All language subtitles for Houses of Horror Secrets of College Greek Life S01E03 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[music]

PRODUCER: Kordel, what does
it feel like to be back?

KORDEL DAVIS:
It feels a little bit strange.

You know, I don't oftentimes
come back here.

PRODUCER:
Do you remember the house?

Like, can you describe
the house at all?

Like, just--

I didn't really know
anything about them

or their reputation.

Tim was probably so excited
and he had no idea.

KORDEL: I saw bruises
on his chest.

His eyes were closed.

The plan was to tell the police
they had no idea,

that they weren't aware.

All of this was essentially
a cover-up.

It was just...

it was deeply troubling.

[crowd cheering]

WOMAN: There is no place
in the world

that is more exciting
or thrilling

than sororities
and fraternities.

SAM RULAND: But you don't know
what actually goes on

behind closed doors.

All of Greek life has some
sort of a tradition of secrecy.

MAN: This was a powerful
organization.

I mean,
it was a serious cover-up.

MAN: The amount of power
that the fraternities have,

it's so thoroughly woven

into the nature
of the universities.

JIM PIAZZA: There is always
the same playbook.

DISPATCHER: 911.

What is the address
of your emergency?

They start the cover-up.

Nobody talks.

Hazing is a huge problem

and it's resulted in tragedy.

Someone was burning
across on the lawn.

They would grab their members,
force their face down

and make 'em do
a line of cocaine.

WOMAN: It felt very sadistic.

He wanted me to be hurting.

EVELYN PIAZZA: You sent your kid
off to college

and this happens.

We gotta clean up Tim's room.

A lot of stuff in there.

Yeah.

[music]

EVELYN:
Tim was unbelievably funny

and just loved
making people laugh.

MIKE PIAZZA:
We were 18 months apart.

My favorite Nintendo character
was Mario and his was Luigi.

I was Batman. He was Robin.

It's just--it's hard
to characterize his personality

'cause it was so, um--

it was so big.

He was a good friend

and he was a protector.

MIKE: I found out
Tim was coming to Penn State

after he got
his letter of acceptance

and I was very excited
to have him on campus with me.

JIM:
Tim always would say,

"Mike's gonna take care of me."

I just--you know,

I think he went to Penn State
because of Mike.

[music]

I think almost everyone
knows Penn State.

Penn State
is a classic university.

It's pretty.

It's got a lot of buildings

that are a hundred years old.

MIKE: Town is picture perfect.

There's all the seasons,

you know,
there's a vibrant downtown.

I was impressed
with Penn State's

engineering program,
their business school,

and, you know, Penn State
has an incredible football team.

SAM: It's just kind of
the idyllic college town.

MIKE: Penn State
was its own world.

It felt like
you could find anything,

be anything,
and just kind of exist in this

microcosm away from everything.

That's why it's Happy Valley.

Greek life is a significant
part of Penn State life.

Lots of alumni,
lots of former Penn Staters

have been in Greek life.

SAM: People have such pride
for Penn State,

but there are some cons too.

It was always considered
a very big party school.

I think it still does have
that reputation.

There are dozens of fraternities
and sororities on campus.

When you're in a fraternity
or a sorority,

you're the one
who is throwing the parties.

Alumni are the ones who are
making the biggest donations.

Dues, donations,
and prime real estate,

fraternities and sororities make
money and they make a lot of it.

They take care of their own,

especially when it comes
to business connections.

You already have to have
some privilege to a degree,

and then it's like,
you're just elevated

to an even higher level,

but you don't know
what actually goes on

behind closed doors.

Members are instructed
to stay silent,

to not disclose
the secrets of the organization.

It's fascinating to look at
how much control and power

this group of students
and alum have

over the direction
of an entire institution.

Nobody really wants
to talk about it.

[music]

EVELYN: I think Tim mentioned
before Christmas

that he wanted
to join a fraternity.

I was a bit surprised,

mostly just because
it was something

that I wasn't interested in,
but I knew that,

you know, Tim was very different
from me anyway.

JIM: Beta Theta Pi
had a reputation

as being a place where you
developed good network.

