BOWLING GREEN — Some of their voices shaking with fury, students took turns Tuesday speaking from the steps of Bowling Green State University’s McFall Center, calling on the school’s administration to act following the death of a student in an alleged fraternity hazing incident.
“I know victims, and I’ve heard the stories,” said Artemis Cheeseman, a third-year student. “This is the reality of BGSU.”
The student-organized protest began outside the Pi Kappa Alpha house in BGSU’s Greek Village with a silent gathering in memory of 20-year-old Stone J. Foltz, who was seeking initiation into the fraternity. He died after he was given “copious amounts of alcohol” at an off-campus event Thursday, family attorney Sean Alto previously said.
The group of protesters, which grew to about 200 students, faced the fraternity’s house, from which its Greek letters had been removed Sunday following its interim suspension ordered Friday. A small memorial with a photo, candles, and flowers was set at the base of a tree in front.
Students then walked across campus to McFall, where university administration offices are housed. Several of those who spoke noted the absence of administrators participating in the event, though some apparent staff members stood separately nearby. Students called out university President Rodney Rogers by name.
“There is silence on this campus at the administration level, at the faculty level,” senior Joshua Menden told the crowd, noting graduate students and faculty could be risking their jobs if they participated in the protest. “This is an institution built on money, and they want to look out for donors’ interest first, rather than students.’”
A statement issued late Tuesday afternoon by Alex Solis, university spokesman and deputy chief of staff, said the administration is listening.
“We hear them,” he said. “We support them, and we share in their outrage about the alleged hazing activity from Thursday night. Hazing in any form has no place at BGSU.”
Mr. Solis said during the protest, Mr. Rogers was in a virtual meeting of the Inter-University Council of Ohio, which includes the presidents of all the state’s public universities, along with Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Randy Gardner.
“BGSU appreciates their deep care and attention to this tragic alleged hazing situation,” Mr. Solis said.
The statement did not provide an update in the ongoing investigations following Mr. Foltz’s death.
Protest leaders, who declined to be named or interviewed, issued several demands from the university. First, the permanent expulsion of Pi Kappa Alpha — also known as “Pike” — from campus, and the immediate resignations of Stacey Allan, assistant dean of students handling BGSU’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and advisers to the department.
Student Hope Schneider told the crowd she left her sorority after she became a target of hazing and bullying. She said she tried to report it and to effect change, but got nowhere. She said doesn’t “want to be a Falcon anymore.”
“I don’t feel safe on this campus because I’ve been ostracized by the Greek community,” she said. “I’ve been harassed. I’ve been assaulted. So many things have happened to me here, and I’ve begged for this change.”
Late Saturday, the university suspended all recruiting and social activities for fraternities and sororities on campus in the interim “until each chapter individually and successfully works with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and the Office of the Dean of Students on comprehensive plans to safely restart,” Mr. Rogers said in statement. The university has also said it will work with third parties to perform a comprehensive review of all student organizations.
Students who spoke at the protest said Pi Kappa Alpha has a reputation of spiking drinks, prompting warnings to be cautious about attending that fraternity’s events because “Pike spikes.”
Senior Olivia Metcalfe said she is a sexual-assault survivor and she sees many similarities between Greek-letter organizations and those who abused her.
“They prey on incoming freshmen, people that are vulnerable, that are looking for friends, that are lonely, that are scared of this huge life change. They abuse them and then they use their power to silence them,” she said. “I can’t help but see that parallel and I am absolutely disgusted that my university would allow something like this to happen.”
Protesters pointed to a cultural problem in Greek life. Katie Linger, a friend of Ms. Schneider’s who did not speak to the crowd, said she knows many people who have had great experiences in fraternities and sororities. But she also knows “a lot of people who have been really hurt by Greek life, by the people in it, and by the culture it’s created.
“For an incident like this to occur, there has to be a larger culture that would create the context to allow it,” Ms. Linger said. “We can take action to change the culture of Greek life that allows incidents like this to happen. I think a larger issue permeating Greek life is the acceptance of behaviors that lead to hazing.”
Students are also calling for a system specific for reporting incidents in fraternities and sororities that involves the victims and “objective third parties that have no interest in the preservation of fraternity and sorority life.”
Additional demands include administration taking public and explicit responsibility, acknowledging that Mr. Foltz’s death is not an isolated incident, and that Pi Kappa Alpha has caused “irreparable harm” to the broader BGSU community.
“I think the university is really good at creating plans that have a lot to do with the general, vague idea of ‘we’ll do better’ instead of actually formulating measurable, smart goals on how they will do better,” Ms. Linger said.
Event organizers encouraged students to write, email, and call university faculty, administration, as well as state legislators and the governor’s office to seek change.
“I was silenced in my sorority because there was a fear I was going to make a change that was too big for other people to handle,” Ms. Schneider said. “Don’t stop talking. They can’t silence you.”
State Sens. Theresa Gavarone (R., Bowling Green) and Stephanie Kunze (R., Hilliard) announced Tuesday afternoon a virtual news conference to be held Wednesday morning regarding “legislation targeting the dangers of hazing at colleges and universities across Ohio.” Kathleen Wiant, whose son, Collin Wiant, died in a 2018 hazing incident at Ohio University, is to participate.
In December, 2020, members of the Ohio Senate’s Education Committee opted not to vote on House Bill 310, also known as Collin’s Law: The Ohio Anti-Bullying and Hazing Act. The bill would have expanded the definition of hazing in Ohio to include the forced consumption of drugs or alcohol. It would also have increased the criminal penalties for hazing, which in Ohio is now a fourth-degree misdemeanor, to a second-degree misdemeanor for general hazing and a third-degree felony for any hazing involving drugs or alcohol.
Mr. Solis said Tuesday that BGSU supports Collin’s Law and is appreciative of local legislators’ efforts on the bill.
First Published March 9, 2021, 4:24 p.m.
