Weed in the Garden of Academe

Summary

Campus Files: Weed in the Garden of Academe – Detailed Summary

Episode Title: Weed in the Garden of Academe
Release Date: May 7, 2025
Host/Author: Audacy
Produced by: Ian Mont, Eliot Adler, and Margo Gray

Overview

“Campus Files,” an Audacy original podcast, delves beneath the idyllic façade of American college life to uncover the darker, more complex realities lurking within. In the episode titled “Weed in the Garden of Academe,” host Margo Gray explores the pervasive and deadly tradition of hazing in Greek life, tracing its historical roots, examining personal tragedies, and highlighting the ongoing struggle for accountability and reform.

---

Greek Life and the Culture of Hazing

Opening Segment:

Margo Gray introduces the topic by emphasizing the ingrained presence of Greek life in American colleges. She states, “Greek life is a cornerstone of the American college experience,” noting that annually, nearly 750,000 students pledge fraternities and sororities. Despite its prominence, hazing remains a significant and troubling aspect of this culture.

Key Statistic:

According to Gray, “73% of students in Greek life experience some form of hazing.” This alarming figure sets the stage for a deep dive into the origins and consequences of hazing within collegiate societies.

---

Hank Neuer: From Comic Books to Investigative Journalism

Background:

Hank Neuer, the central figure in this episode, recounts his early fascination with adventure and exploration through Frank Buck’s comic series. As Gray narrates, “Hank became an avid reader of the series and was fascinated by the natural world,” which ultimately influenced his career trajectory.

Catalyst for Change:

Neuer’s encounter with Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle at the age of 13 profoundly impacted him. “I started reading and I couldn't stop reading. I still remember the page with the workmen falling into the lard and his body being processed” (02:20). This experience underscored for him the transformative power of journalism, compelling him to pursue investigative work aimed at exposing injustices.

---

The Tragic Case of Chuck Stenzel

Initial Incident:

While writing for the student paper at the University of Nevada, Reno, Hank Neuer encountered the Sundowners, a group resembling a fraternity engaged in severe hazing practices. During a visit to the Little Waldorf bar, Neuer witnessed a pledge in distress: “I just looked and saw this. And was horrified that, I mean, a lot of bubbling” (03:52).

Consequences:

A year or two later, Neuer learned about the death of John Davies, a pledge with the Sundowners, reinforcing his fears about the lethal potential of hazing. This prompted him to investigate further, leading to the creation of his groundbreaking hazing database and the publication of “Dead Souls of Hell Week.”

---

Uncovering the Deadly Reality of Hazing

Research Revelations:

Neuer was astonished by how widespread and dangerous hazing had become. Reflecting on the mid-70s attitude, he notes, “There was support of hazing in a large way. It builds character. It prepares people for life” (05:22). However, his research revealed a more sinister reality where hazing often resulted in fatalities.

Notable Deaths Documented:

In his article “Dead Souls of Hell Week,” Neuer lists tragedies such as William Flowers, Richard Fuse, and Mortimer Leggett, highlighting that these were not mere accidents but potential homicides due to the planned and extreme nature of the hazing rituals (06:25).

---

Deep Dive: The Night of Chuck Stenzel’s Death

Chronology of Events:

On a cold February evening in 1978 at Alfred University, Chuck Stenzel endured a brutal initiation ritual by the Clan Alpine fraternity. Initially rejected, Chuck was later tricked into accepting membership, starting with being locked in a car trunk with alcohol (12:22). The ordeal escalated with forced consumption of alcohol-laden beverages and dangerous drinking games, culminating in Chuck’s death from acute alcohol poisoning (17:55).

Complications and Cover-Up:

Neuer’s investigation uncovered that key evidence, including Chuck’s case file, had been deliberately erased. “The file had disappeared,” Neuer confesses (19:07). Efforts to confront the then-district attorney, George Francis, were met with resistance and intimidation, further obfuscating the truth behind Chuck’s death (20:02).

---

Historical Context: The Origins and Evolution of Hazing

Early Beginnings:

Gray and Neuer trace hazing back to colonial America, where elite institutions like Yale and Harvard imported hierarchical and servitude-based traditions from England. These early practices, while not as physically violent, established a foundation for subservience that would later morph into dangerous hazing rituals.