It said it was a non-hazing,
non-drinking fraternity,

and I thought

he was making a good choice.

[music]

CHARLIE THOMPSON:
Beta Theta Pi nationally

advertises itself
as men of distinction.

They were one of the more
selective fraternities

on fraternity row at Penn State.

SAM: It was definitely
what was considered

a top-tier fraternity.

The rumor on campus
was that they had to provide

their parents' tax returns
to even rush it.

He had called me and I said,
"Did you get the bid?"

And he said, "Yes."

I didn't even know about it.

The whole Greek life scene,

we didn't know
that he was getting into.

KORDEL: My name is Kordel Davis.

It was September, 2016

when I started pledging
Beta Theta Pi.

So the Beta Theta Pi
fraternity right here,

obviously on campus,

it just seemed like it was

a part of
the Penn State tradition.

It definitely is marketed
as the place

where great,
great things happen.

Joining the fraternity,

I never expected
to experience what I did.

I got this full tuition
paid scholarship.

It felt like this was
gonna be dream come true

the next four years.

I couldn't wait.

Beta Theta Pi is right there
on the campus of Penn State.

It was like fantasyland.

Mahogany in the kitchen.

You had gold ceilings.

The chairs were replicas
from the White House.

The first night, you know,
it was great going there.

You know, you walk into Beta
on night one

and they're wearing suits
and ties

and, you know,
there were mentors,

aerospace, engineering majors,

and, you know, they would talk
about their dream jobs

and they would talk about
how all of them

go to the big
five accounting firms.

You get the sense
that you could really have

a really successful future here.

It's just like on a whim,
let's join Beta.

Unfortunately, I kind of learned
too late what hazing is.

Hazing starts out slow.

It started out really simple.

Like, we need somebody to put up
the flag tomorrow morning.

And it just
started out so small.

And then the next day,

we need somebody to clean
the house tonight.

And they would always say,

"We don't haze here.
We don't haze here."

And I fell for it.
I totally fell for it.

You don't really have
a grasp of how dangerous

these fraternities can be.

Being hit with a wooden spoon,

leaving a mark on your body,

at night,
you're being broken up,

you're being forced
to do lineups.

All universities
I think would, you know,

publicly say, "Yes, we have
a zero-tolerance policy."

- MAN: Moorefield.
- [screaming]

And I'm sure they believe

that they have
a zero-tolerance policy.

MAN: Go, go, go!

SAM: But all of the fraternities
still haze.

It's chalked up
to it's all good fun.

It's all bonding.

[music]

KORDEL: Hazing continues.

Hazing gets worse.

ALL: Six, seven,
eight, nine, ten.

KORDEL: Every night,
there's something different,

different event.

There's a lot of humiliation.

They have a huge house.

So they're gonna stand
on the roof

and one of the older members

is going to poop
and you have to catch it.

They talk
about the elephant walk,

which is a male
has to stick his finger

into the male
in front of him's anus

and then hold the scrotum,
and they go in like a circle.

KORDEL: One event was supposed
to be banned from Beta Theta Pi.

This cultish scene,
they're all dressed up

in this Greek, you know,
these Greek outfits

and the pledge master is

taking in one pledge at a time.

You see a brand that's red hot.

It's burning red hot.

And they're laying you
down on the table

and you see the brand get close.

I was trying so hard
to get out of there,

like this is
not about to happen.

I'm not about to be branded.

And then they take ice

and they put it
on your foot instead.

So it's the fake branding.

It was bizarre.

This was not
what I had signed up for.

The older brothers say,

"Oh, we did that
when I was pledging too.

"Don't worry.

"You just gotta get through it

"and then you can
become one of us."

You're being manipulated,

you're being coerced,
and you don't have a say.

DOUG FIERBERG:
Individuals want to make it

as tough on others
as they had it,

as if that will create
some form of a bond.

And when it gets out of control,
it's resulted in tragedy.

KORDEL: My pledge brothers
would keep talking

about this gauntlet.

I was like,
"What's the gauntlet?"

