[Applause] 2 one today on an all new Dr Phil young men are literally dying to get into fraternities the last thing he had to do to get into the fraternity was to drink a lot of alcohol a 20-year-old sophomore died after drinking entire bottle of whiskey
Oh my God oh my God they made fun of him and thought he was snoring when in reality he was aspirating and dying [Applause] Today during National hazing prevention week we continue our two-part special covering a topic that has become a national issue that every parent needs to pay attention to the dangers of and psychology behind fraternity and sorority hazing young men and women literally dying to get in we are talking
To families whose children have been tragic victims of what they say is a flawed Greek life pledging system they are fighting tooth and nail for change so that no other parent has to sit where they are sitting here today here’s a look at what we talked about yesterday
Danny was a freshman at the University of Missouri we knew he was in the pledging process they blindfolded them they all had their shirts off Danny was given a bottle of vodka one of the fraternity members also gave him a beer bong after that it’s when he fell
Back and couldn’t stand up anymore and that’s when they picked him up and threw him on the couch at some point he rolled over and was halfway on the floor they picked him up and dragged him down the hall dropped him and put him in a car and the
Hospital is probably a block and a half away when we got the call that no one wants to get pulls to 1:30 in the morning his blood alcohol content was 486 he was on a respirator that was not easy to look at right not easy to see your brother in
That condition complete nightmare in a matter of seconds just tubes everywhere I resigned from my job back in April just to take care of Danny he can’t really do anything for himself every morning at 4:30 a.m. I have to start the pump for his feeding tube the portion of
Danny’s brain that was damaged is movement and speech so he cannot move or he cannot speak do you think that your son recognizes you and can hear you at this point 100% he can hear us he knows we’re there what was the plan these executive members were texting in a
Group message before like we’re going to get these kids disly drunk tonight like they were planning to just get them all messed up okay and was this bottle taped to his hand yes yes and at times during the night did he say that’s it no more yeah was there a problem with this
Fraternity doing anything like this before they’ve had a bad reputation so they’ve been disciplined before and when you’re on probation you’re not supposed to have any parties no events at the house the family’s attorney says this is the worst hazing injury he’s seen in 43 years of practice since the year 2000 65
Fraternity pledges have died as a result of fraternity Hazel this doesn’t have to happen this was a bright energetic vibrant alive young man who now is debilitated to the point that he can’t see walk take care of himself that did not have to happen they had been more than warned they had been
Sanctioned and the next day they all got together and started planning the event that resulted in these horrible injuries to Dan this is ridiculous We’re adding the family of stone fols to the discussion two fraternity Brothers stood trial after Stone a 20-year-old sophomore at Bowling Green State University died after drinking entire bottle of whiskey his final task to gain entrance and be sworn in as a brother at fppa Alpha fraternity Stone walked into
Iation as a kid with his entire life ahead of him but Days Later his picture wasn’t on a Greek composite it was on the news and he was dead his parents are demanding change and they say they will not rest until this problem is pushed into the
Spotlight and that’s why we want to help them accomplish that by having them here today this is their story so I just got this a couple weeks ago it has his ashes in it and then his name on it so I feel like I’m closer to
Him Stone was the oldest of three he was super kind he was always looking out for his brother and sister he always put others first as any parent you’re you’re wanting your kids to start to grow up and make their own decisions as a dad I
Was proud um he was growing up to be an independent young man it was late at night and both of us as any parents have their phones beside their bed and we hear our phones ring so when I redialed the number it was the sheriff’s office and they said are you
Stone’s mom and I said yes they said he was cardiac arrest so I threw the phone down and I threw it at Cory cuz I couldn’t I immediately knew what was going on so the first time I saw him with all the tubes I told them I would not want this
To happen to anybody else it was the one thing I knew we could do and we would do it and I told them that we would make sure that no one would have to go through what he went through it can happen to any student him passing was in
A window of 60 minutes and I don’t think any student at this point is going to understand that in less than 60 Minutes you could lose your life million years we never thought this would happen so as a parent you need to educate yourself you as a parent need to get involved but
We are also fighting for the lies of these young adults we don’t want this to happen to them and we don’t want any family number to have to go through what we’ve been through in exclusive interview Stones parents Sher and Corey folz are joining the conversation that started yesterday
They’re speaking out for the first time since the conclusion of the emotional trial along with their attorney Rex Elliott and they say their goal is to end the pledging process thank you all for being here and to you too I I’m so sorry for your loss I I cannot
