statement issued by Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller after a county grand jury investigation.
A forensic pathologist calculated Piazza had a blood alcohol content between .26 and .36 percent at one point during the night -- an amount that would render him "stuporous" and be "life-threatening," the statement said. The fraternity, the grand jury said, "cultivated such a permissive atmosphere regarding excessive alcohol consumption that Timothy Piazza's death was not simply an unfortunate accident, but was the direct result of encouraged reckless conduct that demonstrated a reckless disregard for human life, or a reckless indifference to the possible consequences of such conduct." But wait, there’s more! "Throughout the night, Timothy got up and fell more times. In the morning ... this young man fell again down those stairs and he laid at the bottom of those stairs for a number of hours. And when they brought him up this last time, he was in dire ... need of help." The fraternity brothers appeared to be frightened and some searched on Google about what to do for a head injury. "They literally delayed getting him help. And when they finally did call for help they did not tell anyone that he had fallen," Miller said. "When he arrived at the hospital it was too late." Afterward, frat members tried to cover up what happened, authorities said. Pledges were instructed by frat leadership to clean up the house and get rid of any evidence of alcohol, the prosecutor's statement said. Frat members communicated through the "GroupMe" application and discussed deleting online conversations before they talked to authorities.Penn State of course denies any sort of responsibility for carrying out the alcohol “ban” at the fraternity. I guess it was just “one of those things.” Check out this wikipedia page for a partial list. There’s some really dillies on that list, including this one, from 1921 at Northwestern University:
Mount disappeared on the evening of a class hazing event and was discovered deceased two years later in a hole beneath a pier between heavy slabs of concrete. Several feet of knotted rope were found around the skeleton, and physicians who examined the body gave the opinion that lime was placed over the body before it was hidden, as well as reapplied several times after to prevent the body from being discovered. Police were suspicious of hazing as a cause of death because another student, Arthur Persinger, was found bound, gagged in the same way, hanging off the pier with his head down toward the water as a form of hazing. Persinger survived.
Boys will be boys, I guess. Especially white boys, unlike the black men who were convicted of manslaughter and other serious crimes following the 2011 hazing (actually criminal assault) death of the drum major.