TRENTON, N.J. (WCBS 880) — New Jersey middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities will be required to adopt anti-hazing policies and penalties under a bill signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy.
Murphy on Tuesday signed off on “Timothy J. Piazza’s Law,” named for a 19-year-old Readington, New Jersey resident who died after he fell down a flight of stairs during a hazing incident at Pennsylvania State University in 2017.
The law will not only require schools to crack down on hazing, but will also upgrade hazing from a fourth-degree crime to a third-degree crime — if the victim dies or is seriously injured — and from a disorderly persons offense to a fourth-degree crime if the victim is hurt at all, the governor said in a release.
“The safety of our students is our top priority, and we must do all that we can to protect them from cruel and dangerous hazing rituals,” he said in a statement. “With today’s bill signing, we honor Tim Piazza’s life and make our strongest effort yet to root out hazing to prevent similar tragedies.”
Piazza was trying to join the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Penn State in February 2017 when he fell down a flight of basement steps and suffered “severe head and abdominal injuries,” the Associated Press reported.
The teen was carried back upstairs and placed on a couch, but no one called for help until the next morning, despite the fact that he showed “signs of severe pain,” according to the outlet.
He was pronounced dead at a hospital not long after. Penn State banned the fraternity after his passing.
In a joint statement released Tuesday, Piazza's parents, Jim and Evelyn Piazza, said they had “worked to eradicate hazing on college campuses” since their son’s death.
“This law will be the stiffest in the country, and will hopefully deter this bad behavior and hold those accountable who choose to put someone’s well-being and/or life at risk as part of an initiation ritual,” they said.