Stop Campus Hazing Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I think this is truly one of the best representative policies for bipartisanship. When our children are dying and when our children are no longer safe in their environments, when they are simply going to school to get an education, I cannot think of a greater time for bipartisanship. I thank Congressmen Owens, Scott, and Duncan so very much for their willingness to save our children.

My son, Jordan, was killed in a shooting in 2012, so I know the pain of losing a child. I know the hole that it leaves in your soul and the questions it leaves you behind to dwell on; the feelings of guilt and yearning to do anything that you can to reverse the irreversible and to spend just a little bit more time with that person who was taken from you far too soon. You want to tell them all the things that you wish that you could have during their short time here on Earth, but we know that we are not that lucky.

The only thing that we can do now is harness that pain and try to do something positive with it. Harness it and try to make a lasting change that will prevent other families from suffering a similar tragedy. We must try to create a legacy that truly speaks to the memory of that person that you loved so deeply.

This is the reason why I came to Congress, and the same reason why Jeanne Clery's parents took their power back and got the Clery Act signed into law after the tragic killing of their daughter on campus in 1986.

Jeanne Clery's parents made the same argument that I have heard time and time again from families all over this country who have lost loved ones to hazing at colleges and universities: If we had only known; if only we had been made aware sooner; if only we had been given a clearer picture of the situation that took our child away from us, maybe we could have done something.

That is what this bill is about. It is about transparency and accountability, empowering students and families so that they can make informed decisions about the schools that they attend or the clubs that they join.

It is about ensuring that college remains a place of new beginnings and hope for our children's future. It is simply about just saving lives.

I thank all of the families who have been working on this effort for so many years and who are watching from home but also watching here with us today in our House gallery.

I thank Hank Nuwer for his years of meticulous research on the history of hazing deaths in this country.

I thank Representatives Jeff Duncan and Glenn Thompson for their commitment to helping to see this bill through.

I thank Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member Bobby Scott and their staff for coming together on this truly critical issue.

With efforts like these we are showing the American people that regardless of what they see on social media or whatever they see on TV, there are still people in Washington who are willing to put partisanship aside, engage in good faith together, and do the hard work that is so necessary to make positive change for the folks that are relying on us back home.

I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill. I am so encouraged by this measure to come together to say the least of these, to save our children. They deserve so much more from us, and in these moments today we are giving them what they deserve, a chance to survive, a chance to grow and to prosper, and a chance to be in America the way it is designed for them to be.

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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a list of names of students who died from hazing-related activities. This is a list of known hazing deaths from 1847 to 2023. These are the names that we honor today with this legislation.

Year, Name, Institution, State:

1847, Jonathan D. Torrence, Amherst College, Massachusetts; 1873, Mortimer N. Leggett, Cornell University, New York; 1884, Frederick Schwatka Strang, United States Naval Academy, Maryland; 1892, Wilkins Ruskin, Yale University, Connecticut; 1899, Edward F. Berkeley, Cornell University, New York; 1900, Hugh C. Moore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts; 1900, Oscar Booz, United States Military Academy, New York; 1903, Martin Loew, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland; 1905, Stuart L. Pierson, Kenyon College, Ohio; 1905, James R. Branch, Jr., United States Naval Academy, Maryland; 1906, William Miller, Stanford University, California; 1908, Emil S. (Ernie) Gram, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts; 1912, Isaac William Rand, University of North Carolina, North Carolina; 1913, Francis W. Obenchain, Purdue University, Indiana; 1914, William R. Bowlus, St. John's Military College, Maryland; 1915, Thurber Sweet, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia; 1915, Eldridge Scott Griffith, University of Kentucky, Kentucky.

1915-1916, Ludwig Von Gerichten, New Mexico Military Institute, New Mexico; 1916, Paul N. Blue, Morningside College, Iowa; 1916, William Lifson, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania; 1917, William Ashcom Bullock, College of the City of New York, New York; 1919, Frank McCullough, Colgate University, New York; 1921, Leighton Mount, Northwestern University, Illinois; 1922, William Duncan Saunders, Hamilton College, New York; 1923, Glenn Kersh, University of Alabama, Alabama; 1923, Ainsworth Brown, Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania; 1923, Louis Aubere, Northwestern University, Illinois; 1925, Reginald Stringfellow, University of Utah, Utah; 1928, Nolte McElroy, University of Texas, Texas; 1929, Orsa George Steinmetz Jr., Indiana University, Indiana; 1931, Lloyd Neuman Aune, Stout Institute, Wisconsin; 1934, Paul Kutch, Oregon State University, Oregon; 1935, Richard Wendell Beitzel, Dickinson College, Pennsylvania.

