If your child was hazed at a Texas campus, read this first

Leonel Bermudez was a transfer student. He had not yet enrolled at the University of Houston for the spring 2026 semester when he accepted a bid from the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu chapter. According to the lawsuit our firm filed in Harris County on November 21, 2025, what followed was seven weeks of systematic abuse. Pledges carried 24/7 “fanny packs” containing condoms, a sex toy, nicotine devices, and other humiliating items. They were forced to do hours-long sprints, bear crawls, wheelbarrow races, and “save your brother” drills. They were sprayed with hoses in “a manner similar to waterboarding” with threats of actual waterboarding. They were forced to eat milk, hot dogs, and peppercorns until they vomited, and then run sprints in the vomit. They were stripped to their underwear in the cold. They were told to lie face down in vomit-soaked grass. On October 13, another pledge was hog-tied face-down on a table with an object in his mouth for over an hour. On November 3, 2025, Leonel Bermudez was forced to do more than 100 push-ups, 500 squats, and recite the fraternity’s creed under threat of expulsion. He could not stand afterward.

His urine was brown. The diagnosis was rhabdomyolysis — catastrophic skeletal muscle breakdown — with acute kidney failure. Critically high creatine kinase. Four days in the hospital. Ongoing risk of permanent kidney damage. Ralph Manginello, the attorney handling the case, told the press: “His urine was brown.” The five-word headline that ABC13 Houston, Click2Houston, Hoodline, the Houston Chronicle, and the Daily Cougar all picked up.

The lawsuit names the University of Houston, the UH System Board of Regents, Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters, the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu housing corporation, and 13 individual fraternity leaders and members — chapter president, pledgemaster, sorority relations chair, risk manager, plus nine others. Total damages sought: more than $10 million. Three days after the suit was filed, the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu chapter members voted to surrender the chapter’s charter. The chapter is permanently shut down. The University of Houston called the conduct “deeply disturbing” and promised disciplinary measures up to expulsion plus cooperation with law enforcement.

This is a Texas case. It happened a few miles from our main Houston office. It is our case. And it is not unusual. The 1928 death of Nolte McElroy in a Delta Kappa Epsilon hazing at the University of Texas — pledges crawled through electrified mattresses — is the first documented Texas Greek hazing fatality in the Hank Nuwer national database. Bermudez is the most recent. In between are twenty-one documented Texas hazing deaths or catastrophic injuries at the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Lamar, Trinity University, Stephen F. Austin, Prairie View A&M, Texas State, Texas Christian, the University of Houston, and Baylor. Plus the Aggie Bonfire collapse of 1999 — twelve dead and twenty-seven injured at Texas A&M — which was not technically hazing but raised the same institutional-accountability issues and produced settlements exceeding $6 million.

If your child has been hazed at any Texas campus — fraternity, sorority, Corps of Cadets, ROTC, marching band, drill team, dance team, cheerleading squad, athletic team, spirit organization, club sport, debate team, religious organization, or pre-professional society — at any Texas university (we cover all 159 in this guide), at any Texas community college, or at any Texas high school, junior high, or middle school under Texas Education Code § 37.151 — call us at 1-888-ATTY-911 right now. The consultation is free. Our spoliation letter goes out within 24 hours of your retention, every time, no exceptions. Hablamos Español. Llame al 1-888-ATTY-911 y pregunte por Lupe Peña.

We are The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC, the firm behind Attorney 911. We have offices in Houston (1177 West Loop South, Suite 1600, Houston, TX 77027), Austin, and Beaumont. Ralph P. Manginello founded the firm in 1998. He is admitted to the federal bar in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, dual-barred in Texas and New York, and a member of the Houston Bar Association, the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA), the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He is a Trial Lawyers Achievement Association Million Dollar Member and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (B.A. Journalism) and the South Texas College of Law Houston (J.D.). He has handled complex multi-defendant litigation against billion-dollar institutional defendants — including representation in BP Texas City refinery litigation, where one explosion killed 15 workers, injured more than 170, and produced industry-wide settlements exceeding $2.1 billion. The same investigative discipline, federal-court fluency, and institutional-defendant pleading we built in BP, Walmart, Amazon, Coca-Cola, FedEx, UPS, and major-oil-and-gas matters is what we now apply to Texas hazing cases.

Lupe Peña, our associate attorney, is the firm’s competitive edge in hazing litigation. She is a native Spanish speaker. She graduated from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio (B.B.A.) and the South Texas College of Law Houston (J.D.). She is admitted to the State Bar of Texas (Bar #24084332, admitted December 6, 2012) and to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Before joining the plaintiff side, she was an insurance defense attorney at a national defense firm. She wrote and defended the same coverage-exclusion arguments fraternity insurance carriers and university risk-management offices use to deny hazing claims today. She knows the IME-doctor rotation, the friendly-adjuster playbook, and the staged-incident-report revision protocol because she trained adjusters and revised reports from the inside. “We know their playbook because we used to run it.” She represents Hispanic clients directly in Spanish, no interpreters, no delays, no second-tier service. We have over 200 Spanish-speaking client testimonials documenting that experience.

This guide is the most comprehensive Texas hazing legal resource on the open web. It covers Texas Education Code Chapter 37 Subchapter F (§§ 37.151–37.157) verbatim. It covers the Texas Penal Code overlay — assault, aggravated assault, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, intoxication assault, injury to a child, sexual assault, furnishing alcohol to a minor. It covers Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §§ 16.001 (minor tolling), 16.003 (statute of limitations), 33.001–013 (proportionate responsibility), 41.003 / 41.008 (punitive damages), 71.003–021 (wrongful death and survival). It covers the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024, Title IX, and the Clery Act. It covers sovereign immunity at UH, Texas A&M, UT Austin, Texas Tech, Texas State, UTSA, UTEP, UT Arlington, UT Dallas, UT Tyler, UH-Clear Lake, UH-Downtown, UH-Victoria, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern, Lamar, Tarleton State, Sul Ross State, Angelo State, West Texas A&M, A&M-Commerce, A&M-Corpus Christi, A&M-Kingsville, A&M-International, A&M-San Antonio, A&M-Central Texas, A&M-Texarkana, Midwestern State, and every other Texas public institution. It covers all 159 four-year and community-college institutions in Texas. It covers all 125 IRS-registered (NTEE B83) Texas Greek organizations by city and EIN. It covers Greek life, Corps of Cadets, marching bands, spirit groups, dance teams, drill teams, cheerleading, athletic teams, club sports, religious organizations, pre-professional societies, multicultural Greek councils, and K-12 organizations. It covers fraternity wrongful death, sorority hazing, marching-band hazing, Corps of Cadets hazing, and high-school athletic-team hazing. It covers rhabdomyolysis, alcohol poisoning, drowning, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault, paddling, branding, chemical burns, electrocution, hypothermia, and hazing-related suicide. It is long because the subject is large. It is honest because we wrote it from the side of the people who get hurt — and we do not pretend otherwise.

The Texas hazing reality, metro by metro

Texas has more universities, more Greek-letter organizations, and more documented hazing deaths than almost any other state. According to the Hank Nuwer national hazing database — the canonical record of U.S. hazing fatalities maintained at hanknuwer.com — Texas is tied with California for the highest documented Greek-life death count among U.S. states, at 21 fatalities (1928 through 2018) with the Bermudez Pi Kappa Phi case making 22 with the November 2025 catastrophic injury. The state’s combination of large public-university Greek systems, military-tradition cadet corps at Texas A&M and historical military traditions at the University of Texas, large historically Black institutions with Divine Nine NPHC chapters, large historically Hispanic-serving institutions, large Asian-American and multicultural Greek councils, large athletic departments at every flagship, and large marching-band traditions at Texas Southern, Prairie View, and Texas A&M makes Texas the most concentrated single-state hazing-litigation market in the country.

The Manginello Law Firm operates from three Texas offices. Our main office is in Houston at 1177 West Loop South, Suite 1600, Houston, Texas 77027. Our Austin and Beaumont offices serve Central Texas, the Hill Country, and the Golden Triangle by appointment, with the same toll-free intake and 24/7 availability. We handle cases statewide — and nationally where the facts and the contingency-fee economics warrant. We have not built our hazing practice on the back of one case; we have built it on the same federal-court complex-litigation framework we have spent twenty-five years applying to refinery deaths, oil-and-gas catastrophes, 18-wheeler trucking matters, defective-product cases, and BP Texas City institutional-defendant litigation. The same playbook scales naturally to fraternity national headquarters, Greek housing corporations, Texas state universities under sovereign immunity, and the individual chapter officers who actually run the hazing.

Houston metro — Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Galveston, Brazoria, Liberty, Chambers

The Houston metro is the gravitational center of Texas hazing litigation in 2026. The November 21, 2025 filing of Bermudez v. University of Houston in Harris County District Court — a more-than-$10-million catastrophic-injury suit naming UH, the UH System Board of Regents, Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters, the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu housing corporation, and 13 individual chapter members — is the largest pending Texas hazing case at the time of this writing. The case anchors at three Houston locations: the Pi Kappa Phi chapter house at or near UH, an off-campus residence on Culmore Drive in the Third Ward owned by a former chapter member and his spouse, and Yellowstone Boulevard Park in Houston where dawn and late-night forced workouts allegedly caused at least one pledge to lose consciousness.

Beyond UH, the Houston metro contains Rice University (private, undergraduate enrollment ~4,500, modest Greek life with strong residential-college tradition), Texas Southern University (HBCU, Divine Nine NPHC anchor, marching band (“Ocean of Soul”) with national hazing history at peer institutions including FAMU’s Marching 100), Houston Baptist University (now Houston Christian University, private, Christian, modest Greek life), the University of St. Thomas (private, Catholic, small Greek presence), the University of Houston-Clear Lake, the University of Houston-Downtown, and the University of Houston-Victoria. Houston is also home to the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the South Texas College of Law Houston (where both Ralph Manginello and Lupe Peña earned their J.D.s) — institutions that produce graduate-level professional-fraternity and honor-society activity, including documented hazing risk in medical and dental schools nationally.

The full Houston-metro university footprint includes 22 institutions of higher education in Harris County alone. The Greater Houston area also serves as the home base for tens of thousands of Texas families whose children attend Texas A&M (College Station), the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech (Lubbock), Texas State (San Marcos), and other out-of-metro institutions. When a Texas A&M Corps of Cadets cadet, a UT Austin Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledge, or a Texas Tech sorority new member is hazed, the family discovering the harm is frequently in Houston, calling Houston-area lawyers from a Houston-area pediatric trauma center. Our practice is structured for that geography.

Houston-area pediatric and adult catastrophic-injury care routes overwhelmingly to Texas Children’s Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center — both Level 1 pediatric trauma centers — and to Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center, Houston Methodist Hospital, Ben Taub General Hospital, and St. Luke’s Health for adults. Hazing-induced rhabdomyolysis, alcohol poisoning, blunt-force trauma, sexual assault, and traumatic brain injury all present at these institutions on weekend nights during fraternity rush, pledge season, fall and spring formals, and homecoming. The medical record from those institutions becomes the foundation of every catastrophic Houston-area hazing case our firm handles.

Greater Houston Greek life is dense. The University of Houston alone has more than 40 fraternities and sororities across four governing councils — the Interfraternity Council (IFC, including Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Sigma Phi, Beta Theta Pi, Delta Upsilon, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Pi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, and Theta Chi); the Houston Panhellenic Council (Alpha Chi Omega, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, Phi Mu, and Zeta Tau Alpha); the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC, the “Divine Nine”: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Iota Phi Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Sigma Gamma Rho, and Zeta Phi Beta); and the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC). Rice University and the University of St. Thomas have smaller Greek presences. Texas Southern University is anchored on NPHC Divine Nine activity. Houston Christian University has a smaller Greek footprint focused on Christian fraternities and sororities.

The IRS B83 (NTEE-coded “Student Sororities and Fraternities”) registered Texas Greek organizations include 10 entities with Houston-metro addresses, 5 with College Station addresses (the Texas A&M corridor), 6 with Lubbock addresses (the Texas Tech corridor), 4 with Frisco addresses (notably the Beta Nu Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity Housing Corporation Inc., EIN 46-2267515 — the same Pi Kappa Phi chapter named in the Bermudez UH lawsuit), 9 with Fort Worth addresses (TCU corridor), 6 with Dallas addresses (SMU corridor), 8 with Austin addresses (UT Austin corridor), and additional registrations in San Antonio, Waco (Baylor), Nacogdoches (Stephen F. Austin), San Marcos (Texas State), Prairie View (Prairie View A&M), Beaumont (Lamar), and dozens of smaller markets. We name and pursue all of them as potential defendants in the appropriate cases.

Dallas–Fort Worth metro — Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson, Parker

The DFW metro is, by raw count, the largest concentration of registered Texas Greek-letter organizations in the state. Dallas County hosts Southern Methodist University (private, ~12,000 students, dense Greek life with documented hazing history including the 2017 Kappa Alpha Order suspension over paddling, forced drinking, and sleep deprivation; chapter restrictions ran until approximately 2021). The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the University of North Texas at Dallas, Dallas Baptist University, Paul Quinn College (HBCU), and Dallas College anchor additional risk profiles. Tarrant County hosts Texas Christian University (private, ~12,000 students, dense Greek life including the 2018 Kappa Sigma case in which a 19-year-old was arrested for allegedly hazing pledges and a separate hazing-related event culminated in pledge Andrew Walker’s death by suicide), Texas Wesleyan University, the University of North Texas Health Science Center, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Brite Divinity School. Denton County hosts the University of North Texas (~46,000 students, large Greek system) and Texas Woman’s University. Collin County hosts the Collin County Community College District. The DFW metro additionally hosts the University of Texas at Arlington (Tarrant; ~45,000 students, with a documented 2020 Sigma Chi pledge alcohol-poisoning hospitalization that settled in August 2021), the University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, ~31,000 students), and dozens of smaller institutions.

