A bill introduced in the ¶¶Òõh House of Representatives, , would require members of collegiate student organizations to take a semester-long course on anti-hazing.
Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, sponsor of House Bill 279, said the idea for the legislation came after conversations with the family of Wilson, the 20-year-old Southern junior who died in February after a fraternity hazing ritual.
Wilson collapsed after being punched in the chest multiple times by members of Southern's chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Wilson, alongside other pledges, had been lined up in a Baton Rouge warehouse late at night before being struck as part of their initiation into the fraternity.
"I've been talking with them almost every day after the incident happened," Boyd said, who is friends with Wilson's aunt.
The conversations eventually turned to legislative solutions that might be able to keep "another family from going through this."
Boyd also looked to past interviews with the parents of Max Gruver, the 18-year-old LSU freshman who died of alcohol poisoning in 2017 during another fraternity hazing ritual.
"It's already a felony (when) causing harm or death, but we really felt like the kids need to be educated, and not only the ones that are being hazed, but the ones that are doing the hazing," she said. "They clearly are not aware of the consequences if things go left."
Raising requirements
Under the bill, anyone joining a student organization would be required to take a one-credit-hour semester course on anti-hazing during the first two semesters of their membership in such organization. Boyd said the requirement also would apply to any current student who is a member of a student organization.
State Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, sponsored House Bill 166, which would create vasectomies as a form of punishment for sex offenders.Â
"I think the bill is straight forward," Boyd said. "I want incoming freshman to be required to take this, and if you are already a member of one of these groups, then you should have a little time to get that class taken before you graduate."
Any student who doesn't take the course would be prohibited from pledging or continuing as a member of a student organization, Boyd said.
"So they'd have a choice," Boyd said. "Can't fit the class in? Then they can't pledge. They pledge in the grad chapter."
Like current anti-hazing legislation, the bill would apply to undergraduate students who are members of any student organization, not just fraternities and sororities.
This point is important to Boyd, who said it was a "revelation" to her that other organizations, like university bands or sports teams, often engage in the same dangerous hazing rituals reported among Greek-life organizations.
Current anti-hazing legislation only requires students to take a single, hourlong anti-hazing orientation and to be given a handbook on the dangers and illegality of hazing.
Boyd said she has been in conversation with multiple university leaders since pre-filing the bill, including representatives from Southern University. She said that while leaders have been supportive, the talks have focused on how to transition students into their potential new responsibilities.
Southern University Board Chair Tony Clayton has already suggested that graduate chapters of Greek organizations take over all recruiting and intake for frats and sororities on Southern's campus.
Boyd said that while she expects that HB279 might be amended, she expects to have bipartisan support.
"I think we all don't want to see this ever happen again, if possible," she said. "If we can deter one or two incidents, I think this bill is a huge success by itself."
Secretary of State Nancy Landry sponsored the similarly-titled Max Gruver Act during her time as a state representative. That 2018 law created felony hazing as a criminal charge that prosecutors could use when a hazing incident resulted in serious bodily harm or death. The three suspects believed by police to be responsible for Wilson's death have been booked using this law.
Landry said that while her legislation was focused on criminal responsibility, anti-hazing education for students was a goal of lawmakers at that time too.
"After the Max Gruver incident, there was a lot of cooperation among universities and law enforcement to try to prevent this from happening again," Landry said. "And there was a requirement that students had to take some sort of training or anti-hazing education."
Just this week, pending an investigation into allegations of hazing.
If passed, the Caleb Wilson Act would take effect in the fall 2025 university semester. The next step for HB279 will be for it to be heard in the Capitol's Education committee.