Even imagine uh what it must be like you you send your strong vibrant uh intelligent alert son off to school and um he doesn’t come back tell me about your son Sten was a amazing kid he is the oldest of three um he was always my mother hen he always helped
Out with the younger two whenever I asked him he was a kind individual he just made friends so easy he was a good listener and just the most loving caring person you would ever meet he was talking to you guys about what was coming up and what he was going to have
To do he wasn’t thrilled about it correct what what did he say I had a conversation with him um the night before and he was telling me that um part of the last um thing he had to do to get into the the fraternity was to
Drink a lot of alcohol and I told him I said you don’t have to do it he said no we do everyone has to drink some of the pledges said they were told to tell the their professors that hey probably not going to be here tomorrow correct going
To be absent tomorrow y so again this is they knew what was going to happen that this was going to be a knockout night also instructed to bring a case of water and a loaf of bread each individual new pledge okay and they were told to dress in formal attire correct
Correct and that was actually so they could use tie the the ties as blindfolds correct this doesn’t sound strange in terms of of the kind of things you were hearing with regard to Danny right it’s very very similar very similar I mean a lot of Theo you know stories we hear are almost
Identical Stone found out who his big was in this and it was Jacob kren who was later charged in his death correct and when this all started unfolding each little was gifted a bottle uh of the family drink correct and expected to drink it and how much do you know about
What he consumed so he consumed a full liter of bourbon in a matter of 18 minutes a liter in 18 minutes uh one liter bottle is equivalent to 22 shots consumed in 18 minutes is going to take you to a blood alcohol level of the a a minimum of
394 uh which is lethal these kids do not understand that amount of alcohol can kill you within six minutes my son Stone he even Googled on um how to drink large amounts of alcohol yeah well coming up the heartbreaking 911 call that details Stones final moments when we come [Applause] Back took him back to his apartment lay him on the couch and then they videoed him and they made fun of him and thought he was snoring when in reality he was aspirating and Dying Stone folds a former High School athlete business major aspiring clothing designer was just 20 years old when he died after a fraternity ritual where new pledges were gifted a bottle of family liquor by their big brother and encouraged to drink the entire thing now according to Witnesses Stone drank
Around a fifth of whiskey in less than 20 minutes he was then brought back to his room by two frat brothers and left alone his roommate discovered him unconscious and attempted CPR while his girlfriend called 911 Stones parents are willing to listen to it only because hearing this could
Help someone realize the severity of this issue and Save a Life 911 what is your emergency someone that we know is non-responsive and he drink alcohol like a lot of alcohol his face is really purple and he his uh pup aren’t responsive do you see his chest
Rising up and down no not right now okay he’s blue yeah okay then he there’s a good chance he’s not breathing wait oh my God okay listen to me Maddie you need to help your friend calm down okay okay okay do you see his chest oh
My God oh my God is it rising or not my God no no okay his face is very purple you feel comfortable CPR someone is doing CPR right now yes they’re trying yes do they know how to do CPR okay his name is Wade he’s doing put Wade on
Speaker phone and let me talk to him are you are you starting the compressions again yep okay 1 2 3 4 5 the girls need to go in another room 23 go another go to another room go to another room someone’s here someone’s there open the
Door for them keep doing CPR here two three four that ambulance is here the ambulance is there with you okay I’ll let you go I I know that’s hard to listen to and God bless you both for willing to share that so people understand because that
Could be their child I mean Dad what do you say to yourself about that lot of anger frustration that they left him alone knowing he just drank a liter of bottle and he was not coherent when they took him out of the event took him back to
His apartment lay him on the couch and then they videoed him and they made fun of him and thought he was snoring when in reality he was aspirating and dying well I warn you uh this video is very important but it’s hard to watch and we show this with y’all’s full permission
Correct uhhuh yes okay take a look yes sir yes Sir that’s my son my boy right here yes sir yes sir St out here rolling through the mud that’s little Pebble got his nice little friend the garbage can your boy PUK like half a Time Focus your energy you’re a mannequin bro the video was shown in court
Recorded by a fraternity member who took a plea in the case right and how many people were subject to prosecution in this case eight eight six took pleas correct two went to trial correct and what was the finding against the two that went to trial uh
Each of them received 42 days jail time so they were found guilty yes guilty of hazing hazing and unfortunately because Stone passed before Colin law in Ohio which now makes hazing a felony they only receive misdemeanors for The Hazing wow well coming up we’ll tell you what Stone’s fellow pledges revealed when
They were called to testify and we’ll meet this family’s attorney we’ll be right back there are things in place should prevent stuff like this from ever happening um obviously it’s not working and something needs to change there is no defense for the students I mean I’m I’m the vice president of my chapter
