With just under a month remaining in President Joe Biden’s term, the commander-in-chief signed a flurry of bills, including a groundbreaking anti-hazing bill aimed at increasing transparency and accountability across college campuses in the U.S.
The new legislation, which faced years of setbacks in Congress, will provide students and parents with more information about hazing incidents and mandate that campuses implement stronger prevention measures.
The law comes as a result of years of advocacy from families like that of Gary Devercelly, an 18-year-old freshman at Rider University who died from hazing-related alcohol poisoning during a fraternity initiation in 2007. His death, which was part of a Phi Kappa Tau fraternity initiation, drew national attention.
The family won a lawsuit against Rider University and two of its employees over the incident and one student was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to hazing. Now, after years of countless fighting, the family applauds the new mandates.
The family said in a statement, “We’ve been pushing hard for this for a very long time… No parent should have to bury their child, especially not for something preventable like a hazing death.”
But, a decade later, the tragedies continued. In 2017, Hunterdon County native Timothy Piazza died during a hazing incident while pledging for a Penn State fraternity.
With the passage of this federal legislation, advocates hope that these new safeguards will protect future students from similar tragedies and ensure greater accountability from universities and Greek organizations.