The DFW metro is also the registered headquarters of multiple national Greek-organization housing corporations and educational foundations, including the Texas Kappa Sigma Educational Foundation Inc. (Fort Worth, EIN 74-1380362) and several Frisco-based Pi Kappa Phi housing corporation entities. From a venue and discovery perspective, the DFW metro frequently surfaces national-Greek-organization documents that travel back to Houston cases and to other Texas metros. Our pleadings name DFW-resident defendants where the corporate-residency, registered-agent, or document-control facts support it.

Austin metro — Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop, Caldwell, Burnet

The Austin metro is anchored by the University of Texas at Austin, the flagship public university of the State of Texas. UT Austin has approximately 52,000 students; an Interfraternity Council with more than 30 chapters; a Panhellenic Council with more than 15 chapters; a substantial NPHC Divine Nine presence; the West Campus residential Greek concentration along Rio Grande, Pearl, and 26th Streets; and a long list of named non-Greek spirit organizations including the Texas Cowboys, the Texas Wranglers, the Silver Spurs, the Orange Jackets, the Posse, the Bevo Boys, “Absolute Texxas,” and dozens of smaller groups.

UT Austin operates a publicly available hazing-violations log at hazing.utexas.edu — a transparency mechanism the State of Texas does not yet require but that UT chose to maintain in advance of the Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024’s federal mandate. Recent published violations include a Pi Kappa Alpha (2023) case in which new members were directed to consume milk and perform strenuous calisthenics; the chapter was placed on probation and required to implement new hazing-prevention education. The “Absolute Texxas” spirit group was disciplined in 2022 for hazing violations including alcohol and drug misconduct, blindfolding, kidnapping, and degrading conduct — a case that demonstrates Texas hazing law applies far beyond Greek life. The Texas Wranglers spirit organization has been sanctioned for forced workouts, alcohol-related hazing, and punishment-based practices. The Texas Cowboys spirit organization has been linked to two documented student deaths — Gabriel Higgins in 1995 (drowning in the Colorado River) and another fatality in 2018 in which the university acknowledged “serious hazing and animal abuse.” UT Austin’s 2024 case docket also includes a January 2024 Sigma Alpha Epsilon assault case in which an Australian exchange student suffered a dislocated leg, broken ligaments, fractured tibia, and broken nose at a chapter party — over $1 million sought, with the chapter already under suspension for prior violations. UT Austin’s 1986 Phi Kappa Psi death of Mark Seeberger (BAC 0.43; grand jury declined to indict), 1988 Delta Tau Delta death of Gregg Scott Phillips (fell from a cliff), 1998 Phi Kappa Sigma death of Jack L. Ivey, Jr. (BAC 0.40), 2005 Lambda Phi Epsilon death of Phanta “Jack” Phoummarath (acute alcohol intoxication; chapter president, pledge captain, and “Hell Master” pleaded out), 2006 Sigma Alpha Epsilon death of Tyler Cross (intoxicated fall), and 1928 Delta Kappa Epsilon death of Nolte McElroy (electric shock crawling through electrified mattresses) all establish UT Austin as the most-documented hazing-fatality campus in Texas.

The Austin metro additionally hosts Texas State University in San Marcos (Hays County, ~38,000 students, with documented hazing fatalities including the 2017 Phi Kappa Psi death of Matthew “Matt” Ellis — November 13, bottle-exchange ritual, supplier of alcohol Austin Rice charged — and the 2016 Alpha Delta Pi death at a multi-fraternity-co-sponsored party). Concordia University Texas, Huston-Tillotson University (HBCU), Saint Edward’s University, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Austin (Dell Medical School), the Austin Community College District, and Southwestern University (Georgetown, Williamson County) round out the metro footprint.

San Antonio metro — Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Wilson, Atascosa, Bandera, Kendall, Medina

The San Antonio metro hosts The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA, ~35,000 students), the University of the Incarnate Word (private, Catholic, with strong Hispanic-serving status), Trinity University (private, ~2,500 students, with a documented 1991 hazing fatality in the Triniteers spirit organization in which Rolland C. Pederson was struck by a car), St. Mary’s University (Catholic, Hispanic-serving — where Lupe Peña earned her undergraduate B.B.A.), Our Lady of the Lake University (Catholic, Hispanic-serving), the Baptist University of the Americas, Texas A&M-San Antonio, the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio College, and Hallmark University. Bexar County is one of the largest historically Hispanic-majority counties in the state; San Antonio’s Greek-letter and student-organization activity reflects that demography, including a deep multicultural Greek council presence and concentrated activity in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and similar organizations. Hazing-pattern risk in San Antonio extends to Corps-style organizations at UTSA’s ROTC programs, marching-band programs, and athletic teams. We handle the full San Antonio metro and the Hill Country (Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall) directly out of our Austin office.

El Paso metro — far West Texas

The El Paso metro hosts The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP, ~24,000 students, designated R1 research and Hispanic-serving), the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso (Foster School of Medicine), and Western Technical College locations. El Paso is one of the most heavily Hispanic-majority metros in the United States — and the home of the seminal bilingual contract-formation defeat case Delfingen US-Texas, L.P. v. Valenzuela, 407 S.W.3d 791 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2013, no pet.) — the doctrine that defeats English-only fraternity waivers presented to Spanish-speaking parents and pledges. We have detailed Spanish-language coverage of the Delfingen doctrine in this guide’s Spanish section. El Paso families with children attending UTEP, UT Austin, Texas Tech, A&M, or any Texas institution should call us directly. The consultation is free and conducted in Spanish if you prefer.

Beaumont and the Golden Triangle — Jefferson, Orange, Hardin, Tyler, Newton, Jasper

The Beaumont metro hosts Lamar University (~17,000 students; site of the 1986 Omega Psi Phi hazing fatality of Harold Thomas, who suffered heart failure on a track during forced exercise — one of the most-cited Divine Nine hazing-death cases in Texas history). Lamar Institute of Technology, Lamar State College–Orange, and Lamar State College–Port Arthur round out the higher-education footprint. The Beaumont area also hosts a substantial Hispanic and African-American population whose children attend Lamar, Sam Houston State (Walker County), the University of Houston, Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern, Texas State, and other institutions. Our Beaumont office serves Jefferson County, Orange County, Hardin County, Tyler County, Newton County, and Jasper County by appointment, with the same intake number 1-888-ATTY-911 and (713) 528-9070 direct line. Hablamos Español.

Corpus Christi and Coastal Bend — Nueces, San Patricio, Aransas, Kleberg, Bee, Refugio

The Corpus Christi metro hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (~11,000 students), Del Mar College, and Texas A&M-Kingsville (Kleberg County, ~7,500 students, traditionally Hispanic-serving and historically tied to the King Ranch’s Hispanic workforce known as Los Kineños — “the King’s people”). Texas A&M-Kingsville hosts a substantial Greek system and a significant ROTC program. We handle Coastal Bend hazing cases out of our Houston headquarters and travel directly when warranted.

Rio Grande Valley — Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr, Willacy, Webb (Laredo)

The Rio Grande Valley is the densest Hispanic-majority region in Texas. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV, ~32,000 students, distributed across Edinburg and Brownsville campuses with additional sites in Harlingen, McAllen, and elsewhere), South Texas College (~31,000 students, McAllen-based), Texas A&M International University (Laredo, Webb County, ~7,000 students), Laredo College, and Texas Southmost College anchor higher education. The Valley’s Greek life is heavily multicultural — Latinx fraternities and sororities including Sigma Lambda Beta, Sigma Lambda Gamma, Lambda Theta Phi, Lambda Theta Alpha, Phi Iota Alpha, Sigma Lambda Alpha, and others — alongside traditional NIC and NPC organizations. Bilingual representation is essential. Hablamos Español. Llame al 1-888-ATTY-911 y pregunte por Lupe Peña.

Lubbock and West Texas Panhandle — Lubbock, Hockley, Lynn, Crosby, Garza

The Lubbock metro is anchored by Texas Tech University (~40,000 students, R1 research, dense Greek life with three documented hazing fatalities: 1976 Pi Kappa Alpha scavenger-hunt death; 2001 Delta Sigma Phi death of Zachary Aaron Michael Mullins in an auto fatality during “The Ritual” the week of 9/11; and 2014 Alpha Sigma Phi death of Dalton Debrick from alcohol overdose). Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock Christian University, and Texas Tech University System Administration round out the Lubbock footprint. The Texas Panhandle further west hosts West Texas A&M University in Canyon (Randall County) and Wayland Baptist University in Plainview (Hale County). Amarillo (Potter County) is the northern anchor. Hazing-pattern risk at Texas Tech mirrors UT Austin and Texas A&M with the additional dimension of West Texas geographic isolation, which makes off-campus, ranch-based, and rural-property hazing locations more prevalent.

Tyler and East Texas — Smith, Gregg, Cherokee, Nacogdoches, Angelina

The Tyler metro hosts the University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler Junior College, and Texas College (HBCU, founded 1894). Nacogdoches County hosts Stephen F. Austin State University (~12,000 students; site of the 2007 Tau Kappa Epsilon hazing case of Nikolas Gallegos, age 18, in which the school declared the conduct non-hazing — a controversial classification that has shaped Texas hazing-classification disputes since). Marshall (Harrison County) hosts East Texas Baptist University and Wiley College (HBCU). Longview (Gregg County) hosts LeTourneau University. Jacksonville (Cherokee County) hosts the Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary. Lufkin (Angelina County) is a regional anchor. East Texas hazing cases reach our firm through the Houston I-69 corridor and through the Beaumont I-10 corridor. Hablamos Español.

Killeen, Waco, Temple, and Bryan-College Station — Central Texas

Bryan-College Station (Brazos County) is the home of Texas A&M University–College Station, one of the largest universities in the country (~75,000 students). Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets — a residential, uniformed military-style organization with deep traditions including the bonfire, Silver Taps, and the Aggie Ring ceremony — has produced multiple documented hazing deaths and lawsuits, including the 1984 Bruce Dean Goodrich death (heatstroke at 2:30 a.m. calisthenics, three cadets pleaded guilty to hazing, one expelled for tampering with evidence), the 1997 Phi Gamma Delta death of Trey Walker (asthma attack from water spray on a chilly January day; Brazos County grand jury brought no charges), the 1997 Sigma Alpha Epsilon death of Brian Sanders, the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse (12 dead, 27 injured, settlements exceeding $6 million), the 2018 Phi Gamma Delta death of Joseph Little (collapsed during pledging at the same chapter as Trey Walker 1997), the 2021 Sigma Alpha Epsilon chemical-burn case (industrial-strength cleaner, raw eggs, and saliva poured on pledges, skin-graft surgeries, $1 million sought, two-year chapter suspension), the 2023 Corps of Cadets “roasted pig” lawsuit ($1 million sought, simulated sexual acts and binding between beds with apple in mouth alleged), and a separate 2023 Kappa Sigma rhabdomyolysis ongoing-litigation matter.

Waco (McLennan County) is the home of Baylor University (~21,000 students, private, Baptist; site of the 1967 Baylor Chamber of Commerce hazing death of John E. Clifton — physical hazing — and the 2020 baseball-team hazing investigation that produced the suspension of 14 players). Killeen (Bell County) hosts Texas A&M University-Central Texas. Temple is part of the same Bell County corridor. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Belton, Bell County) is a private Baptist institution with its own Greek footprint. Central Texas hazing cases reach our firm through both the Austin and Houston offices.

Other Texas regions — Permian Basin, Hill Country, Concho Valley, Big Bend

The Midland-Odessa Permian Basin hosts the University of Texas Permian Basin (Odessa, Ector County), Midland College, and Odessa College. The Hill Country hosts Schreiner University (Kerrville, Kerr County), Texas Lutheran University (Seguin, Guadalupe County), Howard Payne University (Brownwood, Brown County), and Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Erath County). The Concho Valley hosts Angelo State University (San Angelo, Tom Green County). Big Bend is anchored by Sul Ross State University (Alpine, Brewster County). North Central Texas hosts Texas A&M-Commerce (Hunt County), Texas A&M-Texarkana (Bowie County), and Midwestern State University (Wichita Falls, Wichita County). Each of these institutions has a Greek-letter, ROTC, marching-band, athletic, or spirit-organization footprint we cover. Texas A&M-Texarkana, A&M-Central Texas, A&M-San Antonio, and A&M-Commerce all share governance structures with the Texas A&M System and with the same sovereign-immunity doctrine.

How Texas geography shapes a hazing case

Geography matters in three concrete ways. First, venue. Most Texas hazing civil suits are filed in the county where the hazing occurred — Harris County for the Bermudez UH case, Brazos County for Texas A&M cases, Travis County for UT Austin cases, McLennan County for Baylor, Lubbock County for Texas Tech, Dallas County for SMU, Tarrant County for TCU. Each county’s jury demographic, motion-practice culture, and trial-court calendar produces measurably different settlement leverage and verdict ranges. Harris County and Travis County are widely considered plaintiff-favorable for catastrophic-injury and gross-negligence cases. Second, sovereign immunity. Public Texas universities — UH, A&M, UT, Texas Tech, Texas State, and the rest — are state actors covered by the Texas Tort Claims Act and require specific pleading paths that private institutions like Rice, SMU, TCU, Baylor, Trinity, and St. Mary’s do not. Third, regional Greek-organization concentration. The Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu housing corporation registered in Frisco, Texas (DFW metro) is the same housing corporation whose chapter at the University of Houston is named in our Bermudez case — a fact pattern that produces venue, document-discovery, and corporate-residency overlap that does not exist in geographically simpler hazing cases.