There’s only me to be held Accountable after The Hazing related death of 20-year-old Bowling Green State University student Stone folds eight fraternity members were indicted six took pleas correct two stood trial now Stone’s big brother Jacob kren and Troy henriksson were charged with hazing failure to comply with underage alcohol laws obstructing official business first degree in voluntary
Manslaughter third degree in voluntary manslaughter Reckless homicide and fonus assault and Stone’s girlfriend meline testified at the trial that when she called to get answers from fapa alpha Brothers she heard someone yell he’ll get his stomach pumped he’ll be fine she also testified that phone call I
Heard someone say this is the president what’s going on I told him Stone’s not okay obviously I was freaking out and screaming and saying he’s not okay he’s not going to wake up and he’s going to die at the hospital and then after I said that they hung up the phone it it’s
Just I mean it’s almost impossible to wrap your head around all of that uh I would like to introduce the attorney for the families the culi family attorney David bankei says this is the worst hazing injury he’s seen in 43 years of practice for this family and then uh for
Stone’s family Rex Elliott Rex when you see all of the conscious disregard for this young man’s well-being doesn’t that just Boggle your mind it does it shocks me I can’t believe that there aren’t interveners in this situation um but I’ve been doing this for a long time and what happens in
These situations just like it did in the San Tuli situation the fults and the W are the same way as soon as a kid begins to struggle these fraternity members begin to think of themselves and make sure they do things that keep them out of trouble instead of getting help
Immediately I’ve said for a long time though that we continue to blame these 18 to 22 year old kids and who are acting behaving within a system that was created for them by adults the national organizations and the universities and they are to be held accountable make no
Mistake about it but where are the universities and the national fraternities in this process they are doing in my opinion nothing before these occur and reacting after they occur is there anybody here that that makes sense to raise your hand what do you what do you
Think in the back there is no defense for the students I mean I’m I’m the vice president of my chapter um and so I uphold that role to the like the highest standard that I can but like the there’s no defense for us like if I go and say
We’re going to go do all these crazy things like I thought about that process the whole time and now I’m bestowing it upon other people and there’s only me to be held accountable my biggest condolences to both families like on the outside I mean this is painful just to
Hear so I could even imagine what it would be like sitting in your shoes um so like I’m just sorry for just their obliviousness to just everything that they were they were saying and trying to teach to these kids it’s like that’s just the next generation of people that
Are going to go on and do the exact same thing and so that’s the Legacy that gets passed on who else who’s got a comment about this a reaction to it uh yes sir in a white shirt obviously my condolences Tau all the families I can
Only imagine and very sorry but there is things in place um it should prevent stuff like this from ever happening um obviously it’s not working and something needs to change but for example um there’s at least in our fraternity um there’s a risk manager who’s someone who’s sober like let’s say there’s a
Party someone who’s completely sober looking out for stuff like this the term INF fraternities I’m sure they have in sorority as well being a Brother’s Keeper like pretty much means making sure your brother is always okay you know obviously in a lot of these situations that was not being done at
All whatsoever and you know people need to be held accountable for this as I said there were so many signs that were going on with stone he was frozen in a catatonic State at that point he wasn’t able to react to stimuli and he was they said whoa you’re like a
Mannequin well anybody that was sober would look and say this isn’t funny this isn’t his his brain’s not working right yeah you don’t just freeze in position like that you got to say something’s wrong here we we need to get this person help I’m so glad to hear that’s happening
That there’s somebody there that’s like a designated driver at a party who’s looking around to see that things aren’t getting out of hand you think wow this is where I belong and then you get sucked into the process and a week before Colin died he told his brother I’m almost done I’m almost
Through we feel the solution to hazing is abolishing the Pledge process I truly believe that if the pledging process was not in existence that my son would still be here my son didn’t die from The Hazing ritual that was that night he died when he started the process of the
Pledging which was the grooming process when you started the process of the pledging which was the grooming process we want the pledge process removed so no one has to lose their young son or daughter conversation he is a nationally known expert on the psychology of hazing a former fraternity brother himself and
A professor at Wake Forest University uh he also testified for the prosecution in Stone’s trial uh Gregory thank you so much for joining us thank you for having me look everybody is looking at this and and scratching their head about how this could happen over and over and over help
Us understand this I would categorize four motivations for seeking membership and for example a fraternity Authority and also sticking with the process when it goes bad one is just lack of knowledge not knowing what a true definition of hazing is uh assuming uh having assumptions about the utility of
