The Definitive Guide to Fraternity & Sorority Hazing in Texas: A Resource for Parents and Families in Gunter

If Your Child is in Danger Right Now: Call 911. Then Call Attorney911

IMMEDIATE HELP FOR HAZING EMERGENCIES:

• If your child is in immediate danger: Call 911 for a medical emergency. Then, call our legal emergency line at 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911).
• In the first 48 hours: Get medical attention immediately. Preserve evidence—screenshot group chats, photograph injuries, and save everything. Do NOT confront the organization, sign anything from the university or insurance company, or let your child delete messages.
• Contact an experienced hazing attorney: Evidence disappears fast. Universities move quickly to control the narrative. Call The Manginello Law Firm for an immediate, confidential consultation at 1-888-ATTY-911.

1. Introduction: The Hazing Reality for Gunter Families

For parents in Gunter, Van Alstyne, and across Grayson County, the college journey you envision for your child is one of growth, learning, and community. You trust that universities and the student organizations they sanction will prioritize safety over tradition. Yet right now, in Texas, a stark reality is playing out that every family must understand: hazing is not a relic of the past; it is a present and dangerous crisis cloaked in secrecy.

The recent lawsuit against the University of Houston and the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is not a distant news story—it is a critical warning for families across our state. In that case, Leonel Bermudez, a student, suffered severe rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown) and acute kidney failure after alleged hazing that included forced extreme exercise, humiliating “pledge fanny pack” rules, and abuse described as being “sprayed in the face with a hose similar to waterboarding.” His urine turned brown, and he was hospitalized for four days. The chapter was swiftly shut down, and UH called the conduct “deeply disturbing.”

This is happening at our flagship Texas universities. Parents in Gunter may have children at the University of North Texas in nearby Denton, at Texas A&M University in College Station, at the University of Texas at Austin, or at schools across the DFW Metroplex. The same national fraternities and sororities present at UH also have chapters at these schools, often operating under the same cultural pressures and dangerous traditions.

This comprehensive guide is written for you—the parents and families in Gunter, Sherman, and throughout North Texas. Our goal is to provide the knowledge and resources you need to recognize hazing, understand your legal rights under Texas law, and know how to take action to protect your child. The path to accountability is complex, but you are not alone.

2. Hazing in 2025: What It Really Looks Like on Texas Campuses

Hazing has evolved far beyond simplistic stereotypes. It is a calculated pattern of coercion and control designed to test loyalty through physical, psychological, and digital abuse. Texas law (Education Code Chapter 37) defines hazing broadly as any intentional, knowing, or reckless act that endangers the mental or physical health of a student for the purpose of initiation, affiliation, or membership.

The Modern Hazing Spectrum

Tier 1: Subtle Coercion & Control
This is often dismissed as “tradition” but sets a dangerous precedent of obedience. It includes:

• Servitude & Labor: Being “on call” 24/7 for older members, acting as a chauffeur at all hours, cleaning rooms, or running personal errands.
• Social Control: Being cut off from non-members, requiring permission to socialize, or being forced to attend events that interfere with academics.
• Mandatory Tasks: “Scavenger hunts” designed to humiliate or endanger, or forced attendance at late-night “study sessions.”

Tier 2: Harassment & Humiliation
These acts cause clear discomfort and create an abusive environment.

• Sleep & Nutrient Deprivation: Late-night “meetings,” 3 AM wake-up calls, multi-day events with minimal sleep, or restricted access to food and water.
• Verbal Abuse & Psychological Torment: Yelling, screaming, insults, degrading language, threats of expulsion from the group, and forced confessions.
• Public Humiliation: Forced to wear degrading costumes, perform embarrassing acts in public, or endure “roasting” sessions.
• Forced Physical Activity: “Smokings” involving calisthenics (push-ups, wall-sits, sprints) far beyond safe conditioning, often as punishment.

Tier 3: Violent & Dangerous Hazing
These acts have a high potential for severe injury, sexual assault, or death.

