Heather Hatch 8th Period: 34 Fraternity Members Charged For Murder

Michael Dang, 19 years old, died in a hazing accident put on by Pi Delta Psi fraternity members. The members and Michael had driven 90 miles away from the nearest hospital for the weekend to haze and celebrate new members. The ritual that they had Michael doing at the time of the accident was called the "glass ceiling". The object of the ritual was for Michael, who was blindfolded and wearing a 30 pound sack of sand in a backpack on his back, to walk to a member who was calling his name while other members made it virtually impossible to do so. During the ritual Michael fell and hit his head and was immediately unconscious and unresponsive. The members took him inside by a fire because the conditions outside were cold and wet, while they looked up his symptoms and the closest hospital. The person in charge of the fraternity was also contacted and directed the fraternity members to hide and/or get rid of everything concerning Pi Delta Psi. Then they finally drove Michael to the hospital relatively 2 hours after the initial accident. Once arrived at the hospital Michael was in critical condition. The doctors said that he sustained major brain damage and other bodily harm. They also testified that the time delay played a major part in Michael's death. One of the members said they saw someone push him but claim they don't know who because it was dark. They are all being charged from aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter, to criminal conspiracy which are all very serious crimes. The college says that it was an unknown activity taking place and they were not involved but would remove anyone that participated from the school immediately.

I find this type of behavior disgusting. I hate hazing I don't know why it exists and I don't see why colleges can't be stricter about it. I would go as far as saying that you could compare it to indentured servitude. I say this because those indentured slaves were working for something to gain so they could be free. These poor new members of the fraternity getting hazed, are putting up with all of it so that they can earn their place and have freedom in the group. I think colleges should be more stricter on the subject and I also believe that Fraternities and Sororities are outdated anyways.