On February 4, 2017, 19-year-old Tim Piazza died in a Greek Life hazing ritual at Penn State University Park. Piazza’s untimely death stirred a movement across the state, and now over a year later a bill has been signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf.

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Piazza’s death, along with other similar incidents, were extensively covered by the media. The highly mediatized deaths caused changes at several universities, including bans and strict regulations on Greek Life.

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The call for change did not stop at University Park. A new law, named in the honor of Tim Piazza, will be the strictest anti-hazing legislation in U.S. history, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Timothy J. Piazza Anti Hazing Law clearly defines hazing, and states that forcing students or minors to endure cruelty, such as consuming items or inflicting physical harm, will result in strict punishment. The bill explicitly calls out the forced consumption of food, alcohol or drugs as hazing, and defines brutalities as, “whipping, beating, branding, calisthenics or exposure to the elements."

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The new law also elevated the punishment of hazing to a felony offense. The law calls for third-degree felony charges as punishment for hazing which results in bodily injury or death. This is a more severe punishment than past Pennsylvania law, which considered hazing to be a summary offense, leaving punishments to a prosecutor's discretion.  

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The law has also contains a “safe harbor” clause. Much like good samaritan laws that protect the people who contact 911 in an attempt to help an overdose victim, those who call 911 for hazing can do so without fear of persecution.

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The law also requires schools and universities to put policies and reporting procedures in place. The law calls for schools to ensure that students and their parents receive a fair amount of information relating to school hazing.

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This could be a large change, especially for universities like Penn State. Penn State currently has State for State, which works as a blanket intervention program. The program, which focuses on sexual assault, also covers, “ mental health concerns, acts of bias, and risky drinking and drug use.” The program is voluntary for most students, and is often taught on branch campuses, in low numbers. The new law would create specific prevention targeting hazing to be paired with its new policies and regulations.

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However, for Penn State, this law does not come as a burden, but rather a necessary step. President of Penn State Eric Barron has reportedly advocated for the new law. Lisa Powers the spokeswoman for Penn State told the Centre Daily Times “...we look forward to the governor’s signature. This will be a crucial step forward in the prevention of dangerous hazing,” while they waited for the bill to be signed into law by Gov. Wolf.

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The Law which was introduced as a bill back in March went through the full legislation process quickly, moving through the state Senate unanimously in only a month. After a few changes were made, the house also passed the bill unanimously.

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In a statement released on October 15th, Wolf stated, “hazing is counter to the experience we want for college students in Pennsylvania. We must give law enforcement the tools to hold people accountable and ensure schools have safeguards to protect students and curb hazing,” and officially signed the bill into law on October 19th.