• Forced/Coerced Alcohol Consumption: The leading cause of hazing deaths. This includes “lineup” drinking games, “Big/Little” nights with handles of hard liquor, and trivia games where wrong answers equal forced drinks.
• Physical Beatings & Assault: Paddling, punching, kicking, or “branding.”
• Sexualized Hazing: Forced nudity, simulated sexual acts (“elephant walk”), coerced watching of pornography, or sexual assault.
• Dangerous “Tests”: “Glass ceiling” blindfolded tackling rituals, forced fights, being restrained or “kidnapped,” or exposure to extreme elements.

Digital Hazing: The 2025 Frontier
Today’s hazing lives on smartphones. It includes:

• 24/7 Digital Control: Pledges required to respond instantly to messages in GroupMe, WhatsApp, or Discord at all hours.
• Geo-Tracking: Being forced to share live location via apps.
• Social Media Humiliation: Forced to post embarrassing content on TikTok or Instagram, or participate in online “challenges.”
• Evidence & Covert Planning: Hazing is planned in private group chats and moved to off-campus Airbnbs or rural properties to avoid university detection. Videos of abuse are often shared within the group before being deleted.

3. Texas Hazing Law & Institutional Liability: A Framework for Accountability

Understanding the legal landscape is crucial. Liability in a hazing case extends beyond the individual who delivered the punch or supplied the alcohol.

Texas Criminal Hazing Statute (Education Code Chapter 37)

This law provides the backbone for accountability in our state:

• Definition: Hazing is any intentional, knowing, or reckless act that endangers mental or physical health for purposes of initiation or affiliation.
• Criminal Penalties:
  • Class B Misdemeanor: Basic hazing (up to 180 days jail, $2,000 fine).
  • Class A Misdemeanor: Hazing that causes bodily injury.
  • State Jail Felony: Hazing that causes serious bodily injury or death.
• Critical Protections:
  • Consent is NOT a Defense: Even if a student “agreed,” it is still criminal hazing.
  • Immunity for Good-Faith Reporting: Individuals who report hazing or call 911 in an emergency are protected from liability.
  • Organizational Liability: Fraternities, sororities, and clubs can be fined up to $10,000 per violation and lose university recognition.

Civil Liability: The Path to Compensation & Institutional Change

A civil lawsuit seeks financial compensation for damages and forces institutional change. The defendant universe in a serious hazing case is extensive:

1. Individual Members & Leaders: The students who planned, executed, or concealed the hazing.
2. The Local Chapter: As a legal entity, it can be sued for creating a dangerous environment.
3. The National Fraternity/Sorority Headquarters: This is often where the deepest pockets and greatest accountability lie. Nationals can be liable if they:
   • Knew or should have known about dangerous traditions (based on incidents at other chapters).
   • Failed to enforce their own anti-hazing policies.
   • Provided inadequate training or supervision.
4. The University: Public universities (like UT, A&M, UNT) have sovereign immunity, but it can be overcome in cases of gross negligence or deliberate indifference. They can be liable if they:
   • Knew of prior incidents and failed to act.
   • Failed to properly investigate reports.
   • Offered inadequate hazing prevention education.
5. Housing Corporations & Landlords: Entities that own or control the property where hazing occurred may bear responsibility.
6. Third Parties: Bars that overserved alcohol or security companies that failed in their duties.

The Federal Overlay

• Title IX: If hazing involves sexual harassment or assault, federal Title IX obligations are triggered, creating another avenue for university accountability.
• The Stop Campus Hazing Act (2024): This new federal law requires colleges to publicly report hazing incidents and strengthen prevention programs, increasing transparency for parents.

4. The Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine: Our Data-Driven Approach for Gunter Families

At The Manginello Law Firm, we don’t just react to hazing cases—we investigate with the precision of intelligence analysts. To expose the full network of liability, we built the Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine, a proprietary database tracking over 1,400 Greek organizations across 25 Texas metros. This means when a family from Gunter comes to us, we already have a foundational map of the organizations involved in their child’s life.

