It took the deaths of several young men in the flower of their youth to finally get action to try to put a stop to the destructive nature of hazing at our colleges and universities.

Before hazing became a dirty word, fraternity brothers encouraged it as a mandatory rite of passage to forge lifelong bonds with one another. They viewed it as a way for the new recruits to show their respect and pledge their loyalty and their willingness to do anything for their fraternity brothers, even if it meant putting lives at risk by excessive drinking and other dangerous antics.

These pledges undergo a ritual that specializes in physical, emotional and psychological manipulation, all, presumably, for the good of the order, as misguided as this notion might seem.

We are reminded of the fatal consequences of hazing gone wrong right here in our own area. Three years ago, four former fraternity brothers were sentenced to prison in the 2013 hazing death of Chun “Michael” Deng, a freshman at Baruch College in Manhattan.

This 18-year-old was at a secluded cottage in Tunkhannock Township, Monroe County, and was blindfolded and compelled to wear a backpack filled with sand. The fraternity brothers meting out the hazing tackled him repeatedly until he was knocked unconscious.

Thirty-seven members of the Pi Delta Psi Asian American cultural fraternity were present at the ritual and charged with crimes ranging from third-degree murder to aggravated assault and hazing; four were given prison sentences. The four sentenced in 2018 pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, hindering apprehension and other charges.

In another high-profile case in 2017, Timothy Piazza, 19, a Penn State sophomore from Hunterdon County, New Jersey, died from hazing injuries at a fraternity initiation party near the State College campus. His case received nationwide attention and resulted in the fraternity being closed down.

According to court records, Piazza was served at least 18 drinks over an 82-minute span, causing him to fall headfirst down a flight of stairs at the fraternity house, suffering what turned out to be fatal injuries.

These and other hazing deaths and injuries led Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law, also known as Act 80, in 2018.

The law created a tiered penalty system with stricter punishment for hazing. It also classified new types of hazing and holds both individuals and organizations accountable. Under this law, colleges and high schools must publicly report hazing violations. It also gives immunity to people who seek help for hazing victims.

Then, last month, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Timothy J. Piazza law, which requires colleges and all public and private high schools and middle schools to enact anti-hazing policies with penalties that could include withholding of a diploma, suspension or expulsion.

The legislation also provides that any hazing incident that results in death or serious injury will be considered a third-degree crime, up from a fourth-degree offense. Anyone convicted could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined as much as $15,000, or both. Previously, such a conviction carried a prison term of 18 months and a fine of $10,000, or both.

Going away to college can be traumatic under the best of circumstances. There are new people, new surroundings, new professors and a different way of doing things.

Joining a fraternity or sorority is an attractive proposition for many college students, because it provides them with built-in friends, a guaranteed social life, maybe even future job connections through networking. It also might satisfy an individual’s philanthropic nature, especially since most fraternities and sororities perform community service activities and raise funds for charitable causes.

In recent years, far too often Greek life perpetuates a culture of alcohol and drug abuse. Young, inexperienced drinkers often get into trouble trying to impress their older “brothers” or by trying to fit in.

Hazing has taken a troubled road from the days when I was in college where freshmen men were required only to wear beanies and possibly some outlandish outfits and address upperclassmen as “sir.”

Sure, it sounds so old-fashioned, innocent, maybe even corny, but my parents didn’t have to worry about getting a call telling them that their son was dead because of a “fraternity prank gone horribly wrong.”

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.