1936, Willie B. Barkley, Mississippi State University (then Mississippi State College), Mississippi; 1940, Hubert L. (Hugo) Spake Jr., University of Missouri, Missouri; 1945, Robert G. Perry, St. Louis University, Missouri; 1948, James (Jim) Irvin Peterson, Montana State University, Montana; 1949, Hale Thompson Gehl, Brown University, Rhode Island; 1950, Gerald Loren Foletta, University of California, Berkeley, California; 1950, Dean J. Niswonger, Wittenberg University, Ohio; 1951, Allen Kaplan, Northwestern State College, Louisiana; 1951, Thomas Kleppner, University of Miami, Florida; 1951, Fred E. Evens, University of Miami, Florida; 1953, Calvin Dougherty, Milligan College, Tennessee; 1954, Peter Mertz, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania; 1956, Thomas Clark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts; 1956, Karl B. Bailey, Rice University (then Rice Institute), Texas; 1956, Cecil William Carrol, Rice University (then Rice Institute), Texas; 1957, Max Caulk, University of California, Santa Barbara, California; 1959, Richard Terrell Swanson, University of Southern California, California.

1960, Harry Lamphier, Jr., Northern Illinois University, Illinois; 1960, William Gustafson, Northern Illinois University, Illinois; 1960, William Kempfer, Northern Illinois University, Illinois; 1960, John Pauls, Northern Illinois University, Illinois; 1961, Joe Henry Derham, Jr., Clemson University, South Carolina; 1964, Jose Manual Costa, University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island; 1965, Richard Winder, Georgetown College, Kentucky; 1967, John E. Clifton, Baylor University, Texas; 1968, Michael L. DiBacco, Steubenville College, Ohio; 1968, Trent Ciarrochia, Steubenville College, Ohio; 1968, William Entinger, Steubenville College, Ohio; 1969, Scott Edward Graeler, Muskingum University (then Muskingum College), Ohio; 1970, Donna Bedinger, Eastern Illinois University, Illinois; 1971, Wayne Kennedy, Tulane University, Louisiana; 1972, Fred Phillip Bronne, Pierce College, California; 1972, Brian Cursack, University of Maryland, Maryland; 1973, Mitchell (Mitch) Fishkin, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania; 1974, Thomas Morgan Elliott, Grove City College, Pennsylvania.

1974, John Curtin, Grove City College, Pennsylvania; 1974, Rudolph Mion, Grove City College, Pennsylvania; 1974, Gary Gilliland, Grove City College, Pennsylvania; 1974, William E. Flowers, Monmouth College, New Jersey; 1974, Michael James Bishop, Bluefield State College, West Virginia; 1975, Richard A. Gowins, Northern Illinois University, Illinois; 1975, David ``Lumpy'' Hoffmann, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, Wisconsin; 1975, John Davies, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada; 1975, John Asher, Washington State University, Washington; 1975, Theodore Ben, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (then-Cheyney State College), Pennsylvania; 1976, Samuel Mark Click, Texas Tech University, Texas; 1976, Thomas Fitzgerald, St. John's University, New York; 1977, Robert J. Bazile, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania; 1977, Randall Crustals, University of Missouri, Rolla, Missouri; 1978, Stephen J. McNamara, Loras College, Iowa; 1978, Charles (Chuck) Stenzel, Alfred University, New York; 1978, Nathaniel Swinson, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina.

1979, Bruce Wiseman, Louisiana State University, Louisiana; 1979, Richard C. Fuhs, Jr., Rutgers University, New Jersey; 1979, Norsha Lynn Delk, Virginia State College, Virginia; 1979, Robert Etheridge, Virginia State College, Virginia; 1980, Kingsley Davidson, University of North Dakota, North Dakota; 1980, David Masciantonio, Clarkson University, New York; 1980, Curtis Huntley, Mississippi State University, Mississippi; 1980, Lex Dean Batson, University of Missouri, Missouri; 1980, Joseph (Joey) Parrella, Ithaca College, New York; 1980, Steve Call, University of Lowell, Massachusetts; 1980, L. Barry Ballou, University of South Carolina, South Carolina; 1981, Rick Cerra, University of Wisconsin, Superior, Wisconsin; 1982, Victor (Ricky) M. Siegel, Towson State University, Maryland; 1982, Christopher Meigs, University of Virginia, Virginia; 1982, Brian H. McKittrick, University of Virginia, Virginia; 1984, Arnaldo Mercado Perez, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; 1983, Vann Watts, Tennessee State University, Tennessee; 1984, Brad Bing, University of California, Davis, California; 1984, Bruce Dean Goodrich, Texas A & M University, Texas.

