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With college students set to return to campus for the start of the fall semester, there will be plenty of pledges across the country looking to get involved in greek life and join a fraternity on campus. That means the always avoidable hazing stories will still find a way to surface, but for students in New York there is an added layer of protection after a new law was passed.
This week, New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed an anti-hazing law that “prohibits certain physical contact or requiring physical activity during an organization’s initiating ceremony to prevent the deaths or serious injuries of students during fraternity pledging.”
From WBFO 88.7:
The new law was prompted by the death of a New York City college student in 2013. He died as a result of head injury during a fraternity hazing ritual. The Burch’s established a foundation to educate young adults on the dangers of hazing. They’re preparing a real-life video of the painful hazing that occurred to their son as a learning tool.
“I just don’t think these young kids are looking at this and taking all that serious,” said Kimberly Burch, whose son died of acute alcohol poisoning during a hazing incident at West Virginia University.
“At the end of the day, in a lot of these cases, especially when a child dies unfortunately – it’s murder,” said TJ Burch.
According to Cuomo, New York will have “zero tolerance” for hazing abuse.