The gauntlet
was them lining up in a line

and passing
a large bottle of vodka

from front to back
with instructions

that they had
to finish the thing

by the time it got
to the end of the line.

Some people
think being in risky situations

is gonna make us great,

and if we bond together,
surely they won't let us die.

Pressure makes diamonds.

Surely that could work
with humans too.

So after they forced me
to drink all this alcohol,

I'm walking from one room
to the other room,

I slip on the floor
and I just remember I was like,

I couldn't--I couldn't
even put my arms out.

Like I didn't know
what was going on.

I fell straight on my head.

Still have a scar on my forehead

from falling on that floor.

Immediately,

blood rushing out
of my forehead.

I'm bleeding profusely.

You're just--
you're just so scared.

I tried taking pictures
of my face.

My clothes were soaked in blood

and one of the brothers

and grabs my cell phone.

So now I'm phoneless.

They're worried that they could
get kicked off campus.

They're worried that they could
be put on probation.

I was so confused.

What in the world did you
get me out of this place?

The next morning,
the assistant pledge master

was given orders

to take me to an off-campus
medical facility.

He said, "Tell them
you fell over the mop bucket

"and don't talk
about the Beta house."

It was all coerced

from the organization
on what to say.

I didn't quite understand
everything I had gone through.

You know, if I left now,
who would be my friends?

What would I do?

To be in this fraternity,
to be hazed

was better than
not being in it at all.

But I had a sense
that it could happen again

and it could happen worse.

DISPATCHER: 911.
What is your emergency?

So this is where
I expected to basically

be the homeland
of four years of college.

This was going to be
a place of brotherhood,

a place of belonging,
a place of safety,

and it turned into everything
opposite of that.

The initiation was first week
of December, 2016.

I was in the fraternity.

Like, I wasn't really
second guessing anything.

It was just--I just
kind of convinced myself

that it was all okay.

It was all part
of the experience,

college experience.

Would it be worth it

to simply cancel

your admission
to the fraternity?

[music]

Early 2017,

we're opening the house up
to the rushes.

We were now members.

We still did not have
all the privileges

that come
with being in a fraternity.

That same hierarchy,
that power structure

remained until we get
a new pledge class.

I remember the first night
meeting Tim Piazza.

He had walked over to me.

I remember his hands
were sort of in his pocket

and he introduced himself to me.

This was really
our only conversation

we ever got to have.

EVELYN: Tim was probably
so excited.

JIM: Yeah. I just think he, uh,

think he was looking

and maybe not seeing everything,
unfortunately.

KORDEL: At the house,
it was like,

"This is gonna be
a night of chaos."

I took it upon myself
to warn all the pledgers.

They warned us, "Don't text
the pledgers, don't tell them,"

so I was thinking,

"Okay, how can I warn this
in a way

"that they know
tonight's not gonna be safe?"

It was actually song lyrics
from the song "Shots" by LMFAO.

It's like, "Are you ready
to get [bleep] up?

"Get ready for a long semester."

What I really wanted to say was,

"Don't come to the house,
don't join."

Yes.

SAM: When Tim first
was entering the house,

he was handed a handle of vodka,

he had to chug the vodka,

and then, you know, the other
frat members spun him around.

Now he has to chug a beer
and he gets spun around again.

He goes to the next floor, he
has to drink from a box of wine.

Tim Piazza had double digits
worth of drinks.

It's 18 drinks in 82 minutes.

So you can imagine,

you're swimming in alcohol
at that point.

KORDEL: My phone had died,
so I put my phone upstairs

to go charge,

and I was walking
down the hallway,

into the great hall, and...

I see Tim Piazza
on the couch.

And I saw bruises on his chest

and his eyes were closed,

just thrashing around

and making all these movements
on the couch.

I was told
he fell down the stairs.

I'm advocating, "We need
to get him to the hospital."

They're like, "Oh, no, no, no.

"That's not gonna happen."

A group of fraternity brothers
come over

and they're, like,
pushing me away from him.

One of the brothers lunges up,

he's throwing me
against the wall,

throw me into the other room.

As a newly initiated brother,

you're gonna have no power.

