Piazza’s death prompts only lame promise of change at Penn State

Timothy Piazza was from Hunterdon County, NJ. He died pledging for a fraternity at Penn State. It's the case that opened up a lot of eyes to the stupid ritual of hazing that has never gone away. After being challenged with consuming as much alcohol as possible, Timothy suffered a fall down a flight of stairs and was left all night to succumb to his injuries even though evidence exists showing others knew he needed help. Twelve hours was too many hours to call 911 and he died.

His parents probably said it best when they wrote before a university Board of Trustees' meeting, “Our son died on your watch because of ignorance and denial by Penn State. Penn State has a long history of harsh hazing, excessive drinking and sexual assaults in its Greek Life. Penn State also has a long history of looking the other way at difficult situations. This must stop and all those who are part of turning a blind eye must be held accountable …Penn State University failed our son and failed us. As noted, the Administration and its Trustees knew about the problems and the issues but chose to turn a blind eye.”

You'd think with that history and the recent death of Timothy something more concrete would have come out of the meeting. Instead, they expressed "strong support" for measures to be taken, but no measures and no actual action was achieved according to The Washington Post. They said the board hoped to do that at some point in the future. Really Penn State? You want another few pledges to die first before actually doing something real?

The entire concept of fraternities sickens me. Spare me the talk of how they do a lot of charity work. Whatever they do in that regard is, in my opinion, to justify all the rest of the power mongering, debauchery, risk taking, and demeaning games these boys (not men, boys) enjoy. We also hear fraternities defended by grown men claiming it's "a brotherhood." That this brotherhood lasts into business contacts years later. Sorry to break it to you overgrown manchildren but a "brother" would never have allowed Timothy to lie injured and dying on a couch all night. If there were any true "brotherhood" in a fraternity, Timothy Piazza would be alive.