Hazing for example bonding and tradition misperceptions about what other uh candidates or new members are willing to tolerate and not knowing the true risks the second thing I’d say is there are individuals who are seeking legitimacy through belonging in an organization they desire to be accepted by peers they
Have a need for self-esteem and achievement uh and the hierarchical Dynamics that are at play when an individual decides to let or not let you be a part of their organization can can create some strange Dynamics third there are individuals who are seeking to be a part of a legacy
Whether that be a grandfather a father or Uncle a close a close family member who’s a member of an organization and then there are individuals who feel like things may be going bad but I’ve already invested a lot of time energy money in this uh and and trying to be a part of
This organization let me invest just a little bit more in hopes that things will turn out right you know this kind of gets into cognitive dissonance right cognitive dissonance just describes a situation where it’s it’s a state of having inconsistent thoughts beliefs or attitudes especially as relating to a a
Behavioral decision or attitude change it’s like in in the fraternity situation it’s like you’ve convinced yourself to resolve that discomfort of this is something I would never do I this isn’t me but this is a great organization so it’s worth it I think the thing I would
Add is that it’s not always conscious a young man a young woman isn’t always walking through and explaining this to themselves sometimes it can be quite subconscious and when you’re in the moment uh uh that pressure can be really strong now coming up I want to talk
About why the folz family says they want to fight to end pledging not Greek life as a whole we’ll be right [Applause] back about 2 years ago we began to learn more about the details that led to Colin’s death Colin was beaten belted waterboarded forced drugs Colin was
Hazed I set out to learn about hazing and I was going to Capitol Hill to lobby for anti-hazing reform and I was drafting Ohio’s anti-hazing and anti-bullying bill called Collins law Collins law is really important because now acts of hazing that involve uh alcohol and drugs becomes a third degree
Felony it will follow you for the rest of your life prosecutors are not messing around anymore Kathleen Wyatt son Colin died on the campus of Ohio University now her son’s death has led Kathleen to become a fierce anti-hazing Advocate she’s also represented by Rex Elliott and together they work to pass
Collins law um Kathleen you’re very passionate about this right I am yes I’m very passionate about it I was a member of the Greek system myself at Ohio University where and died um I know there can be good in the Greek system but I know the system is very broken
Right now and it is up to the adults to make that change we can’t leave it in the hands of the students there’s nobody to pump the break there’s nobody to control the situation getting out of hand um so it is human nature which I
Guess is kind of a defense but it’s also an indictment of the abuses that are taking place there so you’re right you’ve got to have some adult supervision in there yes it’s it’s a significant power power imbalance I mean not only are these upper classmen and you’re trying to get into their
Organization but on top of that you’re away from home for the first time right you know no one you have no connections you’re trying to fit in and you finally find this group and you think wow this is where I belong and then you get sucked into the process and it’s usually
A slow build it’s usually not just something overnight where it happens it’s usually a grooming process actually I mean if you ask most kids they would tell you I would never do the big bad dangerous hazing but if they make me drink a little I’ll do that if I have to
Do laundry no one ever died of doing laundry so that’s the mindset that they’re two types of hazing the problem is it usually starts out small and they slowly get more and more control over you by the time you’re into it so deep that it becomes dangerous you’ve typically done something that’s so
Embarrassing or humiliating that you would never come forth and you typically don’t have any hard evidence so you just say you know what I’m going to wh knuckled out I’m almost done and at that point it’s a game of Russian Roulette and a week before Colin died he told his
Brother I’m almost done I’m almost through yeah and he had actually been physically assaulted right yes he had been beaten belted waterboarded yes does that seem abusive offensive that that’s going overboard everybody agrees with that well yes sir I’m actually an alumni off of my fraternity um I’m still 23 and I
Joined the National Council board for my fraternity a little bit different we’re a professional uh gender inclusive organization rooted on film um so you know not just purely social but we do have those social aspects of bigs and Littles and kind of that you know hierarchy as any organization has kind
Of you know elections and all these positions and um one thing on the National Council that I feel responsible for is you know questioning everything is kind of rewriting the organization at its foundation and it’s base and it’s hard um a lot of the national organizations are volunteer based and
They’re not getting any compensation we have full-time jobs on top of this so it really is a problem across the whole nation for Well it can’t be volunteer-based if they’re going to do this it needs to be their job to pay attention right it needs to be their job
To watch what’s going on and they need to be accountable if it goes wrong and if you can’t provide that and the fraternity can’t afford it then they need to not be a fraternity it’s just just comes with it it’s just that simple you can’t let this happen coming
