FEBRUARY 2 "LOVE COMPELS US TO SAY NO"
PENN STATE'S TIM PIAZZA DIED, AND HIS PARENTS AREN'T LETTING UP:
Evelyn Piazza, if she had one last chance to speak to her son, would tell him his family loves him — and "Don't go."
Don't go, that is, to the party that killed him a year ago at Penn State University's Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. There, Tim Piazza, was served 18 drinks in roughly an hour and a half during a pledge initiation called "The Gauntlet."
Tim Piazza, 19, would fall several times, including down a flight of stairs, causing him numerous traumatic injuries. Members didn't get him medical attention until the next morning. He died on Feb. 4, 2017.
"It doesn't get better," Evelyn Piazza said. "It hurts just as much now as it did a year ago."
Evelyn's husband Jim said fraternity brothers chose not to save their dying son. It was a death deemed accidental, yet it's remained so significant.
Last year was a historic one for American fraternities. Piazza's death was the first of four pledge deaths across the country, prompting changes at those schools. A handful of other large universities placed bans on Greek life and fraternities related to hazing, sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse issues. But their son’s death hangs over them still.
On what would have been their younger son’s 20th birthday, the Piazzas tried to distract themselves with friends and family. On Christmas Day, they didn't open presents until the afternoon. “We just didn’t care,” Jim Piazza said.
"This is an incredible pain. It's an incredible way for your child to die and if we don't speak up then we leave it to the next person," Evelyn Piazza said. "There shouldn't be a next person."
'We feel like we failed' Jim Piazza said. Evelyn finished his thought, “And you’re so naïve that you have no idea that they don’t.” "I don't think any of that stuff would have happened if we didn't have Tim's situation and these other situations," Jim Piazza said. "This has made a difference. Unfortunately, at our expense."
Evelyn Piazza, if she had one last chance to speak to her son, would tell him his family loves him — and "Don't GO”
Love compels us to say “no” not “yes”.
Evelyn Piazza, if she had one last chance to speak to her son, would tell him his family loves him — and "Don't go."
Don't go, that is, to the party that killed him a year ago at Penn State University's Beta Theta Pi fraternity house. There, Tim Piazza, was served 18 drinks in roughly an hour and a half during a pledge initiation called "The Gauntlet."
Tim Piazza, 19, would fall several times, including down a flight of stairs, causing him numerous traumatic injuries. Members didn't get him medical attention until the next morning. He died on Feb. 4, 2017.
"It doesn't get better," Evelyn Piazza said. "It hurts just as much now as it did a year ago."
Evelyn's husband Jim said fraternity brothers chose not to save their dying son. It was a death deemed accidental, yet it's remained so significant.
Last year was a historic one for American fraternities. Piazza's death was the first of four pledge deaths across the country, prompting changes at those schools. A handful of other large universities placed bans on Greek life and fraternities related to hazing, sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse issues. But their son’s death hangs over them still.
On what would have been their younger son’s 20th birthday, the Piazzas tried to distract themselves with friends and family. On Christmas Day, they didn't open presents until the afternoon. “We just didn’t care,” Jim Piazza said.
"This is an incredible pain. It's an incredible way for your child to die and if we don't speak up then we leave it to the next person," Evelyn Piazza said. "There shouldn't be a next person."
'We feel like we failed' Jim Piazza said. Evelyn finished his thought, “And you’re so naïve that you have no idea that they don’t.” "I don't think any of that stuff would have happened if we didn't have Tim's situation and these other situations," Jim Piazza said. "This has made a difference. Unfortunately, at our expense."
Evelyn Piazza, if she had one last chance to speak to her son, would tell him his family loves him — and "Don't GO”
Love compels us to say “no” not “yes”.
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