On a crisp February morning in 2017, a 911 dispatcher received an urgent call from inside the Beta Theta Pi house, on Penn State's historic frat row: We have a friend who is unconscious. He hasn't moved. He's going to need an ambulance. Hours earlier, freshman pledge Tim Piazza had been forced to consume a lethal quantity of alcohol during a Beta hazing ritual called "The Gauntlet." Then, he took a catastrophic fall down the basement stairs. When a fraternity insider implored his brothers to get help, they pushed him aside--opting to protect the brotherhood--even if that meant a delay in getting help for a gravely injured pledge.