Stay in your place is what
I would kept getting told,

like, this isn't
your decision to make.

It was sort of mandated
that I leave the house,

catch some fresh air,
get some sleep.

I didn't feel
that it was right or okay,

but I didn't feel
that I had any say anymore.

[siren blaring]

EVELYN: I was at work,
and I got a call.

Tim had fallen,
they needed to airlift him

to Hershey Medical Center

for emergency surgery,

and that we needed to get there.

I really had no idea

that it was as bad as it was.

The doctor had explained to us

that there were a number
of issues and injuries,

primarily the head trauma.

They let me go see him

before they prepped him

for transportation to Hershey.

I kissed him on the temple
and I said,

"Everything's gonna be okay."

[music]

MIKE:
At Hershey Medical Center,

they took us into a side room.

You know,
he had the subdural hematoma,

fractured skull,
his spleen ruptured.

Eighty percent
of his body's blood

was in his abdomen

by the time he got to the ER.

The covers were pulled back,

we got to see his body.

And all the bandages...

And all the bruises on his body.

It's, like, "What the heck
was going on in that house,"

is all I could think of.

Everybody was super suspicious

but it wasn't until early May

that we actually
found out the truth.

WOMAN:
Dr. Forest, dial 118, please.

EVELYN:
I couldn't even fathom it.

I thought,
"Okay, he's got a brain bleed,

you know,
maybe he'll have, like,

a little speech problem
or gait problem.

"Maybe he has to take
the semester off."

When they opened the skull

to release the pressure
on the brain,

the brain swelled
outside of the skull.

And he was gonna die.

A nurse pulled me forward

and told me to kiss
my baby goodbye.

And everybody
just stood there...

and we let him go.

JIM: Beta Theta Pi,
they reached out to us

but we didn't--we never
communicated with any of them.

EVELYN: The message was
they were on their way

from the headquarters,

they weren't gonna be there
until the next morning.

So I texted back and I said,
"He's dead.

"There's nothing for us here,
we're going home."

JIM: The thing I think
about all the time,

standing in the room,
by the bed with Tim,

and I looked to the doctor
and I said,

"If someone would have called
for help much earlier,

"would we have
a different outcome here?"

And the guy
just looked me with sad eyes

and just nodded his head
and said, "Yeah."

Authorities in State College
are investigating

the death of
a Penn State student,

Timothy Piazza,
of Lebanon, New Jersey,

was injured during an incident

at Beta Theta Pi fraternity
house on Friday night.

CHARLIE: The story popped up
on our radar screen,

uh, I mean, it raised
all kinds of questions.

KORDEL:
The news that Tim had died

was in the Beta Theta Pi
Facebook chat.

[music]

An alert was sent
to our Penn State emails

and it just said
that a student had died

from an alleged fall
at Beta Theta Pi

the night before.

REPORTER:
Police say it was 12 hours

before someone called paramedics

to help sophomore
Timothy Piazza.

JIM: I would say
he was an amazing kid,

an amazing son,
an amazing person.

SAM: We went to the State
College Police Department.

State College Police has
an active investigation on this.

SAM: Everyone was wondering
what happened.

Was it an unfortunate accident,
something like that,

or was it something
that could have been prevented?

Tonight,
the deadly campus mystery

at a fraternity at Penn State.

REPORTER:
An autopsy today revealing

multiple traumatic injuries
due to a fall,

alcohol in Piazza's system.

And it was surreal

to be reading about my brother

and my family,

and just to not have
clear insight

into what led to this
was so painful.

I was at lunch with a couple
of brothers and I said,

"Shouldn't we tell Tim's family?
What should we do?"

And he slammed his fist
on the table

and he's going, "Think about
Beta, think about Beta."

The plan was to tell the police

they had no idea
how bad his injuries are,

that nobody saw him fall,

that they weren't aware.

EVELYN: We had talked to, like,
the forensic pathologist,

and she had pinpointed
Tim's blood alcohol

at around a .36,

which is deadly
in and of itself.

I have several friends
who are attorneys

and I asked them, you know,
what do I do?