Why no Texas campus can claim surprise — the foreseeability stack

Every defense brief in every hazing case in every U.S. jurisdiction includes some version of the same paragraph: “The university (or fraternity, or chapter, or housing corporation) had no specific advance knowledge that this particular conduct would occur.” The argument is functionally indefensible. The documented record of college hazing in the United States is older than electricity. Mortimer Leggett, a member of the Kappa Alpha Society at Cornell University, was killed in a hazing fall in 1873 — the first documented U.S. college hazing fatality. The first documented Texas hazing fatality came 55 years later: Nolte McElroy, a Delta Kappa Epsilon pledge at the University of Texas, was electrocuted in 1928 crawling through electrified mattresses. Between 1873 and 2025, the Hank Nuwer database documents more than 191 hazing deaths in the United States, with the 2024 Wikipedia-merged dataset bringing the total to 296 deaths and 51 documented non-fatal catastrophic injuries — 347 cases in all, ranging from 1838 to 2025.

Texas alone — by Hank Nuwer’s count tied with California for the highest single-state Greek-life death total — accounts for 21 documented deaths between 1928 and 2018, plus the November 2025 catastrophic-injury Bermudez Pi Kappa Phi case. That is one Texas Greek-life death every approximately four-and-a-half years for a century. Plus the Aggie Bonfire collapse of 1999 (12 dead, 27 injured), which produced the largest Texas student-organization wrongful-death litigation in the state’s history.

The American academic and medical consensus: hazing is foreseeable, lethal, and preventable

The peer-reviewed and policy-statement literature on hazing has been continuous since the 1990s. StopHazing.org, the leading academic research consortium led by Dr. Elizabeth J. Allan, has published the National Study of Student Hazing (2008) and continuous follow-on research demonstrating that 55% of college students involved in clubs, teams, and organizations report experiencing hazing; 95% of students who experienced hazing did not report it; and 47% of students who entered college reported having been hazed in high school. Hank Nuwer’s books — Wrongs of Passage (1999), The Hazing Reader (2004), and the continuous online database — establish the doctrinal record. Peer-reviewed medical literature documents rhabdomyolysis from extreme calisthenics-style hazing (Kasmire et al., Pediatrics 2016), alcohol-related fatalities, traumatic brain injuries from forced falls, and hazing-related suicide.

The federal regulatory and statutory record: the Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024

The Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024 (Pub. L. 118-298, signed December 23, 2024) is the first comprehensive federal statute on campus hazing. It requires every U.S. college and university receiving federal student-aid funding to maintain a publicly accessible hazing-violations database (phased in by approximately 2026), to provide hazing-prevention education to every enrolled student, and to publish an annual report of hazing-related disciplinary actions. The Act amended both the Higher Education Act and the Clery Act. Texas universities — UH, Texas A&M, UT Austin, Texas Tech, Texas State, and every other public and federal-aid-receiving private institution — are subject to the federal mandate. Universities that fail to comply face Department of Education enforcement and loss of federal student-aid eligibility. The mandate is actionable evidence in a civil hazing case: a university that lacked compliance documentation, prevention education, or violation-reporting capacity at the time of an injury has built the foreseeability and conscious-indifference predicates of gross-negligence liability.

The Texas regulatory record: § 37.156 reporting, § 51.9362 requirements, and the named-act gap

Texas Education Code § 37.156 requires Texas colleges and universities to provide hazing-prevention education, publish hazing policies, and maintain published reports of hazing violations and disciplinary actions. UT Austin has maintained the public hazing.utexas.edu transparency log for years and is the model. Texas A&M, the University of Houston, Texas Tech, Texas State, and other public Texas universities have varying degrees of compliance. Pennsylvania has the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law. Louisiana has the Max Gruver Act. Ohio has Collin’s Law: The Anti-Hazing Act (effective October 2021). Florida has the Chad Meredith Law. Texas has not yet enacted a named anti-hazing act with comparable scope and public-awareness branding. The pending question — and the public-policy opportunity — is whether the November 2025 Bermudez UH catastrophic-injury case will catalyze a Texas named anti-hazing act in the 2027 legislative session. Our firm is monitoring and engaged.

The insurance-industry record: fraternity insurers know

The North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), and the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) all maintain risk-management programs and require chapter-level insurance through national insurance pools (Fraternal Risk Management Trust, FRMT, James R. Favor & Company, MJ Insurance, and similar carriers). Every major national fraternity insurance program contains a hazing exclusion — meaning that documented hazing conduct triggers coverage denials, leaving the chapter and individual members personally exposed for the full damage award. The exclusion’s existence is itself proof that the insurance industry has long understood hazing to be a foreseeable, recurring, lethal risk.

The corporate-consolidation record: national fraternities know

National fraternity headquarters maintain detailed historical incident records — not for transparency but for risk-management and litigation-defense purposes. Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters suspended the UH Beta Nu chapter on November 6, 2025, three days after the catastrophic November 3 hazing workout that injured Leonel Bermudez, and accepted the chapter members’ November 14 charter surrender — a sequence that demonstrates both the speed and the institutional capacity of national fraternity surveillance. Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon (which formally ended pledging nationwide in 2014 in response to repeated hazing fatalities), Phi Gamma Delta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Kappa Sigma, Sigma Chi, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Theta Chi, Lambda Chi Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Phi Kappa Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, and Pi Delta Psi have all faced documented hazing-related litigation, criminal prosecution, or both, at multiple campuses across multiple decades. The Pi Delta Psi national fraternity was criminally convicted of aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter and banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years following the 2013 Chun Michael Deng death at a Pocono Mountains retreat — the first criminal conviction of a national fraternity in U.S. history.

The doctrinal point is straightforward. No Texas university, no national fraternity headquarters, and no Greek housing corporation in 2026 can credibly claim that hazing was unforeseeable. The peer-reviewed literature, the federal statute, the Texas Education Code, the insurance-industry exclusions, the national fraternity policy archives, and the 152-year continuous record of documented U.S. hazing deaths together establish actual subjective awareness as a matter of law. Foreseeability is settled. The only open question is which institutional defendants exercised conscious indifference to the risk and which did not. That is the case our firm builds in every hazing matter.

Bermudez v. University of Houston Pi Kappa Phi — the live $10M+ Harris County case

The case our firm filed in Harris County District Court on November 21, 2025 against the University of Houston, the UH System Board of Regents, Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters, the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu chapter housing corporation, and 13 individual fraternity leaders and members is, at the time of this writing, the largest pending Texas hazing civil suit in the state. Leonel Bermudez is the named plaintiff. Damages sought exceed $10 million. The lawsuit alleges seven weeks of systematic abuse, torture, and hazing between September 16, 2025 (bid acceptance) and November 6, 2025 (Pi Kappa Phi national HQ suspension of the Beta Nu chapter), with the catastrophic injury occurring on November 3, 2025. Three days after the lawsuit was filed, on November 14, 2025, the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu chapter members voted to surrender the chapter’s charter. The chapter is permanently shut down.

The plaintiff and the timeline

Leonel Bermudez was a transfer student planning to enroll at the University of Houston for the spring 2026 semester. He was, in the language of fraternity recruitment, a “ghost rush” — a future student attending pre-enrollment social events who accepted a fall 2025 bid from Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu. The lawsuit and contemporaneous reporting from Click2Houston, ABC13, Hoodline, the Houston Chronicle, and the Daily Cougar establish the following timeline:

• September 16, 2025 — Bermudez accepts the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu pledge bid.
• September–October 2025 — Pledge process begins. Pledges are required to carry “fanny packs” 24 hours a day with condoms, a sex toy, nicotine devices, and other humiliating items. Enforced dress codes, hours-long “study/work” blocks, weekly interviews under threat of expulsion, overnight and late-night driving duties as chapter chauffeurs, and forced cold-weather exposure in underwear are alleged.
• October 13, 2025 — Another pledge is allegedly hog-tied face-down on a table with an object in his mouth for over an hour.
• October 2025 — Forced sprints, bear crawls, wheelbarrow races, and “save your brother” drills. Hose spraying allegedly conducted in “a manner similar to waterboarding,” with threats of actual waterboarding. Pledges allegedly forced to consume milk, hot dogs, and peppercorns until vomiting and then sprint in the vomit. Pledges allegedly told to lie face down in vomit-soaked grass. Dawn and late-night workouts at Yellowstone Boulevard Park causing pledges to lose consciousness.
• November 3, 2025 — Bermudez is forced to do more than 100 push-ups, 500 squats, and recite the fraternity’s creed under threat of expulsion. He cannot stand afterward.
• November 6, 2025 — Bermudez deteriorates over the next 72 hours. Brown urine. Inability to stand. Hospitalization. Diagnosis: rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney failure. Critically high creatine kinase. Four-day hospitalization. Ongoing risk of permanent kidney damage. Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters suspends the Beta Nu chapter the same day.
• November 14, 2025 — Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu chapter members vote to surrender the chapter’s charter. The chapter is permanently shut down.
• November 21, 2025 — Lawsuit filed in Harris County District Court. Damages sought: more than $10 million.
• November 21–22, 2025 — Major media coverage breaks: Click2Houston (Bryce Newberry and Holly Galvan Posey), ABC13 (Nick Natario), Hoodline (Alyssa Ford), the Houston Chronicle, the Daily Cougar (Wendolee T. Garcia Martinez, November 24), KHOU 11, KVUE, FOX 26, KPRC 2, and CoogTV.

The defendants — the full institutional stack

The Bermudez lawsuit names a comprehensive defendant stack. Public-university defendants: the University of Houston and the UH System Board of Regents — pleaded subject to the Texas Tort Claims Act sovereign-immunity framework with gross-negligence, individual-capacity, and Title IX carve-outs. National-fraternity defendants: Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters and the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu housing corporation (registered in Frisco, Texas, EIN 46-2267515, NTEE B83) — private-party defendants without sovereign-immunity protection. Individual-member defendants: 13 fraternity leaders and members, including the chapter president, the pledgemaster, the sorority relations chair, the risk manager, and nine additional officers and members who allegedly directed, supervised, or participated in the hazing. Naming individuals serves several strategic purposes: it triggers individual-capacity gross-negligence analysis under Tex. CPRC § 41.003, it creates direct-knowledge deposition targets, it bypasses the Texas Tort Claims Act’s “scope of employment” employer-substitution mechanism under § 101.106(f), and it expands the insurance-tower reach to homeowners’ policies, umbrella policies, and the chapter’s own member-coverage.

The legal claims

The lawsuit alleges, among other claims:

• Assault and battery — the offensive physical contact alleged in the hazing rituals, including the hose spraying, the forced consumption, the cold-water exposure, and the physical restraint, satisfies the Tex. Penal Code § 22.01 elements and the parallel civil tort.
• Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) — under Twyman v. Twyman, 855 S.W.2d 619 (Tex. 1993), Texas recognizes IIED for extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causing severe emotional distress. The seven-week pattern of hazing alleged in Bermudez easily satisfies the standard.
• Negligence and gross negligence — under Transportation Insurance Co. v. Moriel, 879 S.W.2d 10 (Tex. 1994), gross negligence requires (1) an act or omission involving an extreme degree of risk objectively viewed AND (2) the actor’s actual subjective awareness of the risk with conscious indifference to the rights, safety, or welfare of others. The 152-year hazing-death record, the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act, and the national-fraternity insurance-exclusion record together establish actual subjective awareness as a matter of law for any 2025 fraternity defendant.
• Premises liability — the chapter house, the off-campus Culmore Drive residence, and Yellowstone Boulevard Park each create premises-liability exposure for the property owners and controllers under Corbin v. Safeway Stores, Inc., 648 S.W.2d 292 (Tex. 1983), and progeny.
• Institutional negligence — the university’s failure to prevent the hazing, supervise the chapter, enforce hazing-prevention education, or respond to known warning signs implicates the institutional-negligence framework recognized in Texas and applied in Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand Co., 841 S.W.2d 343 (Tex. 1992).
• Title IX and federal civil rights — to the extent the hazing involved sexual or gender-based harassment, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. § 1681) provides a private right of action against UH as a federal-aid-receiving institution.
• Wrongful death and survival — pleaded for catastrophic-injury severity even where death has not occurred, the wrongful-death and survival framework under Tex. CPRC §§ 71.003-021 frames the long-tail damages calculation including life-care planning for permanent kidney damage.

The medical pathology — rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney failure

The Bermudez injury is medically distinctive. Rhabdomyolysis (ICD-10 M62.82) is the catastrophic breakdown of skeletal-muscle tissue. The damaged muscle releases myoglobin into the bloodstream. Myoglobin is a protein that, in normal physiology, binds oxygen in muscle tissue. Released into the blood at high concentrations, myoglobin is filtered through the kidneys, but the protein concentration overwhelms the renal tubules and produces a brown or cola-colored pigment in the urine — the classic warning sign. Continued myoglobin filtration produces acute tubular necrosis and acute kidney failure (ICD-10 N17.9). Untreated, rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney injury has a documented mortality rate. Treated with aggressive intravenous-fluid resuscitation, urinary alkalinization, and renal-function monitoring, most patients recover full kidney function — but a meaningful subset develop chronic kidney disease (CKD), permanent renal impairment, or dialysis dependence. The four-day hospitalization, the critically elevated creatine kinase (CK levels typically exceed 5,000 IU/L in confirmed rhabdomyolysis and can reach 100,000 IU/L in severe cases), and the brown urine — all documented in the Bermudez medical record — establish severe rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney injury.

