ROSWELL, Ga. — It's been six years since a fraternity drinking game in college cost Stephen Gruver his son, Max.
Max died in an alcohol-related hazing incident at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house at Louisiana State University. The drinking game was referred to as "Bible Study," where pledges were forced to chug 190-proof liquor if they couldn't answer questions about the fraternity or were unable to recite the Greek alphabet.
"I feel that folks just don't believe it's going to happen to them," Gruver said. “It gets to be so dangerous so quickly, and it’s kind of like someone drinking and driving. They don’t believe they’re going to kill somebody when they get behind the wheel. But it happens all the time.”
Shortly after Max passed, his father said he found a passage in a journal that referenced how faith can help lead one down a better path. That path led to educating students and parents nationwide on the dangers of hazing. It led to a $6.1 million settlement earlier this year, and it led to new laws in Louisiana and the Max Gruver Act in Georgia.
The Max Gruver Act requires public and private colleges and universities in the state to report, investigate and follow up on alleged hazing incidents involving students and organizations.
"I'm thrilled to hear the federal officials are taking the same tact we took in Georgia and other states to make sure we're protecting our youth," Georgia State Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell) said. "There has to be responsibility and accountability. We want kids to go to college not just to learn, but also it's part of growing up and it should be a joyous time in their lives. But that has to be in balance with doing the right things. You can't cross that line."
Albers pushed to pass the Max Gruver Act in 2021. In this upcoming legislative session, he said he would plan to work with state lawmakers to add stiffer penalties to hazing incidents.
Last week, Congresswoman Lucy McBath is behind a bipartisan federal push to prevent hazing. The Stop Campus Hazing Act would require colleges nationwide to include hazing incidents in annual security reports, establish campus-wide and research-based hazing education and prevention programs, and post hazing prevention policies, plus any organization violations, on the school's website.
Georgia Tech, for example, has created an online system for anonymous reports to be filed and provides a link directly to the Max Gruver Act. At Kennesaw State University, records show new members of one fraternity were forced to clean up the personal residences of brothers who hosted a drinking party. That organization was suspended for two years. Georgia College and State University also recently reported findings due to the new law.
"When you have the bad actors' dirty laundry being aired, it's going to drive them either out of business or they're going to take corrective action," Gruver said. "Make sure you turn over every stone before you put faith in a group and say you’re going to be my brothers for life.”
For Gruver, life after his son's death has a purpose and a path. He and his wife frequently travel to colleges and universities, and occasionally high schools, to share their son's story and the potential consequences of blindly joining organizations.
“Hazing doesn’t just happen in fraternities and sororities. It also happens in sports, bands," Gruver said. "Any organization can and will haze. Had Max had the knowledge to understand how much bad actors these guys were, he never would have joined that fraternity. So this legislation puts that tool in the hands of any young adult looking to join an organization, allows them to make a more qualified decision on who they should join. We want to make something good out of what happened so atrociously to our family. We want to save lives. Max gives us the strength and guides us to do that."