OH: Anti-hazing bill that would make hazing a felony one step closer to becoming Ohio law
By Mike Wagner
June 16, 2021
A bill that would make hazing a felony in Ohio is one step closer to becoming law after the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee on Tuesday afternoon approved what is known as “Collin’s Law.”
Senate Bill 126 is now expected to be voted on in the full Ohio Senate as early as Wednesday.
Lawmakers said the goal is too quickly move the bill out of the Senate and Ohio House and have it on the desk of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine by the end of this month.
‘Our story is not unique’: Stone Foltz’s parents push Ohio Senate to pass anti-hazing bill
If DeWine, who has publicly endorsed the bill several times, signs the bill into law then it would go into effect 90 days later.
‘We want kids to understand there will be serious consequences for hazing’
University officials and lawmakers said that would hopefully pass in time to act as a deterrent in the next collegiate school year if hazing is used in the pledging process by fraternities and sororities.
Broken Pledge: A podcast series about fraternity hazing and the life and death of Collin Wiant
“We want kids to understand there will be serious consequences for hazing and engaging in that culture,” said State. Sen. Stephanie Kunze, a Republican from Hilliard and the bill’s sponsor. “Hazing is so damaging to young adults and many have suffered from its effects.”
What is Collin’s Law?
The bill would expand the definition of hazing in Ohio to include the forced consumption of drugs and alcohol, and would make the punishments more severe for those who haze. Currently in Ohio, hazing is a fourth-degree misdemeanor, which is comparable to not paying a speeding ticket.
Under Collin’s Law, that would be increased to a second-degree misdemeanor for general hazing and a third-degree felony for any hazing involving drugs or alcohol.
Failing to report a hazing offense involving physical harm could result in a first-degree misdemeanor charge.
It also would create statewide anti-hazing education for college students and require schools to post an organizations’ hazing infractions on their websites.
Hazing has plagued universities across the nation for decades, but it was the deaths of students Collin Wiant and Stone Foltz that increased the urgency to eliminate it in Ohio.
Wiant, an 18-year-old freshman at Ohio University, died of asphyxiation on Nov. 12, 2018, after inhaling a canister of nitrous oxide and collapsing in a fraternity’s off-campus house. Foltz, a 20-year-old sophomore at Bowling Green State University, died of fatal alcohol poisoning on March 7 after fraternity brothers demanded that he drink a full bottle of alcohol to join their fraternity.
A different version of Collin’s Law failed in December when lawmakers ran out of time to make changes to the bill.
The legislation was first introduced following The Dispatch’s six-part audio series “Broken Pledge” in November 2019.
The Dispatch spent a year investigating the death of Wiant, a St. Charles Preparatory High School student from Dublin, and what happened in the aftermath.
But then Foltz, a 2019 graduate of Buckeye Valley High School in Delaware County, died in March. The renewed bill was introduced in April.
‘Ohio can’t have anyone else die of hazing’
Both the Wiant and Foltz families had testified in support of the proposed bill.
Collin’s mother, Kathleen Wiant, who has tirelessly lobbied for an anti-hazing bill for more than two years, fought back tears in the Senate hearing room when after the bill named after son was approved.
“My biggest fear when testifying last year was that another child would die and that’s what happened,” Kathleen said. “So that’s why it’s vital this was passed today and we get it to the governor by the end of the month. Ohio can’t have anyone else die of hazing.”
Asked what Collin would say about the bill being passed out of the Senate committee Kathleen said “He would say ‘way to go mom.’