The mechanism is not exotic. Forced calisthenics in extreme volume — 100+ push-ups and 500 squats in a single session, accompanied by sprints, food and water deprivation, and cold-weather exposure — produces rhabdomyolysis predictably. Kasmire et al. (Pediatrics 2016) documents the same mechanism in pediatric patients after extended trampoline-park jumping. The 2023 Texas A&M Kappa Sigma rhabdomyolysis case (still in litigation) involves the same pathology. Our trampoline-injury practice has built specific medical-expert relationships with pediatric and adult nephrologists, sports-medicine specialists, and rehabilitation physicians who diagnose, treat, and project the long-term sequelae of rhabdomyolysis-induced kidney injury. The same expert team handles our Bermudez case.

The institutional response and its evidentiary value

Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters’ November 6, 2025 suspension of the Beta Nu chapter, followed by the chapter members’ November 14 vote to surrender the chapter charter, is itself evidence in the case. The speed of the institutional response — three days from injury to national suspension; eleven days from suspension to charter surrender — demonstrates that Pi Kappa Phi national had the surveillance, investigation, and adjudication capacity to recognize the hazing as both real and indefensible. That capacity is admissible in the trial-court setting as evidence of the standard of care the fraternity expected of itself at the time of injury — and as evidence of the chapter’s failure to meet that standard in the seven weeks preceding November 3. The University of Houston’s contemporaneous statement that the conduct was “deeply disturbing” and its promise of disciplinary action up to expulsion, plus cooperation with law enforcement, are similarly admissible.

The press record — the three required citations

Three Bermudez press citations appear in this guide as plain-text URLs because every Texas hazing case our firm handles incorporates the verified contemporaneous press record:

• Click2Houston / KPRC 2 (Bryce Newberry & Holly Galvan Posey, November 21, 2025): https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2025/11/21/only-on-2-lawsuit-alleges-severe-hazing-at-university-of-houstons-pi-kappa-phi-chapter-fraternity/
• ABC13 / KTRK (Nick Natario, November 22, 2025): https://abc13.com/post/waterboarding-forced-eating-physical-punishment-lawsuit-alleges-abuse-faced-injured-pledge-uhs-pi-kappa-phi-fraternity/18186418/
• Hoodline (Alyssa Ford, November 22, 2025): https://hoodline.com/2025/11/university-of-houston-and-pi-kappa-phi-fraternity-face-10m-lawsuit-over-alleged-hazing-and-abuse/

Additional verified coverage includes the Houston Chronicle, the Daily Cougar at the University of Houston, KHOU 11 (CBS), KVUE (Austin ABC affiliate, where the case received statewide coverage), FOX 26 Houston, and CoogTV. Ralph Manginello’s “His urine was brown” remark — the four-word headline that defined the early-cycle coverage — is referenced in multiple of these stories.

What the Bermudez case does for every other Texas hazing family

The Bermudez case is more than our anchor. It is a roadmap. It demonstrates that a Texas plaintiff can credibly plead a $10-million-plus catastrophic-injury hazing case against a state public university, a national fraternity, a regional housing corporation, and 13 individual chapter members in Harris County District Court — and survive the early defense motions. It demonstrates that the Texas Education Code § 37.155 consent rebuttal, the Tex. CPRC § 41.003 gross-negligence carve-out, the Texas Tort Claims Act § 101.106(f) individual-capacity pleading, and the federal Title IX overlay together produce a pleading framework that no defense motion to dismiss has yet defeated. It demonstrates that a national fraternity’s institutional-response speed (3-day suspension, 11-day charter surrender) is admissible evidence of the standard of care. And it demonstrates that the medical pathology of rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney injury — the brown urine, the elevated CK, the four-day hospitalization — produces a damages calculation that scales naturally into eight-figure territory with life-care planning for permanent renal impairment. Every other Texas hazing case our firm has investigated since November 2025 has been screened against the Bermudez framework. If your child has been hazed in Texas, your case is not alone. You are not the first. We have the case file, the playbook, and the institutional-defendant pleading that other Texas firms are learning by reading our complaint.

What hazing actually looks like in Texas in 2026 — the three-tier framework

Hazing exists on a continuum. The same chapter that requires a “fanny pack” with humiliating items in week one can demand 100 push-ups and 500 squats in week eight — and the same pledge who tolerated the first can be hospitalized after the second. The Texas Education Code § 37.151 statutory definition draws a single legal line — “any intentional, knowing, or reckless act, on or off campus, that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student” — but the conduct itself spans three meaningfully different tiers. Recognizing the tier you or your child is experiencing right now is the first step toward stopping the harm.

Tier 1 — the subtle hazing you may not realize is hazing

Tier 1 hazing operates through deception, secrecy, and social control. It is often the legal minimum that satisfies § 37.151’s “endangers mental health” prong without producing immediate physical injury. Examples documented in Texas cases and in the prompt’s reference materials include:

• Servitude and chore enforcement — pledges required to clean the chapter house, drive members on errands, do members’ laundry, deliver food, run personal errands, or “house-sit” overnight under threat of expulsion or social demotion.
• Geographic and digital tracking — pledges required to share Find My Friends, Snapchat location, or Apple Family Sharing with chapter officers; group-chat surveillance; mandatory check-ins.
• Secrecy oaths and fourth-wall enforcement — pledges sworn to silence about pledge activities; threats against telling parents, friends, university officials, or law enforcement; “what happens here stays here” framing.
• Derogatory naming, costume requirements, and dress codes — pledges assigned humiliating nicknames; required to wear specific clothing or carry specific items publicly; matching pledge-class uniforms.
• Social isolation — pledges discouraged or forbidden from contact with non-Greek friends, prior boyfriends or girlfriends, or family members; mandatory chapter-house presence; weekend-long required attendance.
• Sleep, study, and exam-period encroachment — pledge events scheduled during study weeks, finals, or exam periods; pledges required to forgo academic obligations for chapter business.
• The pledge-bag or “fanny pack” requirement — Bermudez’s allegation that pledges were required to carry condoms, a sex toy, nicotine devices, and other humiliating items 24 hours a day is the Tier 1 prototype.
• Weekly “interviews” or “evaluations” under threat of expulsion from the pledge class — Bermudez also alleged this.

Tier 1 hazing is hazing under § 37.151. Texas law does not require physical injury. Mental endangerment alone is sufficient. A chapter that builds a pledge program around Tier 1 conduct is a chapter that will, on expected progression, escalate to Tier 2 and Tier 3.

Tier 2 — harassment hazing with foreseeable injury risk

Tier 2 hazing involves direct harassment and physical or psychological stress that produces foreseeable injury risk. Examples:

• Verbal abuse, screaming, and intimidation — group “lineups” in which pledges stand for hours while members scream insults, racial slurs, homophobic slurs, or family-targeted threats.
• Sleep deprivation — multi-day pledge events with cumulative sleep below 4 hours over 48-72 hours.
• Food and water restriction — pledges denied meals or water for extended periods; mandatory consumption of specific foods until vomiting.
• Forced calisthenics in moderate volume — push-ups, squats, sprints, holds, planks performed under duress, often as “punishment” for mistakes during chapter functions.
• Public humiliation — pledges required to perform embarrassing acts in public; exposure to social-media livestreams; required participation in chapter “skits” with degrading content.
• Mandatory “study/work blocks” — Bermudez alleged hours-long enforced “study/work” sessions at the chapter house.
• Overnight or late-night driving duties — pledges assigned as chapter chauffeurs at high-risk hours; sleep-deprived driving.
• Disgusting-conditions exposure — pledges forced to lie in vomit, excrement, mud, or other disgusting environments. Bermudez alleged “lying in vomit-soaked grass.”
• Exposure to extreme cold or heat — pledges stripped to underwear in the cold (Bermudez); cadets at Texas A&M’s Bruce Goodrich case exposed to 2:30 a.m. calisthenics in Texas A&M’s Brazos County summer-equivalent conditions in 1984.

Tier 2 hazing produces predictable medical and psychological injuries: dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, exertion injuries, sleep-deprivation cognitive impairment, panic attacks, depressive episodes, and the early stages of post-traumatic stress disorder. A chapter operating at Tier 2 has crossed from § 37.151 misdemeanor territory into § 37.152 Class A misdemeanor territory (“hazing causing injury requiring medical treatment”) on expected progression, and is one bad decision away from Tier 3.

Tier 3 — violent hazing with documented lethal capacity

Tier 3 hazing is the conduct that fills the Hank Nuwer database. Texas Education Code § 37.152 reaches this conduct as a state jail felony when it produces serious bodily injury or death. Examples:

• Forced consumption of alcohol — the modal hazing-fatality mechanism. Stone Foltz (BGSU Pi Kappa Alpha, 2021), Maxwell Gruver (LSU Phi Delta Theta, 2017, BAC 0.495%), David Bogenberger (Northern Illinois Pi Kappa Alpha, 2012), Andrew Coffey (FSU Pi Kappa Phi, 2017), Dalton Debrick (Texas Tech Alpha Sigma Phi, 2014), Phanta “Jack” Phoummarath (UT Austin Lambda Phi Epsilon, 2005), Tyler Cross (UT Austin Sigma Alpha Epsilon, 2006), Jack L. Ivey, Jr. (UT Austin Phi Kappa Sigma, 1998, BAC 0.40), Mark Seeberger (UT Austin Phi Kappa Psi, 1986, BAC 0.43), Matthew Ellis (Texas State Phi Kappa Psi, 2017), and many more.
• Extreme calisthenics with food, water, and rest deprivation — the Bermudez Pi Kappa Phi UH mechanism. Produces rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney failure, electrolyte derangement, cardiac arrhythmia, and death by cardiovascular collapse. Bruce Goodrich (Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, 1984, heatstroke) is the Texas anchor case.
• Paddling, beating, and blunt-force trauma — Joseph Snell at Bowie State (Omega Psi Phi, 1997, four weeks of beatings, $375,000 verdict) is the precedent case. SMU Kappa Alpha Order (2017) involved paddling, forced drinking, and sleep deprivation. Multiple Divine Nine NPHC cases nationally have produced documented paddling injuries.
• Sexualized hazing and sexual assault — Texas A&M Corps of Cadets 2023 lawsuit alleged simulated sexual acts and the “roasted pig” pose with binding between beds and an apple in the mouth. The 2024 UT Austin SAE case involving the Australian exchange student involved physical assault that may, on developing facts, include sexualized elements. Northwestern football’s 2023-2025 hazing scandal was overwhelmingly sexualized.
• Branding, burning, and chemical exposure — Kappa Kappa Gamma at DePauw (1997, cigarette branding). Texas A&M Sigma Alpha Epsilon (2021, industrial-strength cleaner, raw eggs, and saliva poured on pledges, skin-graft surgeries). Phi Kappa Psi at San Diego State (2024, pledge set on fire during a party skit, third-degree burns over 16% of body, four felony charges).
• Restraint, “glass ceiling,” and physical-test rituals — Chun Michael Deng (Pi Delta Psi, Baruch / Pocono retreat, 2013, “glass ceiling” ritual, traumatic brain injury, delayed 911 call, national fraternity criminally convicted, $110,000+ fine, banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years). Bermudez’s October 13 hog-tied pledge with object in mouth for over an hour fits this category.
• Drowning — Chad Meredith (University of Miami Kappa Sigma, 2001, $12.6M verdict). Gabriel Higgins (UT Austin Texas Cowboys, 1995, Colorado River drowning).
• Electrocution and electrical hazing — Nolte McElroy (UT Austin Delta Kappa Epsilon, 1928, electrified mattresses). The Texas anchor.
• Hazing-related suicide — Andrew Walker (TCU Kappa Sigma, 2018, suicide after being charged with hazing/DUI; pledges coerced to drink up to 15 shots). Marquise Braham (Penn State Altoona, 2014). Texas-specific risk acknowledged by hazing-prevention researchers.
• “Waterboarding” and forced near-drowning — Bermudez Pi Kappa Phi UH 2025 alleged hose spraying “in a manner similar to waterboarding” with threats of actual waterboarding.

Every chapter on a Tier 3 escalation pattern produces a foreseeable death or catastrophic-injury event on a measurable time horizon. The 152-year U.S. hazing-fatality record and the 21-Texas-death record establish the actuarial base rate. Texas universities, national fraternities, regional housing corporations, and the chapter officers who run pledge programs all know — or are charged with knowing — the base rate. That knowledge is the actual subjective awareness predicate for gross-negligence liability under Moriel.

Texas hazing law — the Education Code, the Penal Code overlay, and the civil framework

Texas hazing law is structured in three layers. The first layer is Texas Education Code Chapter 37, Subchapter F, sections 37.151 through 37.157, which is the state’s dedicated hazing statute. The second layer is the Texas Penal Code, which provides additional charges (assault, aggravated assault, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, sexual assault, intoxication assault, injury to a child, furnishing alcohol to a minor, and others) that can stack on top of the Education Code charges or apply where the Education Code does not reach. The third layer is the civil framework — Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapters 16 (limitations), 33 (proportionate responsibility), 41 (exemplary damages and gross negligence), 71 (wrongful death and survival), and 101 (Texas Tort Claims Act for state-actor defendants); the Texas Family Code (parental authority and minor representation); and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (pre-suit deposition under Rule 202, spoliation under Rule 215). The federal overlay — Title IX, the Clery Act, and the Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024 — sits on top of all three.