First Known Cases:

The episode identifies John Butler Groves (1873) as the first known hazing death, with subsequent fatalities at Cornell University highlighting the evolving brutality of these rituals (24:50).

Acceleration in the 20th Century:

As hazing practices became more entrenched, the number of related deaths increased significantly. From a single hazing-related fatality in 1900 to 23 by 1910, the trend illustrated escalating violence until it peaked with steady fatalities up to 2021 (26:02).

---

Modern Implications and Legislative Responses

Persistent Dangers:

Despite awareness and some regulatory measures, hazing continued to claim lives, exemplified by the four deaths in 2023 alone. The persistence of hazing is attributed to its psychological appeal among young people and the desire to forge strong social bonds (27:14).

Legislative Progress:

Hank Neuer’s extensive research, now documenting 303 hazing-related deaths, has been instrumental in driving legislative change. From only five states addressing hazing laws at the time of Chuck’s death, the number rose to 44 by the episode’s release. In December 2023, the Biden administration enacted the first federal anti-hazing legislation, marking a significant milestone in combating the issue.

---

Hank Neuer’s Impact and Legacy

“Broken Pledges”:

Neuer’s book, “Broken Pledges,” synthesizes decades of research and personal narratives, including Chuck Stenzel’s story. In the preface, Neuer reflects on his own past involvement in Greek life and acknowledges the widespread nature of hazing: “The problem of hazing is too demeaning, dangerous, and widespread for even sinners like myself to ignore” (08:26).

Academic and Social Influence:

Neuer’s work has been cited extensively in academic studies, transforming hazing from a neglected issue into a significant area of scholarly and legislative focus. His efforts have also empowered families and victims to seek justice and reforms.

---

Conclusion: The Ongoing Battle Against Hazing

The episode concludes by underscoring the entrenched nature of hazing in American higher education and the continuous need for vigilance and reform. Neuer emphasizes personal responsibility and the importance of not being desensitized to the dangers of hazing: “No one should die for a good time... You can't be desensitized” (28:48).

While legislative strides have been made, the re-emergence of hazing-related deaths post-COVID lockdowns illustrates the enduring challenge. “We can’t afford not to pay attention,” Margo Gray asserts, advocating for sustained efforts to eradicate hazing from campuses nationwide.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Hank Neuer (02:01): “So I went to Frank Buck. I said, oh, the jungle, Great. I check it out.”

• Hank Neuer (04:52): “This may be common, it may be bizarre, and it is, but it's not abnormal. This is a normal part of college.”

• Hank Neuer (05:22): “There was support of hazing in a large way. It builds character. It prepares people for life.”

• Hank Neuer (06:25): “They included a young man who'd been buried alive, William Flowers, a young man named Richard Fuse...”

• Hank Neuer (19:07): “I go to the hospital to get his records. They readily went in. The file had disappeared.”

• Hank Neuer (28:48): “This is a social organization. The fun time is important... But no one should die for a good time... You can't be desensitized.”

---

Impact and Recognition

Hank Neuer’s relentless pursuit of truth has not only illuminated the pervasive issue of hazing but also catalyzed significant policy changes and heightened public awareness. His legacy is a testament to the power of investigative journalism in effecting societal change.

“Campus Files” continues to serve as an essential resource for uncovering the hidden facets of campus life, offering listeners an unvarnished look into the challenges and injustices that lie beneath the surface of higher education.

---

For more episodes and stories on institutional scandals in American education and beyond, explore seasons 1-3 of “Gangster Capitalism” available in this feed.

Transcript

[Margo Gray]

Greek life is a cornerstone of the American college experience. Each year, nearly 750,000 students pledge fraternities and sororities. And whether or not you've joined one yourself, you've probably heard about hazing. It's become deeply embedded in campus culture, depicted in countless films and TV shows as a rite of pass. According to the most comprehensive study to date, 73% of students in Greek life experience some form of hazing. So where did it all begin? The roots of hazing go much deeper than you might think, stretching all the way back to colonial America. And much of what we know about that history comes from one man, Hank Neuer. I'm Margo Gray. This week on Campus Files, Hank Neuer and the Weed in the the Garden of Academe.