1984, Jay Lenaghan, American International College, Massachusetts; 1984, Jeffrey Franklin Long, California State University, Chico, California; 1985, Sherri Ann Clark, University of Colorado, Colorado; 1985, Richard ``Rich'' Allyn Butler, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri; 1986, Harold Thomas, Lamar University, Texas; 1986, Mark Seeberger, University of Texas, Texas; 1987, Harry (Skip) Cline Jr., University of Mississippi, Mississippi; 1987, Todd Alan Prince, University of Arkansas, Arkansas; 1987, David Dunshee, Stanford University, California; 1988, James Callahan, Rutgers University, New Jersey; 1988, Bryan Higgins, State University of New York at Albany, New York; 1988, Matthew S. McCoy, University of Richmond, Virginia; 1988, Gregg Scott Phillips, University of Texas, Texas; 1988, Sean T. Hickey, Rider University (then Rider College), New Jersey; 1989, Joel Harris, Morehouse College, Georgia; 1989, Steven Butterworth, Dickinson College, Pennsylvania; 1990, Nick Haben, Western Illinois University, Illinois.

1991, Mike Nisbet, University of Missouri, Rolla, Missouri; 1991, John Moncello, University of California, Berkeley, California; 1991, Rolland C. Pederson, Trinity University, Texas; 1992, Jonathan S. McNamara, University of Vermont, Vermont; 1992, Gregory Batipps, University of Virginia, Virginia; 1992, J.B. (John B.) Joynt III, Frostburg State University, Maryland; 1993, Chad Saucier, Auburn University, Alabama; 1993, Leslie Ware, Alcorn State University, Mississippi; 1994, Terry Linn, Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania; 1994, Michael Davis, Southeast Missouri State, Missouri; 1994, Justin Chambers, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania; 1995, Gabriel Higgins, University of Texas, Texas; 1995, Brian Nicholas Cook, University of Virginia, Virginia; 1995, Matthew Garofolo, University of Iowa, Iowa; 1996, Todd Martin Cruikshank, University of New Hampshire, New Hampshire; 1997, Trey Walker, Texas A & M, Texas; 1997, Brian T. Sanders, University of California Los Angeles, California; 1997, Brian Pearce, University of California Los Angeles, California; 1997, Steven Velazquez, North Carolina State University, North Carolina.

1997, Benjamin Wynne, Louisiana State University, Louisiana; 1997, Binaya Oja, Clarkson University and State University of New York at Potsdam, New York; 1997, Scott Krueger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts; 1998, John Laduca, University of Washington, Washington; 1998, Courtney Cantor, University of Michigan, Michigan; 1998, Dudley R. Moore IV, University of Mississippi, Mississippi; 1998, Jack L. Ivey, Jr., University of Texas, Texas; 1999, Kevin Lawless, Iona College, New York; 1999, Stephen Petz, Ferris State University, Michigan; 1999, Donnie Lindsey Jr., University of Richmond, Virginia; 2000, Adrian Heideman, Chico State University, California; 2000, Terry Ryan Stirling, Old Dominion University, Virginia; 2000, Ben Folsom Grantham III, University of Georgia, Georgia; 2001, Seth Korona, Indiana University, Indiana; 2001, Joseph T. Green, Tennessee State University, Tennessee; 2001, Chad Meredith, University of Miami, Florida; 2001, Ken Christiansen, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota; 2001, Zachary Aaron Michael Mullins, Texas Tech University, Texas;

2002, Clay Warren, Texas Tech University, Texas; 2002, Ben Klein, Alfred University, New York; 2002, Brian Nicholas Jimenez, San Diego State University, California; 2002, Zachary Jacobs, San Diego State University, California; 2002, Kenitha Saafir, California State University, Los Angeles, California; 2002, Kristin High, California State University, California; 2002, Albert (A.J.) Santos, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada; 2002, Daniel Reardon, University of Maryland, Maryland; 2002, Gregory (Greg) Randall Davis, Occidental College, California; 2003, Nicholas Grass, Yale University, Connecticut; 2003, Kyle Burnat, Yale University, Connecticut; 2003, Andrew Dwyer, Yale University, Connecticut; 2003, Sean Fenton, Yale University, Connecticut; 2003, Walter Dean Jennings, Plattsburgh State (State University of New York), New York; 2003, Jerry Hopkins, Rochester Institute of Technology New York; 2003, Kelly Nester, Plymouth State University, New Hampshire; 2003, Robert Schmalz, Bradley University, Illinois; 2004, Lynn Gordon ``Gordie'' Bailey Jr., University of Colorado, Colorado.