Public Records Directory: Fraternities, Sororities & Greek Organizations Connected to North Texas Campuses

For parents in Gunter, understanding that a fraternity is more than just a group of students is critical. Behind the Greek letters are legal entities—housing corporations, alumni chapters, educational foundations—that hold insurance, own property, and can be held accountable. Below is a snapshot from our public records directory, showing the type of organizational infrastructure we track.

North Texas & DFW Metro Area Entities (Sample from IRS & Cause IQ Data):

• Beta Upsilon Chi Fraternity, EIN 742911848, Fort Worth, TX 76244. (Cause IQ Metro Listing).
• Texas Kappa Sigma Educational Foundation Inc, EIN 741380362, Fort Worth, TX 76147. (IRS B83 Filing).
• Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, EIN 521278573, Dallas, TX 75241. (IRS B83 Filing).
• Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated – Sigma Gamma Chapter, EIN 392352450, Houston, TX 77254. (IRS B83 Filing).
• Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, EIN 364091267, Waco, TX 76710. (IRS B83 & Cause IQ Beaumont Listing).
• Delta Kappa Gamma Society – Zeta Theta, Located in Sherman, TX (Cause IQ Sherman-Denison Metro Listing).

Major University Hub Entities (Where Gunter Students Attend):

• Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, EIN 900293166, College Station, TX 77843 (Texas A&M University Chapter – IRS B83).
• Building Corporation – Alpha Delta Pi (Delta), Located in Austin, TX (UT Austin chapter property – Cause IQ).
• Chi Omega Fraternity, EIN 740555581, Austin, TX 78705 (Chi Omega House Corporation – IRS B83).
• Pi Kappa Phi Delta Omega Chapter Building Corporation, EIN 371768785, Missouri City, TX 77459 (IRS B83).

This directory illustrates a key point: when harm occurs, there is a chain of potentially liable organizations, from the local chapter house corporation to the national headquarters. Our job is to identify every link in that chain.

Campuses Relevant to Gunter, TX Families

Gunter families send their students to a mix of nearby regional campuses and major state universities. Our data engine maps them all:

Nearby Regional Campuses:

• University of North Texas (UNT) – Denton, TX (Denton County)
• Texas A&M University-Commerce – Commerce, TX (Hunt County)
• Austin College – Sherman, TX (Grayson County)
• Collin College & University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) – Within the DFW Metroplex

Major Texas Universities (Common Destinations):

• Texas A&M University – College Station (Brazos County)
• University of Texas at Austin – Austin (Travis County)
• University of Houston (UH) – Houston (Harris County)
• Baylor University – Waco (McLennan County)
• Southern Methodist University (SMU) – Dallas (Dallas County)
• Texas Tech University – Lubbock (Lubbock County)

Each of these campuses hosts dozens of fraternities and sororities, each connected to the wider organizational network we track.

5. National Case Patterns: The Playbook of Tragedy & Why It Matters in Texas

The hazing incident at UH involving Pi Kappa Phi is not an anomaly. It follows a decades-long national playbook of tragedy. These cases are essential because they establish legal patterns of foreseeability and notice—proving that national organizations and universities should have known certain rituals were deadly.

The Alcohol Poisoning Pattern

• Stone Foltz – Bowling Green State, Pi Kappa Alpha (2021): A pledge died after being forced to drink a bottle of alcohol during a “Big/Little” event. Outcome: $10 million settlement ($7M from national Pike, $3M from BGSU).
• Max Gruver – LSU, Phi Delta Theta (2017): Died from alcohol poisoning after a “Bible study” drinking game. Outcome: $6.1 million verdict and the Max Gruver Act in Louisiana.
• Timothy Piazza – Penn State, Beta Theta Pi (2017): Died from traumatic brain injury after a bid-acceptance night with extreme drinking. Outcome: Dozens of criminal charges and the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law.