[Hank Neuer]

I had gotten classic comic books about Frank Buck. He was a bring him back alive explorer and adventurer who stocked the zoos with what he had.

[Margo Gray]

That's Hank Neuer. As a kid, Hank was captivated by the Frank Buck comic series, which chronicled the real life adventures of an animal collector. Buck was famous for bringing exotic animals, everything from snakes to elephants, back to the United States. Hank became an avid reader of the series and was fascinated by the natural world. So one day, on a visit to the local library looking for more Frank Buck type books, he came across a title that caught his eye. The Jungle.

[Hank Neuer]

So I went to Frank Buck. I said, oh, the jungle, Great. I check it out.

[Margo Gray]

Upton Sinclair's the Jungle is a harrowing expose of life inside Chicago's meatpacking industry. An unflinching look at poverty and the dangerous conditions faced by immigrant workers. Not exactly reading material for a 13 year old, but Hank was hooked.

[Hank Neuer]

I started reading and I couldn't stop reading. I still remember the page with the workmen falling into the lard and his body being processed.

[Margo Gray]

Hank is describing a scene where a factory worker accidentally falls into a rendering vat and is ground alive into animal product. As you might imagine, scenes like that grabbed the public's attention. Ultimately, Sinclair's vivid writing helped spark much needed reforms in the meatpacking industry. But for Hank, it revealed something even bigger. The power of journalism to drive real change. That realization sent him on a path not to cover working conditions, but something else entirely. Years later, while writing for the student paper at the University of Nevada, Reno, Hank had a chance encounter that changed everything. It happened at a bar near campus called the Little Waldorf.

[Hank Neuer]

It was kind of a hangout for a group called the Sundowners, which didn't use the term fraternity, but they were. They had a horrific initiation.

[Margo Gray]

When he arrived, it was clear that pledging season for the Sundowners was in full swing.

[Hank Neuer]

I wanted to sit at a booth. There's a booth next to the pool table.

[Margo Gray]

But before he could sit down, Hank spotted something alarming under the pool table. A young man, a Sundowner pledge, lying unresponsive and foaming at the mouth.

[Hank Neuer]

I don't even know if I sat. I just looked and saw this. And was horrified that, I mean, a lot of bubbling, like you would think a rabid dog would have.

[Margo Gray]

Hank was shocked. He quickly alerted some of the less intoxicated Sundowners, who took the young man home to rest. But nobody, including Hank, thought to call the police or an ambulance, a decision that Hank regrets to this day. Thankfully, as far as Hank knows, the young man survived, but the incident still stuck with him. It felt like it would only be a matter of time before hazing led to tragedy. And that fear became real a year or two later when Hank learned about John Davies, a pledge with the Sundowners who died during an initiation ritual. The news brought Hank back to the jungle, to the power of one story to expose injustice. And it was then that Hank began to dig into the hidden world of Haze, Inc.

[Hank Neuer]

When I started to actually do more research that I said, this may be common, it may be bizarre, and it is, but it's not abnormal. This is a normal part of college.

[Margo Gray]

Hank was in shock to see how widespread hazing was. He'd been through it himself when he pledged a fraternity in college. But what did surprise him was how dangerous it was. Back in the mid-70s, hazing didn't have the same stigma or dangerous reputation it carries today.

[Hank Neuer]

There was support of hazing in a large way. It builds character. It prepares people for life. Later, it teaches arrogant freshmen, as they would say, to be in their place.

[Margo Gray]

Hazing was widely accepted as a rite of passage, viewed through the lens of tradition and camaraderie. But as Hank dug into his research, a more disturbing picture came into focus.

[Hank Neuer]

These were not accidental deaths. Because the activities were planned in advance. It needed to be looked at as possible homicides that law enforcement was lacking. In some of the cases.

[Margo Gray]

Hank was uncovering a reality that we understand all too well today. That hazing can be deadly. After a year of painstaking research, he compiled a chilling list of students who had lost their lives during hazing rituals. He published that list in a groundbreaking article titled the Dead Souls of Hell Week.

[Hank Neuer]

They included a young man who'd been buried alive, William Flowers, a young man named Richard Fuse, who died with a terrible amount of alcohol in New Jersey, and then Mortimer Leggett. The first fraternity pledged to die in.

