More than two years after his death, Maddy Borja is still brought to tears when thinking about the night her boyfriend, Stone Foltz, died.
“You could blame me for not acting fast enough, for not calling 911 before I even entered the door,” Ms. Borja said Thursday at a speaking engagement at the University of Toledo, where she appeared alongside the Foltz family and members of his legal team. “You could blame me for not giving him CPR and instead praying over him as if only God could save him now, but I couldn’t do more than I did.”
The event, hosted by the University of Toledo’s Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils, served as a way to teach alcohol safety and the perils of hazing that took the life of Mr. Foltz, who died after attending an event at Bowling Green State University’s Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity on March 4, 2021.
Mr. Foltz was pledging to become a member of the fraternity and was attending “big brother night” in which members of the fraternity, known as “bigs” were paired with pledges known as “littles.”
Pledges had neckties placed over their eyes and were asked to drink an entire fifth of alcohol.
Mr. Foltz consumed the entire fifth and was later found unresponsive in his off-campus apartment by a roommate. He was pronounced dead three days later.
“An event like this is important to raise awareness of the behavior,” Alex Zernechel, associate director for student involvement in fraternities and sororities at the University of Toledo, said of alcohol abuse. “The way Hollywood and the media portray fraternities and sororities makes it seem like this behavior is acceptable but it is not acceptable. There are serious consequences when that behavior happens.”
Mr. Zernechel thought the event, which included demonstrations on the effects of alcohol and how volumes of alcohol correlate with different blood alcohol levels, brought the issue of alcohol abuse to the students and showed them that it isn’t all fun and games.
Still, he said there are challenges to making sure these hazing and initiation rituals in Greek life organizations and other organizations, including athletic teams on campus, stay safe.
“The hardest thing about working with a college is that your student demographic changes every four years,” Mr. Zernechel said. “Every single year, you are dealing with a different dynamic of students and bringing in a speaker once doesn’t guarantee that the lesson is making its way through the organization.”
He said that individual workshops on smaller settings and working within the University of Toledo’s four Greek life communities —- the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, and cultural organizations under the National Panhellenic Council —- will be key to ensuring the lessons of Mr. Foltz’s death are enduring.
Nathan Scott, a senior in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity who is also president of the Interfraternity Council, felt that the presentation of the subject was very impactful.
“I liked the way that they reinvented alcohol 101,” Mr. Scott said of the demonstrations, which followed testimony from Mr. Foltz’s parents, his aunt and his younger brother and sister as to how his death affected them.
“I feel like a lot of current teachings are kind of dry and a lot of people do not really take it into account. But when you include it in a situation that is very near and dear to home it captured the attention of a lot more people and got them to realize how much they are drinking.
Mr. Scott is a senior and he said his experience “pledging” to Sigma Alpha Epsilon was clean and safe.
He said that he feels the University of Toledo and its student organizations do a pretty good job of rooting out hazing already, but every reminder of what can go wrong, like the Foltzes provides Thursday, is helpful.
“Our fraternity ended our pledging process back in 2014,” he said. “From the moment you sign your bid during recruitment week, you have 96 hours to be initiated and then you are a full member. There is no process. There is no allowance or tolerance for putting people through a process where these things can be prevalent.”
Eight Bowling Green students were charged in Mr. Foltz’s death. Three students were expelled from the school and 18 were suspended.
Most of those charged eventually were found guilty of misdemeanors and sentenced to two weeks to 21 days of jail, along with a mix of house arrest, and probation. Jacob Krinn — who served as the “Big” to Mr. Foltz — and Troy Henricksen, the fraternity’s pledge educator who was in charge of Pike’s new member orientation process and safety, received 42 days of jail time along with probation and community service.
In November, Shari and Cory Foltz sued Bowling Green State University and Pi Kappa Alpha in an issue that was settled in January with a cash amount of over $10 million — $2.9 million from the school and just over $7 million from the fraternity, which has its international offices in Tennessee.
First Published March 17, 2023, 1:31 a.m.