Up next what still needs to be done and how you can help we’ll be right Back well we’re back talking about what happens when you leave home for the first time to go to college you know you’re wanting to fit in you’re you’re trying to find at what the Norms are what the expectations are and you want to belong you pledge a fraternity um you’re moving into an
Athletic dorm or whatever there are initiations and you don’t want to be the one person that says no I I I don’t want to do that so you you have the spirit of of going along but you have to decide for yourself and parents you need to talk to
Your kids and let them know it’s okay to say enough’s enough and too much is too much and and You’ you’ve got to know that these organizations right now a lot of them don’t have the supervision they don’t have the monitoring that is going to be overseeing what your kid is going
Through they just don’t so you don’t assume that because it’s a nice white house and there’s big columns out front and uh when you visit or whatever that’s not what it looks like on a Saturday night so you need to think about that and you need to talk to your child about
That and if this is happening you need to check and find out have they been violated what’s going on uh with that fraternity and talk to your kids about this and mothers talk to your daughters because if they’re going into sorority and they’re partying with a certain
Fraternity you need to find out what’s the reputation so you can warn them look brains aren’t through developing until 25 to 35 years of age and the last part that develops is the front the neocortex which is the ability to foresee what’s going to happen to look
Around corners you can do that your kid cannot so help them see around those Corners talk to them about those things these courageous families are here today to help you see around corners that you don’t even know exist if these families stayed home and were just hurting in
Silence grieving in silence dealing with their pain alone then you wouldn’t have these Fair warnings and I can’t thank you guys enough for coming here and talking about this you will save young men from getting seriously injured or dying because you’re here talking about this today you’re going to put parents and
Young men on alert that will keep them because they’re going to get up against this situation somebody’s going to come and say and they’re going to say no because they saw and heard what they saw and heard here today from you thank you so much for
Doing and thank you thank you so much for fighting for Collins law because that raised the stakes in this game absolutely yes when the men were convicted of hazing and I found out that in the state of Ohio that was the equivalent of not paying a parking
Ticket I was just devastated by that so that’s when we got to work on colins law now it’s up to a third degree felony David what outcome are you hoping for uh with the santulli family well we’ve uh We’ve settled with 25 defendants uh on the Civil side there are 10 who are
Currently facing felony criminal charges one a misdemeanor charge and uh I would imagine that they’ll have to plead because there is no defense to what happened to Danny sanul it was all captured on video so I don’t think there’s any chance that they can win the criminal case so my expectation is that
They’ll all have to plead and if I could make one comment before we go please in terms of foreseeing the future there’s a danger lurking right this minute and there’s something new going on right now and right here in LA and it’s that fraternity chapters are now pushing back
Against Reg tion from the universities and they’re saying we don’t want your oversight we don’t want your rules and regulations and they are voting as they’ve done at USC they are voting to remove themselves from the umbrella of the university to disassociate themselves from the inner fraternity
Council to move out of their chapter house here and go get another house over here so they can do whatever the heck they want without any regulation whatsoever from the University and if that movement catches on you’re going to have more injury and death because they’re not going to be controlled by
Any rules and regulations of the universities and that’s a very dangerous and bad thing and they’re going to be liable for whatever they do as well so be careful what you wish for because they get out and get stupid you guys are going to be there to
Call them on being stupid and it’s it’s going to be at a high price if lives are lost uh but they want to get out and run on their own then they’re going to have to stand up on their own so let’s hope that doesn’t happen but I’m glad you brought
That up so if you’re looking at a fraternity if you get into one that doesn’t have the checks and balances as inadequate as they may be unless there are at least there are some checks and balances with the university in the background and the inner fraternity Council so think about that if your
Child’s looking at something look we’re out of time I want to thank all of my guests today who participated in this discussion I I so respect these families for Having the courage to come and and talk about this and and help you in your life more information about today’s
Episode this conversation obviously will continue on the social media platforms and weigh in let us know what you think and if you’re going to be in the LA area and you’d like to be part of this audience then just go to drill.com click on be part of the audience for all
The details don’t forget to follow And subscribe to my podcast fill in the blanks because I’m going to be talking about critical information with some of the most important issues that all of you guys are telling me about that you’re facing in life today and we know
There’s a lot going on also listen to Robins podcast I’ve got a secret you can check both of them out on Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcast we will see you next time thank you [Applause] [Applause]
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