[Margo Gray]

1873, when the dead souls of Hell week was first published, the response was lukewarm. Many academics brushed it off, arguing that while hazing existed, it wasn't serious enough to justify deeper investigation. But the list of deaths just kept growing. In 1978, Hank released the first independent edition of what would become his hazing database, a meticulous record of confirmed hazing related fatalities. That work eventually reached Eileen Stevens, a mother from New York who had just begun her own battle against hazing. Her son, Chuck Stenzel, had recently died during a brutal fraternity initiation.

[Hank Neuer]

I met eileen early in 1979. She wrote me in October 78 after my database came out, and she said that she had done a New York Times list and could add a few to mine. And so that became this running total.

[Margo Gray]

At that point, Hank had been researching hazang for about three years.

[Hank Neuer]

I went out to visit her, and we had a lunch that lasted all afternoon. Talking, going over things.

[Margo Gray]

They spoke about Eileen's son, Chuck. She was convinced there was more to his death than what she'd been told. The conversation stayed with Hank. He kept in touch with Eileen and eventually decided to take a closer look at what really happened to Chuck. At Alfred University, I spent an extensive.

[Hank Neuer]

Amount of time, might have been 10 days at the library, going through things and a second trip back to do interviews. I was on the phone and doing interviews with a lot of the young people.

[Margo Gray]

What Hank uncovered through his interviews and research was so revealing that it became the foundation for his book, Broken Pledges. In the preface, he includes a quote from Chuck's memorial service, a passage from John 8. 7. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Hank goes on to write, I am not without sin. I pledged Sigma Tau Rho and was initiated in 1965. I was hazed as a pledge. I hazed as a member. But the problem of hazing is too demeaning, dangerous, and widespread for even sinners like myself to ignore. It shatters the lives of perpetrators as well as those of victims and their families. I concluded, finally, that a former sinner might be the best qualified to expose hazing abuses. I hereby cast the first stone. Summer's here, and Nordstrom has everything you need for your best dress season ever, from beach days and weddings to weekend.

[Hank Neuer]

Getaways in your everyday wardrobe, Discover stylish.

[Margo Gray]

Options under $100 from tons of your favorite brands like Mango Skims, Princess Polly and Madewell. It's easy too, with free shipping and free returns in store order, pickup and more. Shop today in stores [e-mail] or download the Nordstrom app.

[Emma Greed]

I'm Emma Greed and I've spent the last 20 years building, running and investing in some incredible businesses. I've co founded a multi billion dollar unicorn and had my hand in several other companies that have generated hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. The more success I've had, the more people me with questions. How do you start a business? How do you raise money? How do I bounce back from failure? So it got me thinking. Why not just ask the people I aspire to the most? How did they actually do what they do? I'm so incredibly lucky to know some of the smartest minds out there. And now I'm bringing their insights along with mine, unfiltered directly to you on my new podcast, Aspire with Emma Greed. I'll dive into the big questions everyone wants to know about success in business and in life through weekly conversations. You'll get the tangible tools, the real no BS stories, and undeniable little hacks that actually help you level up. Listen to and follow Aspire with Emma Greed and Odyssey Podcast available now. Wherever you get your podcasts. The election has come and gone. Now we're in a new era. It can be easy to get discouraged, frustrated, but you can't afford not to pay attention. You need trustworthy, independent journalism to cut through the noise and hold power to account. I'm Mary Harris, host of what next from slate.com. we are a daily news podcast with a kind of transparent, smart, yet tongue in cheek analysis you can only find at Slate. Follow and listen to what Next wherever you get your podcasts.

[Margo Gray]

Hank Ner's book Broken Pledges was the culmination of years of research. It weaves together the broader history of hazing with the deeply personal story of Chuck Stenzel and the events that led to his death.

[Hank Neuer]

So I pieced together Chuck interviewing a former girlfriend at Doane College. I interviewed his best friends from Long Island. Chuck was going to be a history teacher. I got his term papers, including one on Kurt Vonnegut that I still have back at home on the symbol of blackness in Slaughterhouse five. He was a fairly good writer, good researcher. I have no doubt he would have been a heck of a history teacher if that's what he really wanted to be after he came out. There's a lot of legwork here to put together. Who was Chuck in an accurate way.