The Physical & Ritualized Brutality Pattern

• Chun “Michael” Deng – Baruch College, Pi Delta Psi (2013): Died from head trauma during a blindfolded “glass ceiling” ritual at a retreat. Outcome: National fraternity criminally convicted and banned from Pennsylvania.
• Danny Santulli – Univ. of Missouri, Phi Gamma Delta (2021): Suffered permanent, severe brain damage after forced drinking. Outcome: Settlements with 22 defendants.

What This Means for Your Case in Texas

When a fraternity at UT Austin, Texas A&M, or UNT uses the same “Big/Little” drinking ritual that killed Stone Foltz, we can argue the national headquarters was on clear notice. This pattern evidence is powerful in court and during settlement negotiations, showing the conduct was not an “unforeseeable accident” but a predictable, repeatable tragedy.

6. Building a Case with Attorney911: Evidence, Strategy, and Damages

When a hazing crisis hits your family, the immediate focus is on health and safety. The legal path that follows requires a meticulous, strategic approach to turn trauma into accountability.

Phase 1: Evidence Preservation & Investigation

Digital evidence is the lifeblood of a modern hazing case. We act with urgency to secure:

• Group Chats (GroupMe, WhatsApp, Discord): We obtain full logs, including deleted messages recovered via forensics. These show planning, coercion, and cover-ups.
• Social Media & Photos: All posts, stories, DMs, and videos from Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
• Medical Records: Comprehensive documentation of injuries, from ER reports to long-term psychological evaluations for PTSD, depression, and anxiety.
• University & National Records: Through discovery, we subpoena the chapter’s conduct history, the national’s risk management files, and internal university communications about prior incidents.
• Witness Testimony: We interview other pledges, former members, roommates, and bystanders to build an irrefutable narrative.

Phase 2: Identifying All Liable Parties

Using our Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine, we diagram the entire organizational ecosystem:

1. The individual perpetrators.
2. The local chapter and its officers.
3. The chapter’s housing corporation (e.g., “Beta Nu Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Housing Corporation Inc,” EIN 462267515).
4. The national fraternity/sorority headquarters.
5. The university and its relevant administrators.
6. Property owners and insurers.

Phase 3: Calculating Full Damages

We work with economists, life-care planners, and medical experts to quantify every aspect of harm:

• Economic Damages: All medical bills (past and future), lost tuition, and diminished lifetime earning capacity.
• Non-Economic Damages: Physical pain, emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and psychological trauma.
• Wrongful Death Damages (if applicable): Funeral costs, loss of financial support, and the immense grief and loss suffered by parents and siblings.

Our goal is not just a quick settlement. It is full and fair compensation that acknowledges the true, lifelong cost of the harm done.

7. For Parents & Students: A Practical Guide from Gunter to Campus

For Parents: Warning Signs & Action Steps

Your child may be experiencing hazing if they:

• Have unexplained injuries, bruises, or burns.
• Are constantly exhausted or suffer from sleep deprivation.
• Exhibit sudden personality changes (anxiety, depression, withdrawal).
• Are secretive about organizational activities or seem afraid of displeasing members.
• Have declining grades or are missing academic commitments.
• Are constantly monitoring their phone for group chat messages.

What to Do Immediately:

1. Prioritize Safety & Health: If injured or intoxicated, get to an ER.
2. Preserve Evidence: Help your child screenshot EVERYTHING—group chats, texts, social media posts. Photograph injuries. Save physical items.
3. Document: Write down everything your child tells you with dates, times, and names.
4. Seek Legal Counsel BEFORE Reporting: Contact us at 1-888-ATTY-911. We can guide you on how to report to the university or police in a way that protects your child’s rights and preserves the case.
5. Do NOT: Confront the organization, sign university resolution offers, or post details on social media.

