The Penn State fraternity hazing scandal is an ongoing issue within the Greek life system at Pennsylvania State University. The scandal encompasses hazing, binge drinking, drug trafficking and secretive ritualistic behavior. The scandal includes the separate deaths of college students Joseph Dado, Marquise Braham, and Timothy Piazza.
Piazza died as the result of hazing at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, Pennsylvania. The incident led to the closure of the fraternity's chapter at the university, and at least 26 members of the fraternity had charges of involuntary manslaughter dropped by a presiding judge.
The scandal includes one of the largest criminal indictments against a fraternity and its members in American history. More than 1,000 counts were levied against 18 members of Beta Theta Pi, including eight who were charged with involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. Additional charges were added later. Piazza's death became a turning point for America's fraternities in regard to attitudes towards hazing.
In March 2025, the State College Interfraternity Council (SCIFC) was established by three Penn State fraternities no longer affiliated with or officially recognized by the school – so called "ghost organizations" – who were unhappy with the implementation of hazing prevention laws and policies stemming from the systemic issues encompassing the scandal. Organizations within the SCIFC have raised mass concerns with both Penn State leaders and parents. The creation of the SCIFC coincided with an executive order signed by President Trump which called for the United States Department of Education to be dismantled and the subsequent deregulation of schools across America following the passage of the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which had been signed into law by President Biden. On August 17, 2026, members of ghost organization Sigma Chi were indicted by Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday amidst the Operation Drugs Unlimited investigation. On August 26, 2026, SCIFC member, Acacia Fraternity, was also discovered to be implicated in the drug trafficking ring.
Background In October 1949, Penn State’s Interfraternity Council (IFC) passed legislation abolishing Hell Week, which then consisted of pledges performing embarrassing tasks in downtown State College. The IFC’s attempts to regulate hazing complaints continued into 1956, when the governing board passed legislation to change Hell Week to "Help Week" and undertook the responsibility of investigating 100% of hazing complaints before initiation day. The 1956 legislation also required fraternities to allot a minimum of eight hours per day of sleep for pledges.
In 1985, Penn State's Policies and Rules for Students stated that students could "not engage in any activity on or off campus that might interfere with academics and cause mental or physical discomfort or injury." The university's hazing policies came under great scrutiny following the death of an Alfred University student in 1978, prompting members of the statewide Alliance of Pennsylvania Student Governments to pen letters to Pennsylvania state representative Edwin G. Johnson.
In October 1991, secret societies Parmi Nous and Skull and Bones Senior Honor Society came under police investigation by Officer David Scicchitano. Multiple students witnessed hazing conducted by Skull and Bones, and the witnesses claimed the State College Police Department was afraid to prosecute Skull and Bones due to the organization’s powerful, international connections. Police controversially closed the case on October 16, 1991. The crime involved students breaking into Engineering Unit C and destroying architecture students’ projects amid a fight involving eggs and water balloons. An investigation was commenced by the Undergraduate Student Government Supreme Court, which was sabotaged by secret society members in several ways.
A controlled survey was conducted by Penn State Pulse in 1986, which found that 66.5% of respondents had either witnessed hazing or been subject to hazing, and 70.3% of active pledges were hazing victims.
In 2005, Penn State alumnus Don Abbey, a member of Joe Paterno's first-ever Penn State Nittany Lions football scholarship class and a Beta Theta Pi alumnus, donated $1.2 million to renovate the Beta Theta Pi house. In 2006, Abbey raised another $3.5 million in renovation funds.
The renovation was lauded by Paterno and his wife, Sue Paterno. Throughout the renovation process, fraternity brothers smashed holes in the walls with baseball bats, leading Abbey to predict future damage to the property. He was a staunch critic of hazing. Due to the toxic culture he found in Beta Theta Pi, he installed an extensive video surveillance system to ensure he would be notified if an emergency ever occurred on the property.
The Penn State chapter of Beta Theta Pi was known to have a deep history of hazing. Brothers once held a party on their front porch, yelling racial slurs at an African American Penn State student as he walked past the house. The house was once banned for having a front yard littered with used condoms, along with hot sauce covering the entire Great Hall.
In April 2012, Asya Trowell, a pledge of fraternity Omega Essence, a subsidiary organization of Omega Psi Phi, was brutally hazed, resulting in the expulsions of three Penn State students. Hazing events left Trowell wounded with black eyes, epistaxis, and bruising in the abdomen. Trowell was force-fed mayonnaise and had hot sauce poured into her eyes as part of the hazing. The extensive hazing endured caused Trowell to withdraw from Penn State, ceasing her studies at the university.