And, you know, everybody says

the one guy you want
on your side is this guy,

Tom Kline from Philadelphia.

[music]

I met with the Piazzas.

They knew that something
went terribly wrong.

They knew that
there were other people

who were responsible
for the death of their son.

Coercing someone to drink
seven to eight drinks

in 12 minutes
or close to 20 drinks

in a matter of 90 minutes
is egregiously reckless.

Tim was poisoned with alcohol,

and that's what
contributed to his death.

This is no longer
about partying,

this is no longer
about having a good time.

This is about death.

The brothers were very worried

the Piazzas would have
a lawsuit.

[music]

So everything was--
it was sworn to secrecy.

[music]

The leadership board said

all the alcohol
has to get cleaned up,

delete the group chats,
delete the Facebook pages,

they wanted everything deleted.

[music]

And don't talk
to Tim Piazza's family

and don't go to the funeral.

It was just...

it was deeply troubling.

NEWS ANCHOR: Tonight,
a major new development

in the alleged hazing death

of Penn State student,
Timothy Piazza.

We're in the process
of obtaining video

from inside the fraternity,

and we are working closely

with Pennsylvania Office
of Student Affairs.

TOM KLINE: Unlike most
things that happen,

this was videotaped.

And that was a game changer.

NEWS ANCHOR: Security cameras
captured Piazza

drinking toxic
levels of alcohol.

There was a video
surveillance system

in the house.

This thing might have played out

in real time before cameras.

Everybody wanted to know
what's on those tapes.

When District Attorney
Stacy Parks Miller

held her press conference

to unveil the results
of her investigation,

that story went from zero to 60

in a space
of about five minutes.

We had no idea there was
going to be that many names,

that many charges.

There was more than 850 charges.

Involuntary manslaughter
was on there,

aggravated assault,
there was hazing,

there was negligence.

The police found that
the brothers hid the party

before they called an ambulance.

[music]

DOUG:
Most fraternities and sororities

have spent decades
figuring out ways

to operate under this idea
of conscious separation,

this idea that
a chapter is separate

from the national organization.

Separation helps them

prevent the national
organization

from being held responsible.

MAN: Shame on you,
bullies, shame!

REPORTER:
Expressionless and quiet,

16 members of Beta Theta Pi
walked past crowds

as they enter
the Pennsylvania courthouse.

The preliminary hearing
was raucous

and it was contentious

and it was difficult.

CHARLIE: There were
large numbers of spectators,

friends, and family members

of a lot of the defendants.

And there was the Piazza family.

It was just super tense.

Of course it's a tragedy

but, you know, that doesn't mean

there was any intent involved.

Twenty other attorneys
against one.

It is just an unspeakable,
horrific, sad tragic event.

But for Joey Ems,
it's not a criminal case.

Charges leveled against
my client, Luke Visser,

are wholly and absolutely
unjustified.

What do you call hazing?

I mean, if I make somebody
pick up papers,

that could be hazing.

It was--it was a tough--

it was a tough environment.

The most powerful
piece of evidence

was the video.

REPORTER: Have you guys
seen any of that video yet?

We haven't seen it, no.

REPORTER: Do you think--
are you worried?

Do you think
it's gonna show anything new

against your client?

I'm not worried,

I'm very interested
in seeing it,

and we'll deal with it
as it comes up.

There was a hushed silence
in the courtroom,

and there was just
a feeling of horror.

It was heartrending to watch

because we knew
how the story ended.

It was six hours long.

We first see Tim just wobbling.

You can tell that
the alcohol has hit him.

He goes towards the door

and trying to open
the front door

and, you know, he can't.

He finds another door
and it's the basement door.

He falls down those 15 stairs.

Then you see a squad of brothers

sort of carrying him
out of that staircase

and depositing him
on a sofa in the great hall.

Some of them were trying
to get a reaction from him,

slapping his face,
trying to get him to come to,

throwing a shoe at him.

He can't move,
he can't get himself up,

and the whole party
was still going on around him.