For Students: Your Rights & How to Exit Safely

• You Have the Right to Be Safe: “Tradition” is never an excuse for abuse.
• “Consent” is Not a Defense in Texas: You cannot legally agree to be hazed.
• To Exit Safely: Tell a trusted person outside the group first (parent, RA). Send a simple, written resignation to the chapter president. Do not attend “one last meeting.”
• Report Anonymously: You can contact the national hazing hotline at 1-888-NOT-HAZE.
• Good Faith Protections: Texas law and most university policies protect those who call 911 in a medical emergency from getting in trouble for underage drinking.

8. Why The Manginello Law Firm for Your Texas Hazing Case

When your family faces the trauma of hazing, you need advocates who understand both the profound human toll and the complex legal battlefield. At The Manginello Law Firm, PLLD (Attorney911), we are not just personal injury lawyers; we are institutional liability specialists with a unique combination of skills forged in Texas courtrooms.

Our Unmatched Texas Hazing Litigation Advantage:

1. Active, High-Stakes Case Experience: Right now, we are leading the litigation in the Leonel Bermudez v. University of Houston & Pi Kappa Phi case. We are actively taking depositions, fighting discovery battles, and building a multi-million dollar claim against a major university and national fraternity. This isn’t theoretical knowledge; it’s current, real-world experience.

2. Insurance Insider Knowledge: Our attorney, Mr. Lupe Peña, spent years as an insurance defense attorney for a national firm. He knows exactly how fraternity and university insurance companies value claims, deploy delay tactics, and fight coverage. He used to run their playbook; now he dismantles it for our clients.

3. Proven Institutional Litigation Power: Managing Partner Ralph Manginello was one of the few plaintiff attorneys involved in the BP Texas City explosion litigation. We have faced billion-dollar defendants with unlimited legal budgets and won. Universities and national fraternities use the same defense tactics—and we know how to defeat them.

4. The Texas Hazing Intelligence Engine: As detailed in this guide, we maintain a proprietary database of over 1,400 Greek organizations in Texas. We don’t start from scratch; we start with intelligence, allowing us to immediately identify all potentially liable entities—from the local housing corporation to the national headquarters.

5. Dual Civil & Criminal Capability: Ralph Manginello’s membership in the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA) means we understand the criminal side of hazing investigations. We can strategically advise families and witnesses navigating both civil suits and potential criminal charges.

6. A Commitment to Accountability & Prevention: We take these cases because we believe in forcing change. A successful lawsuit does more than provide compensation; it exposes systemic failures, shuts down dangerous organizations, and rewrites policies to protect the next generation of students.

9. Call to Action for Gunter Families: You Are Not Alone

If this guide has resonated with you—if you are worried about your child, if you see the warning signs, or if the unthinkable has already happened—please know that there is a path forward. The journey toward healing and accountability begins with a confidential conversation.

Contact The Manginello Law Firm / Attorney911 today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.

What to Expect When You Call 1-888-ATTY-911:

• We will listen with compassion and without judgment.
• We will explain the legal process in clear, straightforward terms.
• We will analyze your specific situation and outline all potential options.
• We work on a contingency fee basis—you pay no attorney fees unless we win your case.
• Se habla Español. Mr. Lupe Peña provides fluent Spanish-language legal services.

Reach Out Now:

• 24/7 Legal Emergency Line: 1-888-ATTY-911 (1-888-288-9911)
• Direct Line: (713) 528-9070
• Email: ralph@atty911.com or lupe@atty911.com
• Website: https://attorney911.com

From our offices in Houston, Austin, and Beaumont, we serve hazing victims and their families across Texas, including in Gunter, Sherman, and throughout North Texas. Let us use our experience, our data-driven strategy, and our unwavering commitment to justice to help your family during this critical time.

Legal Disclaimer: This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is unique, and outcomes depend on specific facts and applicable law. If you believe your child has been hazed, we strongly encourage you to contact an attorney for advice pertaining to your individual situation.

© The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC (Attorney911). All rights reserved.