In May 2012, Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller opened an investigation into on-campus hazing that occurred inside Penn State’s dormitory quarters, Pennypacker Hall. The case, which is related to the Trowell hazing, involved Resident Life Coordinator Aaron Holloman corrupting his position of authority to haze victims in the dorm rooms he managed. Police arrived to Pennypacker in March 2012 following a 9-1-1 call, and they observed loud paddling noises, which led them to discovering hidden paddles in the residence hall. This served as vital evidence for Trowell’s accusation of undergoing brutal hazing.
In 2013, Phi Kappa Sigma (Skulls) came under criminal investigation following the death of 20-year-old student Conor MacMannis, Skulls pledge pronounced dead at 3:43 a.m. on November 16, 2013, following a fall out of the ninth floor of the Penn Towers apartment building on Beaver Avenue in State College. Immediately following MacMannis' death, his companions present in the apartment were transported to Mount Nittany Medical Center and treated for overdoses, hallucinations, and paranoia due to LSD ingestion. The investigations led by State College Lieutenant Kieth Robb and the Interfraternity Council concluded that the drugs contributing to MacMannis' inebriation were not distributed by Skulls members, and Centre County Drugs and Alcohol Services assistant administrator, Cathy Arbogast, theorized the drugs may have been experimental lab chemicals which should never have left the biological laboratory. The official toxicology report confirmed the presence of 25I-NBOMe, a fraudulently adulterated synthetic drug marketed as LSD, in MacMannis' system at the time of his death. The Interfraternity Council called for the Greek life community to "join together to support MacMannis' family" following the incident. In October 2023, Skulls was placed on a four year suspension due to a multi-years' long worth of "widespread and pervasive hazing behavior."
In September 2016, Kordel Davis, a Beta Theta Pi pledge, was driven to a clinic after a night of hazing that left a gash on his head.
Death of Marquise Braham Marquise Braham was an 18-year-old college student attending the Penn State campus in Altoona, Pennsylvania. In 2014, Braham died by suicide following severe psychological distress while pledging the fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa. The hazing was so brutal that Braham did not want to return to campus in order to avoid the hazing perpetrators. Braham's father, Richard Braham, went on to advocate for hazing prevention laws at the federal level, and met with legislators to lobby for the passage of the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which was successfully signed into law by President Biden in December 2024. Beginning January 1, 2021, Penn State became legally mandated to report hazing violations across "all campuses," properties, and locations owned by the university.
Death of Joseph Dado Joseph Dado was an 18-year-old Penn State student who died after being served drugs and alcohol by fraternities Phi Gamma Delta and Alpha Tau Omega in September 2009. Following a Pennsylvania State Police search and rescue emergency management operation conducted via police helicopter, Dado was found dead in a stairwell with a 0.169 blood alcohol content. Two Penn State students received criminal charges as a result of his death, and the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity stood trial. The IFC, the self-governing body over Penn State’s fraternities, subsequently created a course for students to become ‘Greek Event Monitors’ at parties.
Dado’s death led to Penn State President Graham Spanier presenting a 30-component strategy to the Board of Trustees on a plan to combat the university’s binge drinking epidemic. The strategy included implementations for students to receive mandatory alcohol training after receiving an underage drinking citation or being treated for alcohol poisoning. State Senator Jake Corman responded to Dado’s death with a statement of interest to raise alcohol-related fines to $1,000.
March 2015 Kappa Delta Rho investigation On March 16, 2015, news broke of a secret Facebook group run by members of Penn State’s chapter of the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity. The fraternity came under State College police investigation after it was discovered their pages titled ‘2.0’ and ‘Covert Business Transactions’ featured pictures of women who were naked and unconscious. As a result of the police investigation, Penn State implemented the Fraternity and Sorority Life Task Force, which would not prevent a hazing death in February 2017. Investigators pursued invasion of privacy and harassment charges. The fraternity was known to pose severe issues to the campus community as early as 1992.
In June 2015, James Vivenzio filed a lawsuit against Penn State and Kappa Delta Rho. Vivienzo’s suit alleges vigorous hazing at the hands of Kappa Delta Rho leadership, including being force fed concoctions of liquor, urine, vomit, cat food and hot sauce. This concoction was known as ‘Beta Brew’ within the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, possibly inspired by Kappa Delta Rho’s ability to evade severe prosecution and reprimand following their investigation.
Leadership within Kappa Delta Rho was prepared for students to become unconscious due to excessive alcohol consumption, reserving a special bedroom for unconscious partiers as part of their illegal risk management efforts. When women were placed in these bedrooms unconscious, Kappa Delta Rho fraternity members would take pictures of the women, and distribute the pictures throughout group chats. The fraternity was suspended by the Penn State Administration for three years until 2018.
On May 26, 2015, the Penn State Administration sent a letter to the university's IFC, indicating pledges were forced to "run errands, clean the fraternity house... participate in boxing matches... and plank with bottle caps on their elbows." In addition, Kappa Delta Rho pledges were forced to create stories containing pornographic images along with a “sex position of the day.”