2004, Blake Hammontree, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma; 2004, Brent E. Johnson, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois; 2005, Matthew Carrington, Chico State University, California; 2005, Kenny Luong, University of California Irvine, California; 2005, Phanta ``Jack'' Phoummarath, University of Texas, Texas; 2006, Tyler Cross, University of Texas, Texas; 2006, Zach Dunlevy, Limestone College, South Carolina; 2007, Nikolas Gallegos, Stephen F. Austin University, Texas; 2007, Gary Louis DeVercelly, Jr., Rider University, New Jersey; 2008, Brett Griffin, University of Delaware, Delaware; 2008, Johnny D. Smith, Wabash College, Indiana; 2008, Harrison Kowiak, Lenoir Rhyne University, North Carolina; 2008, Michael Anthony, Smallwood Starks, Utah State, Utah; 2008, Carson Leonard Starkey, Cal Poly, California; 2009, Arman Partamian, SUNY Geneseo, New York; 2009, Donnie Wade Jr., Prairie View A & M, Texas; 2010, Samuel Mason, Radford University, Virginia; 2010, Victoria Carter, East Carolina University, North Carolina; 2010, Briana Latrice Gather, East Carolina University, North Carolina.

2011, George Desdunes, Cornell University, New York; 2011, Robert Darnell Champion, Florida A & M, Florida; 2012, William (Will) Torrance, Vincennes University, Indiana; 2012, Philip Dhanens, Fresno State University, California; 2012, Everett Glenn, Lafayette College, Pennsylvania; 2012, David R. Bogenberger, Northern Illinois University, Illinois; 2012, Preston Vorhauer, University of Idaho, Idaho; 2012, Marcus Thomas, Bethune-Cookman University, Florida; 2012, Robert Eugene Tipton, Jr., High Point University, North Carolina; 2012, David Shannon, University of North Carolina, North Carolina; 2012, Jack Culolias, Arizona State University, Arizona; 2013, Marvell Edmondson, Virginia State University, Virginia; 2013, Jauwan Holmes, Virginia State University, Virginia; 2013, Peter Tran, San Francisco State University, California; 2013, Anthony Barksdale II, Boston University, Massachusetts; 2013, Chun ``Mike'' Deng, Baruch College, New York; 2014, Marquise Braham, Penn State, Altoona, Pennsylvania; 2014, Armando Villa, California State University, Northridge, California; 2014, Tucker W. Hipps, Clemson University, South Carolina.

2014, Trevor Duffy, University of Albany, New York; 2014, Nolan M. Burch, West Virginia University, West Virginia; 2014, Dalton Debrick, Texas Tech University, Texas; 2014, Clayton Real, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska; 2015, Praneet Karki, Louisiana State University, Louisiana; 2015, Charlie Terreni, Jr., University of South Carolina, South Carolina; 2016, Michael Anthony Walker, Ferrum College, Virginia; 2016, Ryan Abele, University of Nevada, Nevada; 2016, Jordan Taylor, Texas State, Texas; 2016, Joe Dada, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania; 2017, Timothy J. Piazza, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania; 2017, Maxwell (Max) Gruver, Louisiana State University, Louisiana; 2017, Andrew Coffey, Florida State, Florida; 2017, Matthew (Matt) Ellis, Texas State University, Texas; 2017, Alasdair Russell, University of Southern California, California; 2017, Harrison Carter Cole, Hampden Sydney College, Virginia; 2017, Jordan Hankins, Northwestern University, Illinois; 2018, Joseph Little, Texas A & M, Texas; 2018, Collin Wiant, Ohio University, Ohio.

2018, Nicholas ``Nicky'' Cumberland, University of Texas, Texas; 2018, Tyler Hilliard, University of California at Riverside, California; 2018, Alexander Levi Rainey Beletsis, University of California, Santa Cruz, California; 2019, Marlon Jackson, Delaware State University, Delaware; 2019, Noah Domingo, University of California, Irvine, California; 2019, Sebastian Serafin-Bazan, University of Buffalo, New York; 2019, Bea Castro, Cal State Fullerton, California; 2019, Samuel Martinez, Washington State University, Washington; 2019, Antonio (Anthony) Tsialas, Cornell University, New York; 2019, Rahat Jalil, University of Nebraska, Nebraska; 2019, Justin King, Bloomsburg University, Pennsylvania; 2019, Dylan Hernandez, San Diego State, California; 2020, Lauren Nicole Sawyer, Emory & Henry College, Virginia; 2021, James Gilfedder, Lyon College, Arkansas; 2021, Adam Jeffrey Oakes, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Virginia; 2021, Stone Justin Foltz, Bowling Green State University, Ohio; 2021, Lofton Hazelwood, University of Kentucky, Kentucky; 2021, Phat Nguyen, Michigan State University, Michigan; 2023, Luke Tyler, Washington State University, Washington.

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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, while we have a number of hazing victims' families who are joining us today here in the House gallery, we know that hazing has taken hundreds of lives and impacted countless families.

I would also like to thank Dr. Hank Nuwer for his years of research in compiling this list. Without this important work, hazing prevention work would not have come as far as it has.

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