§ 37.151 — Definition of hazing

Texas Education Code § 37.151 defines hazing as any intentional, knowing, or reckless act, on or off campus, by one person alone or acting with others, directed against a student, that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization whose members include students of an educational institution. The four critical elements are:

• Intentional, knowing, or reckless mens rea. Recklessness is enough. The defendant does not need to have intended the harm; the defendant only needs to have consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk of the harm.
• On or off campus. Geography is irrelevant. The Bermudez case alleges hazing at the Pi Kappa Phi chapter house, an off-campus Culmore Drive residence in the Third Ward, and Yellowstone Boulevard Park — and § 37.151 reaches all three.
• Mental OR physical endangerment. No physical injury is required. Mental endangerment alone — extreme humiliation, sleep deprivation, social-isolation patterns — satisfies the statute.
• Student membership purpose. The conduct must occur for the purpose of pledging, initiation, affiliation, holding office, or maintaining membership in an organization whose members include students of an educational institution. The “educational institution” prong covers K-12, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities — not just Greek life.

The statute reaches Greek-letter fraternities and sororities, Corps of Cadets, ROTC programs, marching bands, drill teams, dance teams, cheerleading squads, athletic teams, club sports, debate teams, religious organizations, pre-professional societies, multicultural Greek councils, spirit organizations, and any other organization whose membership includes students. The breadth of “any organization whose members include students” is the statutory hook that pulls non-Greek hazing into Texas Education Code coverage.

§ 37.152 — Personal hazing offense and criminal penalties

Texas Education Code § 37.152 criminalizes hazing on a graduated penalty scale. Class B misdemeanor (default): hazing that does not cause serious bodily injury — punishable by up to 180 days in county jail, a fine up to $2,000, or both. Class A misdemeanor: hazing that causes injury requiring medical treatment but not serious bodily injury — punishable by up to one year in county jail, a fine up to $4,000, or both. State jail felony: hazing that causes serious bodily injury or death — punishable by 180 days to two years in state jail and a fine up to $10,000. Failing to report hazing as a member, officer, or other person who has firsthand knowledge of a hazing incident is a separate Class B misdemeanor under § 37.152. Retaliating against someone who reports hazing in good faith is also a Class B misdemeanor under § 37.152.

The prosecution does not need to prove that the defendant intended the injury or the death — recklessness is sufficient. Section 37.152’s reach to the chapter members and officers who direct, supervise, or enable hazing is one of the most underutilized criminal-prosecution tools in Texas.

§ 37.153 — Organizational hazing and the $10,000 fine

Texas Education Code § 37.153 criminalizes hazing by organizations. An organization commits hazing if the organization, through its membership, alumni, officers, or representatives acting in their organizational capacity, knowingly permits hazing to occur or knowingly fails to take reasonable steps to prevent hazing from occurring. The penalty is a fine up to $10,000 per violation. The statute also authorizes university administrative action — revocation of recognition, ban from campus, loss of housing privileges, and similar administrative sanctions. The Bermudez UH lawsuit names Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters and the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu housing corporation as organizational defendants subject to § 37.153.

§ 37.154 — Immunity for good-faith reporting and medical-emergency amnesty

Texas Education Code § 37.154 provides civil and criminal immunity to anyone who in good faith reports a specific hazing incident in writing to the dean of students, another university official, or law enforcement. The immunity reaches the report itself and any related disclosures. The statute also provides medical-emergency amnesty: a person who calls 911, summons emergency medical assistance, or seeks emergency medical care for a hazing victim is immune from prosecution for hazing-related conduct, even if the caller was a participant in the hazing or was underage and drinking. The amnesty is designed to remove the “let’s wait and see if he sleeps it off” problem that has caused the death of multiple hazing victims nationally.

§ 37.155 — Consent is not a defense

Texas Education Code § 37.155, in two sentences, eliminates the defendant’s most predictable defense. The statute reads: “It is not a defense to prosecution of an offense under this subchapter that the person against whom the hazing was directed consented to or acquiesced in the hazing activity.”

Section 37.155 forecloses the “but he agreed to pledge” argument and the “she signed the membership agreement” argument and the “he wanted to be in the fraternity” argument. The statute’s reach is criminal by its terms but its public-policy logic — that pledges cannot meaningfully consent to escalating physical and psychological abuse imposed under social-membership coercion — applies with equal force to civil claims. Texas courts have not been asked to extend § 37.155 explicitly to the civil context, but the Texas Supreme Court has not entertained a defense based on consent to a hazing fatality, and the parallel criminal-civil reasoning in Boyles v. Kerr, 855 S.W.2d 593 (Tex. 1993), and Twyman v. Twyman, 855 S.W.2d 619 (Tex. 1993), supports the civil extension.

§ 37.156 — Reporting requirements for educational institutions

Texas Education Code § 37.156 requires Texas educational institutions to (1) provide hazing-prevention education to enrolled students, (2) publish hazing policies, and (3) maintain published reports of hazing violations and disciplinary actions. UT Austin’s hazing.utexas.edu transparency log is the model. Texas A&M, the University of Houston, Texas Tech, Texas State, and other public Texas universities have varying degrees of compliance. The federal Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024 reinforces and expands this reporting requirement on every federal-aid-receiving institution. A university’s failure to comply with § 37.156 is admissible in a civil hazing case as evidence of institutional negligence and conscious indifference.

§ 37.157 — Other applicable laws

Texas Education Code § 37.157 clarifies that the hazing-specific subchapter does not preempt or limit other applicable Texas statutes. Hazing conduct that constitutes assault, aggravated assault, sexual assault, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, intoxication assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, public intoxication, furnishing alcohol to a minor, or any other Penal Code offense can be prosecuted under those statutes in addition to (or instead of) § 37.152. The point is that the Education Code is a floor, not a ceiling, on hazing prosecution.

The Texas Penal Code overlay

Hazing prosecutions in Texas frequently include charges under one or more of the following Penal Code provisions:

• Tex. Penal Code § 22.01 (Assault). Class A misdemeanor (or higher) — intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury, threatening imminent bodily injury, or causing offensive physical contact. Hazing’s hose-spraying, paddle-striking, forced restraint, and forced consumption all qualify.
• Tex. Penal Code § 22.02 (Aggravated assault). Second-degree felony (or higher) — assault that causes serious bodily injury or that uses or exhibits a deadly weapon. Hazing rituals involving paddles, ropes, or other instruments that produce serious injury qualify.
• Tex. Penal Code § 22.011 (Sexual assault). Second-degree felony — non-consensual sexual contact. The Texas A&M 2023 Corps of Cadets “roasted pig” allegations and the multiple national hazing cases involving sexualized rituals fall here.
• Tex. Penal Code § 22.04 (Injury to a child, elderly, or disabled individual). First-degree felony for serious bodily injury intentionally or knowingly inflicted on a child under 15. Reaches K-12 hazing of younger children.
• Tex. Penal Code § 19.04 (Manslaughter). Second-degree felony — recklessly causing the death of an individual. Reaches hazing fatalities where intent to kill is not provable but recklessness is.
• Tex. Penal Code § 19.05 (Criminally negligent homicide). State jail felony — causing the death of an individual by criminal negligence (a more attenuated mens rea than manslaughter recklessness).
• Tex. Penal Code § 49.07 (Intoxication assault). Third-degree felony — by reason of intoxication causing serious bodily injury to another. Reaches the chapter chauffeur and overnight-driving-duties allegations.
• Tex. Penal Code § 49.08 (Intoxication manslaughter). Second-degree felony — intoxication causing death. Reaches drunk-driving deaths during pledge events.
• Tex. Alcoholic Beverage Code § 106.06 (Furnishing alcohol to a minor). Class A misdemeanor — providing alcohol to a person under 21. Reaches every “supplied the alcohol at the pledge event” defendant.
• Tex. Penal Code § 20.02 (Unlawful restraint). Class A misdemeanor (felony if serious risk of injury). Reaches the hog-tied pledge allegation in Bermudez.
• Tex. Penal Code § 21.02 (Continuous sexual abuse). First-degree felony — multiple acts of sexual abuse over 30+ days. Reaches sustained sexualized hazing patterns.
• Tex. Penal Code § 37.09 (Tampering with physical evidence). Third-degree felony — destroying, altering, or concealing physical evidence with intent to impair its availability. Reaches the deleted group chats, scrubbed surveillance, and “revised” incident reports our spoliation letter targets.
• Tex. Penal Code § 36.05 (Tampering with witness). Third-degree felony — coercing a witness to testify falsely or withhold testimony. Reaches the “don’t tell your parents” pressure on hazed pledges.

The civil framework — Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code

The civil-side architecture for a Texas hazing case sits on these statutes:

• Tex. CPRC § 16.003(a) — two-year statute of limitations for personal injury, running from accrual.
• Tex. CPRC § 16.001(a)(1) and (b) — minor-tolling statute. The clock does not begin until the minor’s eighteenth birthday. The minor has until age 20 to file. Parental derivative claims are NOT tolled.
• Tex. CPRC §§ 33.001-013 — proportionate responsibility framework. Texas applies modified comparative fault (the “51% bar”): a plaintiff whose responsibility exceeds 50% is barred from recovery; a plaintiff at 50% or less recovers, reduced by the plaintiff’s percentage of responsibility.
• Tex. CPRC § 41.003 — exemplary (punitive) damages framework. Requires clear and convincing evidence of fraud, malice, or gross negligence. Requires unanimous jury findings on liability, on gross negligence/malice/fraud, and on amount.
• Tex. CPRC § 41.001(11) — defines gross negligence as an act or omission involving an extreme degree of risk objectively viewed AND the defendant’s actual subjective awareness of the risk with conscious indifference. Codifies Transportation Insurance Co. v. Moriel, 879 S.W.2d 10 (Tex. 1994).
• Tex. CPRC § 41.008 — caps exemplary damages at the greater of (a) two times economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000, or (b) $200,000. Section 41.008(c) provides a felony-grade unlock for specific intentional offenses including aggravated assault (Penal Code § 22.02), sexual assault (§ 22.011), and others — meaning that hazing conduct meeting felony elements can escape the punitive-damages cap.
• Tex. CPRC §§ 71.003-021 — wrongful-death and survival statutory framework. § 71.003 establishes the wrongful-death action. § 71.004 lists statutory beneficiaries (spouse, children, parents — siblings have no standing absent specific facts). § 71.021 establishes the survival action. Minor wrongful-death beneficiaries’ SOL is tolled under § 16.001.
• Tex. CPRC § 16.067 — borrowing statute. An out-of-state hazing case brought in Texas takes the shorter of the Texas SOL or the originating state’s SOL.
• Tex. CPRC §§ 101.021-106 — Texas Tort Claims Act. Establishes the limited waiver of sovereign immunity for state-actor defendants (including UH, Texas A&M, UT, and other public universities). § 101.106(f) establishes the employee-election doctrine that allows individual-capacity claims against university employees.

The Texas Family Code overlay — § 153.073 signer authority

Texas Family Code § 153.073 establishes which adults have legal authority to sign documents on behalf of a minor. Only legal parents (biological or adoptive with a court order) and court-appointed conservators have signing authority. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, family friends, and stepparents without legal custody do not. A “fraternity membership agreement,” a “pledge waiver,” a “risk-acknowledgment form,” or any other document signed by an adult who lacks Family Code § 153.073 authority is voidable as to the minor child. The Family Code reach is one of the most-overlooked attack vectors against fraternity waivers and is a critical doctrine for Hispanic families, blended families, and any family in which the child attended a fraternity event with an aunt, an uncle, or a non-custodial parent.

The Texas Rules of Civil Procedure

• Tex. R. Civ. P. 202 (pre-suit deposition). Allows a Texas plaintiff to depose a potential defendant or witness before filing suit, on a showing that (a) it would prevent a failure or delay of justice or (b) the likely benefit of the deposition outweighs the burden. Our firm uses Rule 202 in catastrophic hazing cases to lock in chapter-officer testimony before chapter members can coordinate, lawyer-up, or destroy evidence.
• Tex. R. Civ. P. 215 (sanctions for discovery abuse). Authorizes severe sanctions including default judgment, striking of pleadings, exclusion of evidence, and adverse-inference instructions where a defendant destroys evidence in violation of a preservation duty. Brookshire Brothers, Ltd. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014), is the controlling Texas spoliation case.
• Tex. R. Civ. P. 76a (sealing court records). Permits Texas courts to seal records implicating substantial privacy interests. Used to protect minor plaintiffs’ identifying information, medical records, and group-chat content.
• Tex. R. Civ. P. 21c (initials and pseudonyms for minor plaintiffs). Allows minor plaintiffs to proceed under initials.

The federal overlay — Title IX, Clery Act, Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024

• Title IX (20 U.S.C. § 1681). Prohibits sex-based discrimination at federal-aid-receiving educational institutions. Reaches sexualized hazing, gender-based hazing, sexual assault during hazing, and the institutional response (or non-response) to sex-based hazing complaints. Provides a private right of action against the institution.
• Clery Act (20 U.S.C. § 1092(f)). Requires Clery-eligible institutions to report certain crimes occurring on campus, including aggravated assault, sexual assault, and certain alcohol-related offenses. Hazing-related crimes that fall in the Clery-reportable categories must appear in the university’s annual security report.
• Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024 (Pub. L. 118-298). Signed December 23, 2024. Requires every federal-aid-receiving institution to publish a public hazing-violations database, provide hazing-prevention education to all enrolled students, and produce annual reports of hazing-related disciplinary actions. The database mandate phases in by approximately 2026.