[music]

CHARLIE:
The hardest part of the tapes

was that interval
from 1:30, 2:00 AM

till 6:00 or 7:00 AM.

Tim is largely alone
in the great hall

for who knows what reason.

Every time he got up, you know,

it invariably ended
with another fall to the ground.

We knew that he was
in excruciating pain

all by himself.

He was alone.

Like, was he--was he wanting us,

was he thinking about us?

CHARLIE:
Sometime around 7:00 AM,

he took another bad spill
down those steps.

That's where he was ultimately
found that morning.

I don't think
there was any more illusion

that he was just sleeping it off

because he was showing signs
of severe distress,

and you knew that
the brothers knew that too

because that's
when the investigation shows

that there were Google searches

for "what's it mean

"when a drunk person
has cold fingers,"

stuff like that.

Instead of getting him help

at this point even,

they tried to dress him

but are having a hard time
because of how stiff he is.

They then are, you know,
telling the pledges,

perhaps, start cleaning.

They're doing all this

because they're getting ready

to call the ambulance.

They let him suffer
for 12 hours.

He died a slow and painful death

at the hands of these
men of principle

as they call it.

DOUG: Time and again,

you have 18
and 19-year-old young men

without much supervision
committed to secrecy,

which means
when things go wrong,

a code of silence
takes precedent

over preserving human life.

REPORTER: Former Penn State
fraternity brothers

are heading back to court

to find out
whether they're going to trial.

Here they had videotape.

They had contemporaneous
evidence

in the form of text messages.

They had the medical charts

of what had happened
to Tim Piazza.

At least 18 drinks

in over one hour
and twenty-two minutes.

Mr. Piazza never once obtained
any of those drinks for himself.

They then left him to die alone

and they tried to cover it up.

With what I saw
on the videotape,

I thought it was horrendous

and you would think, yes,

they should all
be held accountable.

What people need
to understand is that

this was a terrible,
terrible tragedy,

and that's what it was simply.

But of course they weren't.

Spring of 2017,

I felt so alone.

I got text messages from one
of my fraternity brothers

saying, "We all hate you."

Saying to me that

all I want is for all of them
to go to jail.

It wasn't just Beta,
it was the whole...

entire Greek life population

wanted this investigation
to end.

They were mad at me

because I had talked
to the investigators.

Everybody in the fraternity

saw me as was being in the wrong

and saw me as somebody

who was the whistleblower.

The police offered to give me
escorts in-between classes,

so that the Greek life members

wouldn't follow me around
and attack me.

I was just so troubled.

REPORTER: After seven days
of testimony and arguments

in Pennsylvania,
a judge ruling to dismiss

the most serious
of criminal charges

against the 18 Penn State
fraternity brothers

accused in the death
of 19-year-old Timothy Piazza.

The district attorney
really looked to make this

grand statement about hazing,

but the district judge
hearing the case said,

"We don't think
that you have evidence

"that these kids showed malice."

He stopped them in their tracks.

It was really
very disappointing.

I felt like it should at least

go in front of a jury to decide.

The prosecutors
just never had that option.

This is no day
for celebration for anyone.

Well, I mean, the evidence
didn't support the charges.

It's as simple as that.

Hazing was a crime on the books,

but it was a misdemeanor

and so none of them
ever went to jail for this.

SAM: The brothers
were very excited

when their felony charges
were dropped

and it's like they
were very relieved

at the fact that they were
going to have a future,

but they played a part
in ending Tim's life

and keeping him
from having a future.

Everything just felt
like a slap on the wrist,

just never felt like
there was ever any justice.

[music]

The grand jury report was issued
on December 15th, 2017,

and it was a bombshell.

It turned a bright spotlight
on Penn State.

SAM: It just painted
the picture that

there was a lot more
to this story

and that it was definitely

going to be centered around
the culture of Penn State.

[music]

By surprise,
a grand jury realizes

that the Greek life
at Penn State

was rampant with issues

involving misuse of alcohol,

misuse of drugs,

allegations of sexual violence.

There had been a set of cases
at Penn State

in prelude to what happened
to Tim Piazza.