[Margo Gray]

So what did Hank ultimately discover to understand that, we need to revisit the night of Chuck's death. It was a cold February evening in 1978 at Alfred University. Chuck Stenzel was in his dorm room, anxiously awaiting a visitor. This visitor was set to bring news from Clan Alpine, a social fraternity at Alfred. It was a defining moment for Chuck. It was tapping Night, the official kickoff of pledge season. Chuck was about to discover whether he'd been invited to join Clan Alpine, an opportunity that would immediately immerse him in the duties and rituals of a new pledge. He was instructed to wait in his room after dinner. Just after 7pm There was a knock on the door. Opening it, Chuck was met by a somber looking brother who delivered disheartening news. I'm sorry. The membership voted. And some of the brothers thought you wouldn't be a good fit. With those words, the brother departed, leaving Chuck to sulk in his room. But just a few minutes later, the brother returned. It was just a joke and they wanted him after all. He presented Chuck with a gray shirt featuring clan in bold black letters. Now donning his new fraternity shirt, Chuck stepped out into the brisk night. The ground was thick with nearly two feet of snow, but the roads were just clear enough for travel and the celebration headed towards the fraternity house. But there was a catch. Chuck had to ride in the trunk of the car. Soon, two other pledges were crammed into the trunk with Chuck.

[Hank Neuer]

Chuck was locked in a trunk with a six pack, some wine, some hard alcohol.

[Margo Gray]

The three pledges were told that they couldn't leave the trunk until they'd finished all the alcohol.

[Hank Neuer]

Chuck in that pledge class was kind of the father rooster to these others and protective because he then took over for some pledges in that trunk and consumed theirs as well.

[Margo Gray]

It took 45 minutes for Chuck and the other pledges to finish the alcohol while locked in the trunk of an old blue Chevrolet. Then they were ushered inside the fraternity house and led to a table laden with glasses of wine, a part of a decades old Clan Alpine tradition. Chuck quickly downed two glasses. Next, it was time for a series of traditional Clan Alpine games, collectively known as the races. One of the games required the pledges to race each other in chugging a cup of beer. Klan brothers participated as well, but they often tossed their beer over their shoulders, only pretending to drink while claiming victory.

[Hank Neuer]

They told Chuck the theme of today's party is don't stop till you drop. They decided to play a stupid game that they played every tapping night, which is the brothers chugged water that looked like vodka while the pledges chugged vodka. Stupid and deadly, and nobody's keeping track.

[Margo Gray]

The goal of the drinking game and other games played that night was to fill a trash can to the top with vomit. As the night wore on, Chuck's speech grew slurred. He was mumbling, barely coherent. By the end of the party, he was soaked in beer and barely conscious. His big brother in the fraternity, Rocky La Forge, and another Klan member tried to help. They gave him a shower and laid him down to rest.

[Hank Neuer]

He was to be put to sleep. Unfortunately, Rocky, after giving him a shower, went to take a shower himself.

[Margo Gray]

Rocky got out of the shower around 11:30pm to find Chuck barely breathing. The skin under his fingernails had turned.

[Hank Neuer]

Blue, and in that amount of time, Chuck passed and they could not resuscitate him.

[Margo Gray]

None of the brothers knew cpr, and few were sober enough to take much action. They called 911 and Chuck was treated by EMTs until he was pronounced dead at 1:45am.

[Hank Neuer]

The members could not believe that alcohol alone could kill, and they were looking to see if he had taken any barbiturates or anything else. And that was the first information they gave to the rescuers. They didn't know if they had a drug death, an alcohol death.

[Margo Gray]

There was confusion, and it turns out that there was nearly another death that night. When authorities tried to account for all members and pledges, there was one pledge nobody could find. Finally, after forcing open a locked closet door, the pledge was found unconscious with a faint heartbeat. Chuck's mother, Eileen Stevens, received a phone call from the university in the middle of the night. She rushed to campus and arrived early the next morning. When Chuck's body was examined, the autopsy revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.46. Anything above 0.40 is considered lethal without immediate medical attention.

[Hank Neuer]

The pathologist said to her that he considered it a homicide or murder.