The combined effect of the Education Code, the Penal Code overlay, the civil framework, and the federal overlay is that Texas hazing law has more layered enforcement reach than almost any other state’s hazing framework. Texas does not have a single named anti-hazing act with the public-awareness branding of Pennsylvania’s Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law, Louisiana’s Max Gruver Act, Ohio’s Collin’s Law, or Florida’s Chad Meredith Law — but Texas’s underlying statutory and regulatory framework is in many ways more robust. The opportunity for the Texas Legislature in the 2027 session is to consolidate the existing Education Code and Penal Code framework into a named act with the public-awareness reach of the comparator states. Our firm is engaged in that conversation.

How to actually sue UH, Texas A&M, UT Austin, and the rest of the state university system

Texas public universities — including the University of Houston, Texas A&M, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech, Texas State, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Tyler, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the University of Texas Permian Basin, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the University of Houston-Clear Lake, the University of Houston-Downtown, the University of Houston-Victoria, Sam Houston State University, Stephen F. Austin State University, Prairie View A&M University, Texas Southern University, Lamar University, Tarleton State University, Sul Ross State University, Angelo State University, West Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas A&M International University, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Texas A&M University-Central Texas, Texas A&M University-Texarkana, and Midwestern State University — are state actors. They are protected by the Texas Tort Claims Act (Tex. CPRC §§ 101.021-106) and by the broader doctrine of sovereign immunity that applies to the State of Texas.

Most generalist Texas personal-injury firms decline university hazing cases at intake because they read sovereign immunity as a complete bar. They are wrong. Sovereign immunity is a constraint, not a wall. The plaintiff path against a Texas public university requires careful pleading, specific statutory carve-outs, and aggressive use of individual-capacity and federal-claim theories. We have the playbook.

The Texas Tort Claims Act baseline — what is barred and what is not

The Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA) waives sovereign immunity in three limited categories: (1) injuries caused by the operation or use of motor-driven vehicles or equipment by employees acting in the scope of employment; (2) personal injury caused by a condition or use of tangible personal or real property; and (3) certain premises-defect cases. Damages under the TTCA are capped: $250,000 per person, $500,000 per occurrence for state agencies; $100,000 per person, $300,000 per occurrence for cities and units of local government. Hazing typically does not fall neatly into any of the three TTCA waiver categories, which is why direct TTCA claims against the university for the hazing itself are rarely viable.

The TTCA also retains sovereign immunity for intentional torts (assault, battery, false imprisonment, IIED), discretionary acts, and most premises-condition cases. The retention is the wall most generalist firms see when they decline university hazing cases.

The plaintiff path forward — five attack vectors that survive sovereign immunity

Our pleading framework against a Texas public university defendant deploys five attack vectors simultaneously:

Vector 1 — individual-capacity claims under § 101.106(f). Tex. CPRC § 101.106(f) establishes the “employee election” doctrine. When a TTCA suit is filed against both the governmental unit and a government employee, the employee can move for substitution and the suit must proceed against the governmental unit alone. But the converse is also true: when the suit is filed against the employee in the employee’s individual capacity, alleging conduct outside the scope of employment, the employee remains personally liable and the governmental-unit immunity does not extend. Hazing conduct — directing pledges to do 100 push-ups and 500 squats in a single session, hose-spraying pledges, restraining a pledge hog-tied on a table — is not the scope-of-employment conduct of any university faculty or staff position. The chapter president, the pledgemaster, the risk manager, and the other 13 individual fraternity-officer defendants in Bermudez are not university employees at all; they are students. Even where a university employee (a hazing-prevention coordinator who failed to act on warnings, a Greek-life advisor who endorsed the chapter despite known violations) is named, the individual-capacity pleading reaches conduct outside scope of employment.

Vector 2 — gross negligence and willful misconduct under Moriel. Texas sovereign immunity does not extend to gross-negligence and willful-misconduct claims where the underlying TTCA waiver applies. Moriel‘s extreme-risk-plus-conscious-indifference standard maps directly onto institutional knowledge of hazing risk. A university that received written hazing complaints from prior pledges, that knew of prior chapter incidents, that failed to investigate, that failed to suspend, that failed to comply with § 37.156 reporting requirements, has the conscious-indifference predicate.

Vector 3 — Title IX private right of action. Title IX is a federal statute (20 U.S.C. § 1681) that prohibits sex-based discrimination at federal-aid-receiving institutions. The Supreme Court has recognized a private right of action under Title IX in Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677 (1979). Title IX claims are brought in federal court (or state court with concurrent jurisdiction) against the institution itself; sovereign immunity does NOT bar Title IX claims because the Title IX statute is a Spending Clause condition that the state accepts when it accepts federal funding. Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 526 U.S. 629 (1999) recognizes peer-on-peer harassment Title IX claims with deliberate-indifference and severe-and-pervasive thresholds. Sexualized hazing, gender-based hazing, hazing involving sexual assault, and the institutional response (or non-response) to sex-based hazing complaints all fit within Title IX.

Vector 4 — private-party defendants without immunity. The national fraternity headquarters, the regional housing corporation, the chapter members, the homeowners of off-campus residences where hazing occurred, the homeowner’s insurance carriers, the alcohol suppliers, and any property owner or controller of any premises where the hazing occurred are all private-party defendants without sovereign-immunity protection. Bermudez names Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters, the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu housing corporation registered in Frisco (EIN 46-2267515), 13 individual chapter members and officers, and the property owners of the off-campus Culmore Drive residence. None of these defendants has any sovereign-immunity claim. Recovery from these defendants is unaffected by the university’s immunity posture.

Vector 5 — the institutional-negligence framework recognized in Russell v. Ingersoll-Rand and progeny. Where the university’s affirmative conduct (not just its failure to act) contributed to the harm — endorsing the chapter despite known violations, providing institutional resources to known-hazing organizations, failing to enforce its own anti-hazing policies, ignoring written warnings — the institutional-negligence theory provides an alternative pleading path that overlaps with the TTCA and the gross-negligence carve-out. The federal Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024 reinforces the institutional-conduct standard.

The Bermudez pleading model

The Bermudez UH lawsuit deploys all five vectors simultaneously. The University of Houston and the UH System Board of Regents are pleaded with TTCA-compatible language, gross-negligence allegations, Title IX (insofar as the sexualized fanny-pack conduct creates a sex-based-harassment theory), and institutional-negligence claims under the Stop Campus Hazing Act foreseeability framework. Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters and the Beta Nu housing corporation are pleaded as private-party defendants without immunity, with full negligence, gross negligence, premises-liability, and § 37.153 organizational-hazing claims. The 13 individual chapter members and officers are pleaded in their individual capacities for assault, battery, IIED, gross negligence, and the underlying § 37.152 personal-hazing offense. The off-campus property owners (Culmore Drive residence) are pleaded as additional premises-liability defendants. The pleading framework has survived early defense motion practice. It is the framework we now use in every Texas public-university hazing case.

Private Texas universities — Rice, SMU, TCU, Baylor, Trinity, St. Mary’s, Houston Christian, Concordia

Private Texas universities — Rice, SMU, TCU, Baylor, Trinity, St. Mary’s, the University of Incarnate Word, Houston Christian, Houston Baptist, Saint Edward’s, Southwestern, Texas Wesleyan, Hardin-Simmons, McMurry, Abilene Christian, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Schreiner, Texas Lutheran, the University of Dallas, Dallas Baptist, Concordia University Texas, Howard Payne, Wayland Baptist, Tarleton State (state), Texas A&M-Central Texas (state), and others — are not state actors and have no sovereign-immunity protection. Direct negligence, gross-negligence, premises-liability, and institutional-negligence claims against private universities proceed in the same way as against any other private institutional defendant. The 2017 SMU Kappa Alpha Order case, the 2018 TCU Kappa Sigma case (and the related Andrew Walker suicide), the 2020 Baylor baseball-team hazing matter, the 1991 Trinity Triniteers fatality, and the 1967 Baylor Chamber of Commerce hazing fatality of John E. Clifton all involved private-university defendants without sovereign-immunity protection — and our pleading framework against private universities is correspondingly more direct and more aggressive.

Statute of limitations, tolling, the discovery rule, and spoliation

The Texas statute of limitations for personal injury is two years. The Texas statute of limitations for wrongful death is two years. The Texas statute of limitations for survival actions is two years. The minor-tolling statute extends the clock until the child’s 18th birthday. The discovery rule extends the clock when the harm or its cause was not immediately known. The fraudulent-concealment doctrine extends the clock when the defendant actively hid the conduct.

The practical deadline is much shorter than the legal deadline. Surveillance video at fraternity houses, in chapter-house common areas, at off-campus residences with security cameras, and at university-owned spaces is typically retained for 7 to 90 days before being overwritten on a rolling cycle. Group-chat content on Discord, GroupMe, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, and Slack is typically retained either indefinitely (where the host platform retains messages) or for short retention windows (Snapchat default disappears within 24 hours; Signal default messages auto-delete within hours; Discord retains until manual deletion or server purge). Chapter incident reports, training records, member rosters, and risk-management documentation can be deleted, revised, or “lost” within days of an incident becoming public. The spoliation window is the operational deadline that controls every Texas hazing case.

Tex. CPRC § 16.003(a) — two-year personal-injury statute of limitations

The general two-year limitations period runs from the date of injury. For acute hazing injuries — the Bermudez November 3, 2025 catastrophic workout — the date of injury is the date of the acute event. For long-tail hazing injuries (hazing-induced post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed years later, hazing-induced chronic kidney disease manifesting two years post-acute, hazing-related suicide where the death follows the hazing by months or years), the discovery-rule analysis becomes critical.

Tex. CPRC § 16.001(a)(1) and (b) — minor tolling

The minor-tolling statute is straightforward: if the plaintiff is a minor at the time of injury, the clock does not begin until the minor’s 18th birthday. The minor has until age 20 to file. The minor-tolling statute does NOT toll the parent’s derivative claims (medical expenses paid by the parent, loss of services). The parent must file within two years of the injury date. This trap catches families who assume the minor-tolling extends to the parent.

For 18- and 19-year-old college freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, the minor-tolling statute is irrelevant — they were already 18 at the time of the hazing. For high-school athletes hazed at junior-varsity or varsity practices and competitions, the minor-tolling statute is decisive. For traveling-team and select-team hazing of pre-teens and young teens, the minor-tolling statute extends the operative deadline to age 20.

The discovery rule

The Texas Supreme Court has applied the discovery rule when the nature of the injury was inherently undiscoverable at the time it occurred and when the injury is objectively verifiable. HECI Exploration Co. v. Neel, 982 S.W.2d 881 (Tex. 1998); Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai, Inc., 918 S.W.2d 453 (Tex. 1996). Hazing-related conditions that may benefit from discovery-rule extension include long-tail rhabdomyolysis sequelae (chronic kidney disease manifesting later), post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed only after symptoms persist for months or years, traumatic brain injury whose cognitive impairment was not initially measurable, and infection-related injuries (MRSA, hepatitis, HIV) that incubate after the acute hazing event. The discovery-rule defense will be contested aggressively; we plead it where the facts support it and prove it with expert medical testimony.

Fraudulent-concealment tolling

Where a defendant actively concealed the conduct or actively concealed the harm — destroyed surveillance, deleted group chats, revised incident reports, intimidated witnesses, falsified records — the limitations period is tolled until the plaintiff knew or should have known of the concealment. Hazing cases routinely involve concealment behavior that satisfies the fraudulent-concealment doctrine.

Spoliation under Brookshire Brothers, Ltd. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014)

Texas spoliation doctrine is governed by Brookshire Brothers, Ltd. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014), and Tex. R. Civ. P. 215. Spoliation requires a duty to preserve, breach of that duty, and resulting prejudice. The duty to preserve attaches at the moment the defendant reasonably anticipates litigation — which, in a hazing case, attaches no later than the day the chapter learns of an emergency-room visit, a parental complaint, a university disciplinary referral, or an attorney’s preservation letter.

The remedies for spoliation are severe: an adverse-inference jury instruction telling the jury to assume the destroyed evidence would have favored the plaintiff; exclusion of the spoliating party’s contradictory evidence; striking of pleadings; default judgment in extreme cases; and award of attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in establishing the spoliation. Brookshire Brothers is the case our preservation letter cites by name, every time.

The 24-hour spoliation letter

Our firm sends a comprehensive spoliation letter — by certified mail return receipt requested, FedEx overnight with tracking, and email to all known counsel — within 24 hours of retention in every Texas hazing case. The letter goes to the chapter, the national fraternity headquarters, the regional housing corporation, the university’s general counsel, the dean of students, the Greek-life office, every individual chapter officer named, every property owner of every location where hazing occurred, every insurance carrier identified, and every third-party vendor whose data may be implicated. The letter demands preservation of (1) all surveillance footage, (2) all group-chat content across every platform, (3) all incident reports in every version including handwritten originals, (4) all chapter financial records, (5) all pledge-program training materials, (6) all member rosters, (7) all e-mail, text, Slack, Discord, GroupMe, WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, and other electronic communications, (8) all internal investigations and after-action reviews, (9) all 911 dispatch records, (10) all university disciplinary records, and (11) the chapter’s complete claims and litigation history for the trailing 60 months. The letter cites Brookshire Brothers by name, references Tex. R. Civ. P. 215 and Tex. Penal Code § 37.09 (tampering with physical evidence) and 18 U.S.C. § 1519 (federal obstruction), and demands written confirmation within seven days. The full letter appears verbatim in Section 26 of this guide.

