The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity has suspended its chapter at Northern Illinois University after police charged 22 members with hazing-related counts in the death of a freshman.
The international organization says it will cooperate in pursuing anyone who broke the law. The incident involved a first-year student, David Bogenberger of Palatine, who was found unresponsive at the fraternity house Nov. 2 with a blood-alcohol content of .40. He later died.
Tracy Maxwell, founder of the Colorado-based group www.HazingPrevention.org, says there’s no simple way to stop this. “Hazing is not an easy issue. It’s secretive, it has many facets to it, it’s been around for centuries, and it’s part of our culture in many ways, and that makes it a complicated problem to deal with, and it requires a nuanced approach,†she said.
Maxwell says over the last decade, 55 percent of college students who belong to an organization or a team have been hazed. This is not limited to fraternities and sororities; athletic teams and bands are notorious hazers, she says.
Of the 22 individuals charged at Northern Illinois, five are charged with hazing-related felonies. The other 17 face misdemeanor alcohol charges.