Former Phi Kappa Sigma pledge James Haussman’s lawsuit against Tulane University has brought attention back to a persistent issue in the state of Louisiana: hazing.
One of the earliest mentions of hazing in Tulane’s student media appeared in The Olive and Blue, The Hullabaloo’s predecessor, in 1903, where a column defended hazing as important to build school spirit.
In more recent years, hazing in Louisiana has been defined by the deaths of Caleb Wilson and Max Gruver.
In 2017, Max Gruver, a student at Louisiana State University, was forced to drink an excessive amount of alcohol by members of Phi Delta Theta. After being left on a couch for several hours, he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.495.
In response to Gruver’s death, Louisiana introduced the Max Gruver Act, making hazing a felony. The law prohibits hazing, even if the victim voluntarily agreed to participate in the activity.
In 2025, Caleb Wilson, who was pledging Omega Psi Phi at Southern University, died after being punched in the chest during a hazing ritual, stopping his heart.
At Tulane, highly publicized incidents of hazing go back to at least 1984, when members of Delta Kappa Epsilon allegedly forced pledges to have sexual intercourse with a goat. Additionally, members allegedly tied the genitals of pledges to bricks before throwing the bricks out of a window.
In 2008, ten members of Pi Kappa Alpha were arrested and charged with aggravated second-degree battery after two pledges sustained severe burns. Fraternity members poured a “crab boil” mixture, containing boiling water, pepper spray and cayenne pepper, on pledges.
Prosecutors dropped all charges after one of the victims decided he did not want to proceed with the case. The fraternity house was later demolished and replaced with a Tulane University Police Department substation.
Hazing at Tulane is not exclusive to fraternities. In 2021, sororities Sigma Delta Tau and Kappa Alpha Theta were investigated for hazing. Several years prior, Tulane Emergency Medical Services was placed under suspension after being found responsible for hazing.
According to HazingInfo, an anti-hazing advocacy group, there were 43 hazing incidents in Louisiana from 2018 to February 2025, with LSU having the most incidents out of any university in the state. Louisiana has seen at least six hazing deaths since 1951.