The five Texas universities Texas families care about most

Texas families with college-age children most often pledge or attend Greek life, marching band, Corps of Cadets, athletic team, or spirit organizations at one of five Texas universities — the University of Houston, Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin, Southern Methodist University, and Baylor University. Each of these institutions has its own documented hazing history, its own institutional response patterns, its own venue and jury demographics, and its own implications for how a hazing case is built and prosecuted. Our firm has handled cases involving each.

University of Houston (UH) — the Bermudez anchor

The University of Houston is a public R1 research university in Harris County with approximately 47,000 students. UH operates four governing Greek councils — the Interfraternity Council, the Houston Panhellenic Council, the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC, the Divine Nine), and the Multicultural Greek Council — with more than 40 registered fraternities and sororities. UH’s police force (UHPD) has primary jurisdiction on campus, with the Houston Police Department (HPD) on calls outside campus boundaries. Hazing-related criminal prosecutions in Harris County are handled by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Civil cases are filed in Harris County District Court.

UH’s most-cited prior hazing case before the November 2025 Bermudez Pi Kappa Phi catastrophic-injury matter was the 2016 Pi Kappa Alpha case in which pledges were deprived of food, water, and sleep over a multi-day pledge event. One pledge suffered a lacerated spleen after being slammed onto a hard surface during the pledge process. The chapter faced misdemeanor hazing charges and university suspension. The pattern in that case — multi-day deprivation, escalating physical punishment, internal injury — was, in retrospect, the foreseeability predicate for the 2025 Bermudez case. UH’s Office of Student Conduct and Greek Life had documented evidence of hazing at UH chapters years before the November 2025 Bermudez injury.

The Bermudez case anchors UH-related Texas hazing litigation in 2026. The case is filed in Harris County District Court. The plaintiff is Leonel Bermudez. The damages sought exceed $10 million. The defendants include the University of Houston, the UH System Board of Regents, Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters, the Pi Kappa Phi Beta Nu housing corporation registered in Frisco (EIN 46-2267515), and 13 individual fraternity leaders and members. The hazing locations include the Pi Kappa Phi chapter house at or near UH, an off-campus Culmore Drive residence in the Third Ward, and Yellowstone Boulevard Park. The medical pathology is rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney failure. The case is the case our firm currently litigates. We update this guide as the case develops.

UH’s institutional response to the Bermudez case — the November 6 Pi Kappa Phi national HQ suspension of the Beta Nu chapter, the November 14 chapter charter surrender, and UH’s contemporaneous statement calling the conduct “deeply disturbing” — establishes both the responsiveness capacity and the standard-of-care expectation that other Texas public universities will be judged against in subsequent litigation. Every Texas family whose child is or was hazed at UH should call our firm directly.

Texas A&M University — College Station — the Corps and Greek system

Texas A&M University–College Station is a public R1 research land-grant university in Brazos County with approximately 75,000 students. A&M is one of the largest universities in the country and one of the most institutionally distinctive. The Corps of Cadets — A&M’s residential, uniformed military-style organization with deep traditions including Silver Taps, the Aggie Ring ceremony, the bonfire (suspended after 1999), and the 12th Man — is a hazing-risk environment that Greek-only frameworks miss. A&M Greek life is also dense, with the IFC, NPC, NPHC, and MGC councils all represented and a substantial off-campus chapter-house presence.

A&M’s documented hazing-fatality and catastrophic-injury record is the most extensive in Texas. The 1984 Bruce Dean Goodrich Corps of Cadets death — heatstroke at 2:30 a.m. calisthenics, three cadets pleaded guilty to hazing charges, one cadet was expelled for tampering with evidence — is a foundational Texas case. The 1997 Trey Walker Phi Gamma Delta death (asthma attack from water spray on a chilly January day; Brazos County grand jury brought no charges) and the 1997 Brian Sanders Sigma Alpha Epsilon death are paired Greek-system fatalities. The 2018 Joseph Little Phi Gamma Delta death (collapsed during pledging, same chapter as Trey Walker 1997) demonstrates that a Phi Gamma Delta chapter that experienced a documented pledge fatality in 1997 had not changed its pledge process by 2018 — an extraordinary foreseeability and conscious-indifference predicate.

The 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse — twelve dead, twenty-seven injured — was not technically a hazing case but produced the largest Texas student-organization wrongful-death litigation in the state’s history, with settlements exceeding $6 million. The institutional-accountability lessons of the Bonfire collapse — the multi-defendant pleading, the institutional-immunity defense, the appellate practice — informed every subsequent Texas student-organization catastrophic case.

The 2021 Texas A&M Sigma Alpha Epsilon chemical-burn case — pledges doused with industrial-strength cleaner, raw eggs, and saliva, requiring skin-graft surgeries, $1 million sought, two-year chapter suspension by A&M — is one of the most graphic hazing-injury cases in Texas. The 2023 Corps of Cadets “roasted pig” lawsuit (cadet alleged simulated sexual acts and binding between beds with apple in mouth, sought over $1 million) demonstrates that A&M’s Corps culture has not been fully reformed by the post-Goodrich and post-Bonfire institutional response. The 2023 Kappa Sigma rhabdomyolysis case (still in litigation) involves the same medical pathology as the Bermudez UH case and demonstrates that the rhabdomyolysis-from-hazing problem is not isolated to a single Texas chapter.

Sovereign immunity at A&M tracks the framework described in Section 6. Direct claims against A&M are constrained by the Texas Tort Claims Act caps and exclusions. Individual-capacity claims against the cadets, chapter members, and chapter officers who direct, supervise, or participate in hazing remain viable. Claims against the national fraternity headquarters and chapter housing corporations are fully available. Title IX is a particularly powerful vector at A&M given the Corps’s male-majority and gender-traditional environment and the specifically sexualized nature of the 2023 Corps lawsuit.

The University of Texas at Austin — the most-documented hazing campus in Texas

The University of Texas at Austin is the public R1 flagship of the State of Texas, with approximately 52,000 students. UT Austin operates more than 30 IFC chapters, more than 15 Panhellenic chapters, the full NPHC Divine Nine, and a Multicultural Greek Council. UT Austin’s spirit-organization landscape is among the most extensive in the country: the Texas Cowboys, the Texas Wranglers, the Silver Spurs, the Orange Jackets, the Posse, the Bevo Boys, “Absolute Texxas,” and many smaller groups. UT Austin’s police force (UTPD) and the Austin Police Department (APD) share jurisdiction. UT Austin’s main residential Greek concentration is along Rio Grande Street, Pearl Street, and 26th Street in the West Campus neighborhood.

UT Austin maintains the most-developed institutional transparency mechanism for hazing in Texas. The hazing.utexas.edu transparency log publishes specific organizations, dates, and disciplinary outcomes for hazing violations — a public-record system that other Texas public universities have not yet replicated and that the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024 will eventually mandate at every federal-aid-receiving institution. The transparency log is admissible in any UT Austin hazing case as evidence of UT’s institutional knowledge and the recurring-violation pattern at named chapters.

UT Austin’s documented hazing-fatality record is unmatched among Texas universities. The 1928 Nolte McElroy Delta Kappa Epsilon electrocution death — pledges crawled through electrified mattresses — is the first documented Greek-life hazing fatality in Texas. The 1986 Mark Seeberger Phi Kappa Psi death (BAC 0.43; Travis County grand jury declined to indict) is one of the earliest UT Austin alcohol-poisoning fatalities. The 1988 Gregg Scott Phillips Delta Tau Delta death (fell from a cliff during a pledge event), the 1995 Gabriel Higgins Texas Cowboys spirit-organization drowning in the Colorado River, the 1998 Jack L. Ivey, Jr. Phi Kappa Sigma alcohol-poisoning death (BAC 0.40), the 2005 Phanta “Jack” Phoummarath Lambda Phi Epsilon acute-alcohol-intoxication death (chapter president, pledge captain, and “Hell Master” entered plea agreements), the 2006 Tyler Cross Sigma Alpha Epsilon intoxicated-fall death, and the 2018 Texas Cowboys spirit-organization fatality (UT acknowledged “serious hazing and animal abuse”) together establish UT Austin as the most-documented hazing-fatality campus in Texas.

UT Austin’s recent disciplined organizations — published verbatim on hazing.utexas.edu — include the 2023 Pi Kappa Alpha case in which new members were directed to consume milk and perform strenuous calisthenics (chapter on probation, hazing-prevention education required); the 2022 “Absolute Texxas” spirit group disciplinary action for alcohol and drug misconduct, blindfolding, kidnapping, and degrading conduct; multiple Texas Wranglers sanctions for forced workouts, alcohol-related hazing, and punishment-based practices; and the January 2024 Sigma Alpha Epsilon assault matter in which an Australian exchange student suffered a dislocated leg, broken ligaments, fractured tibia, and broken nose at a chapter party (over $1 million sought). The 2024 Sigma Chi UT case — currently represented by Ted B. Lyon & Associates of Mesquite — is the only other named Texas hazing case in active litigation in 2026.

Southern Methodist University (SMU) — the private DFW anchor

Southern Methodist University is a private R1 research university in University Park, Dallas County, with approximately 12,000 students. SMU’s Greek system is dense, traditional, and historically influential — the IFC and Panhellenic councils both have substantial chapter rosters with affluent member demographics. SMU is private, which means no sovereign-immunity defense; direct negligence and gross-negligence claims proceed against the university itself.

SMU’s most-cited prior hazing case is the 2017 Kappa Alpha Order matter in which new members were paddled, forced to drink alcohol, and deprived of sleep. The chapter was suspended; recruiting restrictions ran until approximately 2021. SMU subsequently adopted Real Response, an anonymous reporting platform, as part of its hazing-prevention infrastructure. SMU’s institutional response to subsequent allegations has been more responsive than at many Texas public universities.

Baylor University — the Waco private anchor with a complicated Title IX history

Baylor University is a private R1 research Baptist university in Waco, McLennan County, with approximately 21,000 students. Baylor’s Greek system is dense, residential, and tightly integrated into the campus’s social structure. Baylor is private, which means no sovereign-immunity defense.

Baylor’s documented hazing fatality is the 1967 John E. Clifton death in the Baylor Chamber of Commerce social club — physical hazing, an early-era Texas case that established the principle that non-Greek student organizations are subject to the same institutional accountability as Greek organizations. The 2020 Baylor baseball-team hazing investigation — fourteen players suspended over a hazing matter, with suspensions staggered through the early season — demonstrates that Baylor’s institutional response capacity remained intact decades after the Clifton case.

Baylor’s broader institutional history includes the 2016 Title IX scandal involving the football program — a series of cases in which alleged sexual assaults by football players were inadequately addressed by the university. The Title IX scandal produced extensive federal litigation, the resignation of the head football coach and the university president, and an OCR (Office for Civil Rights) consent decree. The Title IX history is relevant context for Baylor hazing cases involving sexualized hazing because Baylor’s institutional response to sex-based misconduct has been the subject of federal scrutiny and the institutional-knowledge predicate is unusually well-developed.

The next ten Texas universities — Greek and non-Greek hazing risk

Beyond the five focus universities, ten additional Texas institutions account for the majority of documented Texas hazing-fatality and catastrophic-injury cases and represent the next tier of Texas families’ college-attendance choices.

Texas Tech University — Lubbock

Public R1 research, approximately 40,000 students. Three documented hazing fatalities: 1976 Pi Kappa Alpha scavenger-hunt death, 2001 Delta Sigma Phi death of Zachary Aaron Michael Mullins (auto fatality during “The Ritual” the week of 9/11), and 2014 Alpha Sigma Phi death of Dalton Debrick (alcohol overdose). Texas Tech’s IFC and Panhellenic systems are dense; the West Texas geographic isolation makes off-campus, ranch-based, and rural-property hazing locations more prevalent than at urban-campus peers. Sovereign immunity applies; the five-vector pleading framework described in Section 6 is the standard approach.

Texas State University — San Marcos

Public R2 research, approximately 38,000 students. Two documented hazing-fatality cases: 2016 Alpha Delta Pi death at a multi-fraternity-co-sponsored party (Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Tau Delta, and Kappa Alpha co-sponsored), and the 2017 Phi Kappa Psi death of Matthew “Matt” Ellis (November 13, bottle-exchange ritual; supplier of alcohol Austin Rice charged). Texas State’s location between Austin and San Antonio puts it in a heavy commuter and Hispanic-family demographic; the Hill Country off-campus residential pattern is significant. Hablamos Español.

Texas Christian University (TCU) — Fort Worth

Private R1, approximately 12,000 students. The 2018 Kappa Sigma case — a 19-year-old member arrested for allegedly hazing pledges, with the related Andrew Walker hazing-related suicide following the same chapter’s coercion of pledges to drink up to 15 shots — is one of the most-cited Texas private-university hazing matters. TCU’s Greek system is dense, traditional, and integrated into the university’s social structure. No sovereign-immunity defense; direct claims against TCU proceed under standard private-university negligence framework.

