Experts say disturbingly similar cases of young men chugging lethal amounts of alcohol while pledging an underground fraternity demonstrate the difficulty in stopping behavior done in secret and beyond the realm of campus control.
Three days before 19-year-old UAlbany student Trevor Duffy died in November, 18-year-old Nolan Burch died inside a West Virginia University frat house. Police say both were being initiated into rogue fraternities that had no official standing.
Dr. Norm Pollard, a board member at HazingPrevention.org, says much of a university's ability to regulate groups comes from the give-and-take of their following rules in exchange for permission to operate.
Law enforcement officials say any hazing investigation provides particular challenges, including reluctant witnesses, alcohol-clouded memories and the fact that behavior, at least initially, is voluntary.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