REPORTER:
18-year-old Joseph Dado

was found dead at the bottom
of a campus stairwell

after a night of drinking
at two fraternities.

REPORTER: Marquise Braham
killed himself in 2014

after hazing
at Penn State Altoona.

REPORTER:
Burned with cigarettes,

branded with clothing hangers

and poisoned with alcohol.

Former Penn State student
named James Vivenzio says

he's dealing with
post-traumatic stress disorder,

anxiety, and alcoholism.

The University
did not do anything

or really look into it.

The problem with fraternities

is fraternities wield
a lot of power.

It's not as cut and dry
as like the university president

can just say, "We're going to
shut down Greek life,"

and that's that.

The fraternities are on
privately owned property,

many times owned
by a house corporation

or maybe the national
fraternity itself.

If you look
at every reasonable measure

short of us
sitting in that house

on private property,

if people are willing to hide

that type of behavior

and protect
that level of secrecy,

I do not see how it is
the university

will ever know
that it's happening.

University did impose

a fairly stringent
set of reforms,

and it was things like

you can only have
10 alcohol parties a semester

as opposed to the 45.

No more open keg parties.

Alcohol has to be served
by a bartender.

And I do remember
some complaints

at some of the trustee meetings
around that time.

KORDEL: The highest contributing
alumni are Greek life graduates,

so schools are very willing
to turn a blind eye.

They don't want
to have any retaliation.

You shut down those frats,

well, you're gonna lose
a lot of donations.

Kids aren't gonna be
able to rush anymore.

Students aren't going
to wanna go there, then.

They would be losing
a lot of donations.

They would be angering
a lot of alumni.

You can't do things

that are going to destroy
this Greek system

because it has its own inherent
value for the university.

KORDEL: They want the money
to keep coming in.

They want the wealth havens
from the fraternities.

They're like, "Oh, my goodness,
how'd this happen?"

The culture has to change.

KORDEL: After Tim passes away,

I wasn't really
going to the house

like it felt like evil,

like the evil spirits
of darkness in that house

and I couldn't be there.

Like it was just--

like it was not safe.

This fraternity ruined
my entire college experience,

so I ended up transferring

to Rutgers University
in New Jersey.

They have been advocating
to try to help end hazing,

to work with politicians,
legislators,

and go to schools across America

and give keynotes
about this topic

and try to ensure that it
doesn't happen to other people.

The fact that students
are dying like my brother,

because that these
warped traditions live on

and are protected
and kept secret.

It's heartbreaking

and...confounding.

I can't tell you how many
families I've spoken to

and the story
is exactly the same.

It is important for universities

to recognize that they need

to own the problem.

They can't walk away from it

and they can't
turn a blind eye to it.

It is with mixed emotions
and great appreciation

that we stand here today
with Senator Jake Corman

to announce this proposed
anti-hazing legislation,

also known as the Timothy
J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law

for the state of Pennsylvania.

Under Tim's law,

hazing is now a felony
in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania will now have
one of the strongest

anti-hazing laws in the country.

In many ways, I think for us,
it keeps Tim alive.

You know, I hope
he is looking down

and saying, "That's awesome."

He would've been
such a great asset

and such a bright light

and it all got taken away
overnight.

You don't prove yourself

by being paddled,

by being forced to drink.

You wanna grow leaders,

grow leaders the right way,

grow leaders by understanding

who you are welcoming
into your organization.

I would love the person

when they walk through that door

gets a hug and a welcome

as opposed to a bottle of vodka
in their face.

[music]

REPORTER: A lifeless body
of the sorority girl

was discovered in her apartment

on the San Diego State campus.

A young kid
bought the age of your own

dead in a dorm room
from an overdose,

yeah, it is hard.

There was a coke dealer

in all the top houses.

REPORTER: Ciaccio allegedly
organized the drug ring.

I mentioned,
"I do have a connection

"if you wanna sell cocaine."

His eyes light up.

I suggested that we do

a narcotics operation.

These individuals

have ruined hundreds of lives.

We don't pass permission
to go after crooks.

Before anybody else dies,
we're gonna do this thing.