[Margo Gray]

More specifically, the coroner told Eileen that the cause of death was diffuse pulmonary edema caused by acute alcohol poisoning. In layman's terms, his organs had drowned in alcohol. Eileen insisted that she be allowed to see her son one last time. The coroner, hospital staff, nurses and others tried to dissuade her, but ultimately she was led to the morgue. Shivering in the cold room, Eileen took Chuck's hand and whispered, I love you, Chuck. She kissed him and said a prayer, while the nearby nurse broke down in tears. In the weeks and months after Chuck's death, the police investigation stalled. In the end, no one was charged and the Incident was written off as a tragic accident. But years later, as Hank researched the case, A very different picture began to emerge.

[Hank Neuer]

I go to the hospital to get his records. They readily went in. The file had disappeared.

[Margo Gray]

Chuck's entire case file from the night of his death had vanished. It hadn't just been misplaced, it was gone. Crucial evidence was missing. And it became clear that someone had gone to great lengths to keep the full story buried.

[Hank Neuer]

I talked with the ailing elderly coroner who told me George Francis had forbidden him to release public information about Chuck.

[Margo Gray]

George Francis was the district attorney in Alfred at the time of Chuck's his death. According to the coroner, the D. A. Had personally prohibited the release of information related to the case. So Hank made a trip to Buffalo to speak with Francis, who was then a New York state judge.

[Hank Neuer]

It was a blustery day. I'll never forget it. Windows were being blown out downtown. When I went in. I got an answer from his secretary. And then he had already called the police. And I had a choice of leaving or be arrested. I've never been arrested. I don't want to be arrested. So I left quietly. And then he refused all my phone calls ever after. And when I went back to Alfred yet again and went over the present district attorney couldn't believe it. Chuck Stenzel's file had disappeared. It doesn't exist.

[Margo Gray]

Meaning both the hospital file and the district attorney's file had been hidden or destroyed. Campus files producer Ian Mott asked tank about that. What would be the motivation for making those files disappear?

[Hank Neuer]

Alfred is a special place in terms of a lot of the graduates, the students, the beauty of the campus. It's also small town America and very political. And it is the employment and was then in 1978 for a lot of people. I feel he covered up to protect.

[Margo Gray]

The institution, not the fraternity, but the college itself.

[Hank Neuer]

I think to protect his shitty investigation. You can quote me.

[Margo Gray]

The circumstances surrounding Chuck Stenzel's death and what followed weren't isolated. They were part of a troubling pattern that Hank was beginning to uncover. A pattern where hazing isn't met with accountability, but with COVID ups. Where administrators and police protect reputations instead of confronting the truth. And in doing so, they allowed dangerous hazing rituals to not only continue but to escalate. And that's exactly what happened at alfred University. In 2002, a student came forward and reported his fraternity for hazing. Not long after, he was beaten to death. After years of research, Hank had pieced together a sweeping history of Greek life. In America, One that reveals just how deeply rooted the tradition really is.

[Hank Neuer]

Well, first of all, it got into the American educational system. In colonial Yale, for example, you had faculty coming in from England, reservitude, having a younger person kowtow to you. And there was a lot of abuse there that came to the country and was seen kind of a positive thing with these scholars would come over. So it was inculcated in a lot of schools.

[Margo Gray]

Hank describes how hazing first took root on American soil, How elite schools like Yale and Harvard, models for many other institutions across the country, imported traditions from colonial England, including rituals rooted in servitude and hierarchy. While these early practices weren't as physically brutal as the hazing that we often see today, they were just as deeply woven into campus life. A 1913 book called the story of Harvard lists just a few of the rules that freshmen were expected to follow back in the mid-1700s. No freshman shall speak to a senior with his hat on. All freshmen shall be obliged to go on errands for any of their seniors, graduates, or undergraduates at any time. When any person knocks at a freshman's door, he shall immediately open the door without inquiring who is there. These rules enforced at Harvard until 1798, weren't overtly violent, but they reflected early traditions of subservience and control. And it was those very traditions that laid the groundwork for the more extreme and dangerous hazing practices that would follow. Over time, the cultural norms behind them hardened, spreading across campuses and becoming deeply embedded in American higher education. Then, in 1838, hazing turned deadly. John Butler Groves became the first known student to die in a hazing incident on a US campus. About 40 years later came the first hazing death tied to a fraternity. At Cornell, a student named Mortimer Leggett fell into a gorge while blindfolded during a pledge ritual. He'd been rushing the Kappa Alpha Society, an organization that's still active today and often credited as the birthplace of American fraternity life. Two decades and four hazing deaths later in 1899, another Cornell student, also a Kappa Alpha pledge, drowned during a hazing event that Hank says was the point of no return.

