Frat Boys: Inside America's Fraternities Page #3

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fraternities and Greek life.

We took this picture when he

went up to his university

and he got this new laptop.

We were monkeying around with

his Photo Booth.

Eight years ago, Harrison Kowiak was

in the process of trying to join a

fraternity.

I remember clearly asking him

why he wanted to join

and he said, "Well, you know,

I just want to get

"the full college experience."

It was 11.30 at night

and the phone just rang.

It was Harrison's fraternity.

And I remember him telling me

that there had been an accident,

that it happened on campus,

they were playing football

and he fell down very hard

and hurt his head.

That's what we were told.

I took the flight up and I remember

the brother and another brother

from the fraternity that

Harrison was pledging

had picked me up at the airport

and they were very upset

and drove me immediately over

to the trauma centre,

but it was too late.

He was alive,

but frankly, just barely.

We sent Emma to school that morning

just feeling...

I wouldn't want to upset her.

Then Leanne called and said you

two better come up here.

So, I went over to pick her up

and she said, you know,

"It's bad, isn't it?

It's really serious, huh?"

We just, like, hopped on a plane

to North Carolina

and I just didn't know what was

going on. And then, erm...

Yeah, I mean, at that age

I just really was

not understanding what

was happening at all.

It just... Wait, because I can

remember it quite clearly,

but I can't, like, say it.

You don't expect to send your child

off to college and not come back.

You don't expect them to go

and study and come back in a coffin.

At first, the family say they

were told that Harrison had

been injured while playing football.

But as the hours passed,

it became clear this wasn't true.

After individuals are injured

in fraternity events,

we often see the brothers coming

together to manufacture stories.

The same ties of brotherhood that

brought everybody together

and created a strong lifelong

brotherhood,

are the same ties that then have

the individuals afterwards

getting their stories straight.

The Kowiak family commissioned an

investigation into Harrison's death.

They now believe that he died

in an initiation ritual.

It was Hell Week.

They drove about 20 miles

off campus, it was an open field.

There was no lights,

no electricity there.

The fraternity brothers were

wearing dark-coloured clothing.

The two pledges were told to run

from one end of the field

to the other end of the field

and touch or get the sacred rock.

Once they had started running across

the field they were being tackled

by the fraternity brothers

who were football players.

It was just that one hit where

he hit the ground so hard

that he had injured his head.

I can just hope one day - maybe even

on their death beds, who knows -

just realise what they did was wrong

and what they did was wrong in

trying to cover the whole thing up.

The university, the fraternity and

the individuals involved arranged

an out-of-court settlement

with the Kowiak family,

without admitting liability.

The reasons for why the schools

might hide the truth about

fraternities -

it would deter individuals from

joining fraternities

and fraternities are extremely

valuable to universities.

They have very loyal alumni

and are often significant donors

to the university

and they do not want

the fraternity system changed.

The university involved, the local

police force and the national

fraternity,

all said that hazing played no part

in the events that night.

The university says it has

a zero tolerance policy on hazing.

Since Harrison's death

eight years ago,

at least 22 students in America have

died while pledging to a fraternity.

Ultimately, all we can do at the

national level

is to put the protocols and

the policies in place.

Whenever somebody doesn't

follow that path,

then it becomes very challenging.

So, we can only have so much

control at the national level

over those types of things that

have to do with hazing,

that have to do with incidents that

are completely inconsistent

with what we stand for.

In the fraternity industry,

the activities of the chapter

are supervised much like the

fox watching the chicken coop.

The individuals that have

historically hazed and been hazed

are the ones that are responsible

for implementing

and then enforcing

anti-hazing policies.

It's doomed to fail,

it has failed, it always fails

and it will fail again

in the future.

In Florida, it's time for each new

recruit to be matched up with

an established member who will

become his big brother.

Getting a big brother in a

fraternity is a very private ritual.

We went through a little adventure

and then at the end he found out

it was, you know, it was me.

What's the little adventure that you

went on beforehand?

Er...

How do I put this? I can't really

tell you because it's, like,

it would give out our secrets

completely,

but hide and seek, I'd say.

He got to find me.

He got to find me. Yeah.

Hide and seek? Yeah. You could sum

it up as, like... He has no clue it

was going to be me.

..you put in the work to get

a reward, kind of thing.

You had to put in work to get

the reward at the end.

How different is having a brother

in the brotherhood to your own

brother in your family?

I'm looking at it the same way.

You know what I mean?

If he needs help, I'm going to give

him the same amount of effort in

helping him

as I would my own brother.

But you didn't come from

the same parents?

Yeah, but I accepted this.

It's like...more like you

accept this for yourself.

It's how it is - brotherhood.

It's why I chose him.

It was a long process, but I chose

him, you know what I mean?

He chose me.

The bond has been made.

There's like, sh*t on the table.

Sorry, bro.

There's, like, hair. What classes

are you taking? Right now? Yeah.

Physics, bio and two psych classes.

What's your major?

Health sciences pre-med.

I knew Andor a little bit, so I knew

a bit about him

and every time I've hung out with

him, we've just had a lot of fun,

so...

He's just a good guy, so...

THEY LAUGH:

Well, thanks. You're welcome.

Jordan is a cool guy. He's going

to have a lot of questions later on.

So anything he does or needs help

with, I'm going to be the one

guiding him, I'd say.

Becoming a good man, a better man,

is what we're trying to do.

With a big brother's support,

pledges are expected to represent

the fraternity's image in every way.

What are we working? Our upper body?

We're doing tri's and a little

bit of bi's, mainly the triceps.

Usually the scrawny kids don't get

love like that.

The bigger ones do, so...

There you go.

They used a call me concave chest.

Like, my chest was, like, indented.

I was very scrawny, I had braces,

just an unpleasant looking kid,

to be honest.

I joined the frat. The first thing

that happened was my braces.

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