SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Gov. Phil Murphy has signed an anti-hazing bill into law in honor of a Penn State student who fell to his death during an initiation ritual at a frat house in 2017.
The new Timothy Piazza Law requires middle and high schools and colleges to implement strict hazing policies as well as penalties for violations. It also upgrades criminal penalties in cases that end up killing or hurting someone.
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Murphy promised that anyone who hurts someone else in a hazing incident will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“Hazing will no longer be treated with a symbolic smack on the back of a hand, or worse — a blind eye and a smirk,” he said. “We will no longer tolerate actions that put anyone’s presumed privilege or power over the well-being of even one of their peers.”
Piazza, a 19-year-old from Readington, New Jersey, died after drinking an extremely excessive amount of alcohol and falling down a flight of stairs at a Penn State frat house. Nobody helped him get to a hospital.
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His father, Jim, has since become an anti-hazing advocate and has helped change the laws in Pennsylvania. One distinct element of the law in New Jersey, he said, provides amnesty for someone that chooses to help.
“Which is important because I think about what if that amnesty provision existed in Pennsylvania — would somebody have stepped up to save Tim’s life?” he asked.