[Hank Neuer]

The death would have been about 1899, was almost the same circumstances as the 1873 death. Kappa Alpha society, same group, same school. And in both cases, they were found not guilty. All the history of hazing could have changed if in those two cases, somebody went to jail immediately. It would have put some fear into the universities and into fraternity members at that time. And you have to understand that fraternities then right into the 1928 were covered on the front pages of the New York Times. These were political groups then.

[Margo Gray]

From that point on, hazing deaths began to accelerate. 3 In 1900 and 23 by 1910, in a late 19th century speech at Harvard, hazing was famously called a weed in the garden of academe, A practice that had existed since the days of Plato in ancient Greece, and one the speaker claimed could never truly be eradicated. And in the decades that followed, that weed just kept growing, especially in the 1970s when states began raising the legal drinking age to 21.

[Hank Neuer]

Look at the period when alcohol, the age of consumption, went from 18 to 21. When you look at my database, you'll see those numbers shooting up. After the drinking age, it became attractive. It became a symbol of rebellion.

[Margo Gray]

As drinking moved behind closed doors, it became even more dangerous. It was under these conditions that John Davies died with the Sundowners and Chuck Stenzel with Clan Alpine. While the number of hazing deaths varied year to year, the US recorded at least one hazing related fatality every single year from 1959 through 2021. That deadly streak lasted 62 years and claimed 214 lives. It took a global pandemic and the closure of campuses nationwide to finally break the pattern. But once COVID lockdowns lifted, hazing came roaring back. In 2023 alone, four students died. Three in an alcohol fueled car crash and one by suicide linked to hazing. As to why hazing persists despite these tragedies, Hank has a few theories.

[Hank Neuer]

Hazing is so attractive because for young people, it serves as a lark, number one. Number two, it's disapproved of by their elders. And number three, students. All of us want to go through a kind of liminal space. Before this, I wasn't in, I wasn't this. After I went through this, I was here. And that's why it's such a psychological problem. When students are blackballed or drop out right before they get into the group, you'll see a correlation of actually dropping out of school.

[Margo Gray]

As of today, Hank neuer has documented 303 hazing related deaths at colleges across the United States. His decades long research has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of hazing, its origins, its persistence, and its tragic consequences. Hank's writings have been cited nearly a thousand times in academic studies on hazing, an area of scholarship that barely existed before his groundbreaking article appeared in Human Behavior. His tireless work has also supported Eileen Stevens and countless other families as they've pushed for legislative action against hazing. At the time of Chuck's death, only five states had laws addressing hazing. Today that number has risen to 44. And in December 2023, the Biden administration signed into law the first ever federal anti hazing legislation.

[Hank Neuer]

This is a social organization. The fun time is important, particularly when you're at a school where you can be lost. But no one should die for a good time, number one. And number two, the old line about you are your brother's keeper is important. You can't be desensitized. You just can't be. Like, for example, I told you about the death at Nevada Reno. If I could go back, I would have called 911. Yes, maybe they would have been punished. Yes, I would have lost acquaintances that I called friends back then. But maybe John Davies would be alive.

[Margo Gray]

Campus Files is an Odyssey Original Podcast. This episode was written and reported by Ian Mont. Campus Files is produced by Ian Mont, Eliot Adler and me, Margo Gray. Our executive producers and story editors are Maddie Sprunkiser and Lloyd Lockridge. Campus Files is edited, mixed and mastered by Chris Basel and Andy Jaskowicz. Special thanks to Jenna Weiss Berman, J.D. crowley, Leah Reese, Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney, Hilary Schuff, Sean Cherry, Laura Berman and Hilary Van Ornam. Original theme music by James Waterman and Davy Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to us at campusfilespod@gmail com.