Rice University — Houston

Private R1, approximately 4,500 undergraduates. Rice’s residential-college system substantially dampens traditional Greek-life hazing risk by routing student social life through eleven residential colleges rather than fraternity houses. Rice does not have IFC or Panhellenic-recognized chapters in the traditional sense. Hazing risk at Rice concentrates in athletic teams, club sports, special-interest organizations, and graduate-student organizations. Rice’s institutional response capacity is well-developed.

Texas Southern University (TSU) — Houston

Public HBCU R2, approximately 9,000 students. TSU’s Greek system is anchored on NPHC Divine Nine activity (Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Iota Phi Theta on the male side; Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho on the female side). TSU’s Ocean of Soul marching band has a national hazing-pattern-risk profile that mirrors Florida A&M’s Marching 100 (which produced the 2011 Robert Champion hazing fatality, $1 million settlement, FAMU held fully liable). Sovereign immunity applies. The Divine Nine paddling-tradition pattern produces specific evidence-preservation challenges that our firm has experience addressing.

Sam Houston State University — Huntsville

Public R3, approximately 21,000 students. Walker County. Greek system includes the IFC, Panhellenic, NPHC, and MGC councils. Sam Houston State is one of Texas’s primary criminal-justice and law-enforcement-pipeline universities; the academic culture overlaps with ROTC and pre-professional organizations that have their own hazing-risk profiles. Sovereign immunity applies.

Stephen F. Austin State University — Nacogdoches

Public R3, approximately 12,000 students. Cherokee and Nacogdoches counties. The 2007 Tau Kappa Epsilon hazing case of Nikolas Gallegos (age 18) — in which the school declared the alcohol-related death non-hazing — produced sustained controversy over hazing classification. Stephen F. Austin’s IFC and Panhellenic systems are dense for a campus its size. Sovereign immunity applies.

Lamar University — Beaumont

Public R3, approximately 17,000 students. Jefferson County. The 1986 Omega Psi Phi hazing fatality of Harold Thomas — heart failure on a track during forced exercise, with a non-member co-defendant — is one of the most-cited Texas Divine Nine hazing-death cases. Lamar’s NPHC Divine Nine chapters remain active. The Beaumont and Golden Triangle markets are served by our Beaumont office. Sovereign immunity applies.

Prairie View A&M University — Prairie View

Public HBCU R2, approximately 9,000 students. Waller County. The 2009 Phi Beta Sigma hazing fatality of Donnie Wade Jr. (age 20, exercise session, physical abuse plus overexertion, settlement) is a major Texas Divine Nine case. Prairie View’s marching band (“Marching Storm”) and athletic programs have their own hazing-risk profiles in addition to the Greek system. Sovereign immunity applies (Prairie View is part of the Texas A&M System).

Trinity University — San Antonio

Private liberal-arts, approximately 2,500 students. The 1991 Triniteers spirit-organization hazing fatality of Rolland C. Pederson (struck by a car during a hazing event) is one of the earliest documented Texas non-Greek student-organization hazing deaths. Trinity is private; no sovereign-immunity defense. Trinity’s small size and residential-campus structure produce a different hazing-risk profile than larger Texas universities.

Every Texas university — the 159-school directory

Hazing-pattern risk exists at every Texas educational institution with student organizations whose membership includes students. The directory below lists all 159 Texas degree-granting institutions identified in the federal IPEDS database alphabetically by city. Each row provides the institution name, the city, and the county for venue and demographic-targeting purposes. Inclusion in this directory is not an allegation that any specific institution has engaged in hazing. Every Texas educational institution is subject to Texas Education Code Chapter 37 Subchapter F, the Stop Campus Hazing Act of 2024, Title IX, and the related regulatory framework — and a Texas family with a child at any of these institutions can call our firm for a free consultation if hazing is suspected. Hablamos Español.

If your child attends, attended, or is considering any of these institutions and you suspect hazing, call us at 1-888-ATTY-911. The consultation is free. Hablamos Español.

The Texas hazing timeline — 1928 to 2025

The 22 documented Texas hazing deaths and catastrophic injuries below are drawn from the Hank Nuwer Hazing Deaths Database (hanknuwer.com) and the merged Wikipedia–Nuwer dataset, with the November 2025 Bermudez Pi Kappa Phi UH catastrophic-injury matter our firm currently litigates added at the bottom. The pattern is a death every approximately four-and-a-half years across nearly a century of Texas Greek and student-organization activity.

National precedent and what those verdicts mean for Texas

Texas hazing cases do not exist in isolation. They are anchored, framed, and valued against the national hazing-litigation record. National anchor cases set the damages calibration, the institutional-defendant pleading model, the criminal-prosecution overlay, and the public-policy-reform expectations that Texas judges, juries, and defendants are operating against. The cases below are the most-cited national hazing precedents in Texas pleading practice in 2026.

Stone Foltz — Pi Kappa Alpha, Bowling Green State University, March 2021 — $10 million total settlement

Twenty-year-old Stone Foltz attended a Pi Kappa Alpha “Big-Little Night” event in March 2021. Pledges were forced to consume a full handle of alcohol over a short period. Foltz died of acute alcohol poisoning. The case produced a $10 million total settlement — approximately $7 million from Pi Kappa Alpha national and approximately $3 million from Bowling Green State University. Multiple criminal convictions followed. Most notably, former chapter president Daylen Dunson was personally ordered to pay $6.5 million in 2024 — one of the largest individual-officer hazing-liability awards on record. The Foltz case is the modern Texas-comparable institutional-stack model: national fraternity headquarters reachable, public university reachable through a TTCA-equivalent waiver, and individual chapter officer reachable in personal capacity for full damages exposure.

Maxwell “Max” Gruver — Phi Delta Theta, Louisiana State University, September 2017 — $6.1 million verdict

Eighteen-year-old Maxwell Gruver attended a Phi Delta Theta “Bible study” drinking event in September 2017. Pledges were quizzed and forced to drink for wrong answers. Gruver’s blood-alcohol level reached 0.495% — one of the highest-recorded hazing-fatality BACs. He died of alcohol toxicity. Multiple criminal charges were filed; one fraternity member was convicted of negligent homicide. The civil case resulted in a $6.1 million verdict. The Louisiana Legislature subsequently passed the Max Gruver Act, making hazing a felony in Louisiana. The case is one of the most-cited national hazing precedents and a model for the named-anti-hazing-act legislative reform that Texas has not yet enacted.

Timothy Piazza — Beta Theta Pi, Penn State University, February 2017 — over 1,000 criminal counts; Pennsylvania Anti-Hazing Law

Nineteen-year-old Timothy Piazza attended a Beta Theta Pi “bid acceptance” event at Penn State in February 2017. Pledges drank heavily through a “gauntlet” of stations. Piazza fell down a set of stairs, sustained a traumatic brain injury, and was visibly impaired. Fraternity members captured the falls on chapter security cameras and delayed calling 911 for nearly twelve hours. Piazza died of his injuries. Eighteen fraternity members were charged with over 1,000 criminal counts in total — the largest criminal prosecution following any U.S. hazing fatality. Pennsylvania subsequently enacted the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law, the most comprehensive named state hazing statute in the country. The Piazza case is the modern foreseeability and conscious-indifference benchmark — a fraternity that maintained surveillance cameras of pledges falling and chose not to call 911 cannot credibly argue lack of subjective awareness.

David Bogenberger — Pi Kappa Alpha, Northern Illinois University, 2012 — $14 million settlement

David Bogenberger died of alcohol poisoning at a Pi Kappa Alpha event at Northern Illinois University in 2012. The civil case produced a $14 million settlement in 2018, split among 44 fraternity and sorority members and the national organization. The Bogenberger settlement remains one of the largest hazing-fatality settlements on record and is the canonical citation for the proposition that individual fraternity-and-sorority members can be named and recovered against in personal capacity at scale. Texas pleadings name individual chapter members for the same reason.

Chad Meredith — Kappa Sigma, University of Miami, 2001 — $12.6 million jury verdict; Florida Chad Meredith Law

Eighteen-year-old Chad Meredith died in a 2001 Kappa Sigma hazing event at the University of Miami when he drowned attempting to swim across a lake while intoxicated (BAC 0.13). The civil trial produced a $12.6 million jury verdict against the international and local fraternity organizations. Florida subsequently passed the Chad Meredith Law, criminalizing hazing in Florida. The Meredith case established the principle that both the international and the local chapter can be held jointly liable — a doctrine our firm applies in every Texas multi-defendant hazing pleading.

Andrew Coffey — Pi Kappa Phi, Florida State University, November 2017

Twenty-year-old Andrew Coffey attended a Pi Kappa Phi “Big Brother Night” event at Florida State in November 2017. Pledges were assigned handles of hard liquor. Coffey died of acute alcohol poisoning. Florida State temporarily suspended all Greek life on campus. Multiple fraternity members entered misdemeanor hazing pleas. The family settlement was confidential. The Coffey case is a critical Pi Kappa Phi-specific institutional-knowledge precedent — the same national fraternity now named in the Bermudez UH lawsuit. Pi Kappa Phi national headquarters cannot credibly argue lack of subjective awareness of pledge-event-driven hazing risk eight years after Coffey.

Danny Santulli — Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI), University of Missouri, October 2021 — multi-million confidential settlement

Eighteen-year-old Danny Santulli attended a Phi Gamma Delta “pledge dad reveal” event at Missouri in October 2021. He was forced to consume large quantities of alcohol. He suffered severe, permanent brain damage; he cannot walk, talk, or see and requires 24-hour care for life. Twenty-two defendants entered confidential settlements. The Santulli case is the canonical example of catastrophic-but-non-fatal hazing-injury damages: the lifetime life-care plan for a 24/7-care dependent young adult anchors damages in the multi-million range and routes settlement structure into special-needs trusts and structured-settlement annuities.

Chun “Michael” Deng — Pi Delta Psi, Baruch College / Pocono Mountains retreat, December 2013 — first criminal conviction of a national fraternity

Nineteen-year-old Chun “Michael” Deng died at a Pi Delta Psi “glass ceiling” ritual at a Pocono Mountains retreat in December 2013. The blindfolded ritual produced a traumatic brain injury; fraternity members delayed calling 911. Pi Delta Psi national fraternity was criminally convicted of aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter — the first criminal conviction of a national fraternity in U.S. history. The fraternity was banned from Pennsylvania for 10 years and fined over $110,000. The Deng case establishes the precedent that national fraternity headquarters can face criminal prosecution as an entity, not just civil liability — a fact Texas prosecutors are aware of in 2026.

Robert Champion — Florida A&M Marching Band, 2011 — $1 million settlement, FAMU fully liable

Twenty-six-year-old Robert Champion, a drum major in the FAMU Marching 100 band, died after being beaten on a band bus during a “Crossing Bus C” hazing ritual in 2011. The civil case held FAMU fully liable, with a $1 million settlement in 2015 (the cap under Florida’s pre-2023 sovereign-immunity framework). The Champion case is the foundational marching-band hazing precedent and the basis for our firm’s marching-band-hazing practice at Texas Southern, Prairie View, Texas A&M, and other Texas institutions with significant marching-band programs.

Joseph Snell — Omega Psi Phi, Bowie State, 1997 — $375,000 verdict

Joseph Snell suffered four weeks of beatings during a 1997 Omega Psi Phi hazing pledge process at Bowie State (Maryland). He rejected a $5,000 settlement offer and won a $375,000 verdict. The case established that NPHC Divine Nine paddling traditions are subject to civil-liability scrutiny, that individual chapter members and officers can be named as defendants in personal capacity, and that fraternity bank-account assets can be seized in execution of judgment. The Snell precedent applies directly to NPHC Divine Nine cases at Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern, Lamar, Sam Houston State, and other Texas institutions.

Sigma Chi — College of Charleston, 2024 — over $10 million in damages

A 2024 Sigma Chi hazing case at the College of Charleston produced over $10 million in damages — pledge beatings, forced drugs and alcohol, and resulting catastrophic injury. The Sigma Chi case is the most recent eight-figure single-organization hazing recovery and is one of several recent hazing matters that have established the modern multi-million-dollar damages baseline.

Phi Kappa Psi — San Diego State, 2024 — pledge set on fire, 16% body third-degree burns, four felony charges

A 2024 Phi Kappa Psi hazing case at San Diego State involved a pledge being set on fire during a party skit, producing third-degree burns over 16% of the pledge’s body. Four fraternity members faced felony charges including causing fire with great bodily injury, conspiracy, and social-host violations. The case establishes the modern precedent for chemical-burn and fire-related hazing, complementing the 2021 Texas A&M Sigma Alpha Epsilon chemical-burn case.

Carson Starkey — Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Cal Poly, 2008 — Aware Awake Alive foundation

Eighteen-year-old Carson Starkey died of alcohol poisoning at a 2008 Sigma Alpha Epsilon hazing event at Cal Poly. The settlement was confidential. The Starkey family founded Aware Awake Alive, a hazing-prevention nonprofit, with the settlement proceeds. SAE subsequently announced an end to pledging nationwide in 2014 — one of the few national fraternities to make such a structural change in response to documented hazing fatalities.

Collin Wiant — Sigma Pi, Ohio University, November 2018 — Ohio Collin’s Law

Eighteen-year-old Collin Wiant died from a nitrous oxide overdose at an off-campus Sigma Pi house at Ohio University in November 2018. The Ohio Legislature subsequently passed Collin’s Law: The Anti-Hazing Act, effective October 2021, making hazing a second-degree misdemeanor and a third-degree felony when alcohol or drugs cause physical harm.

The pattern: $1M–$14M death cases, $375K–multi-million severe-injury cases, individual-officer reach scaling to $6.5M

The aggregate pattern of national hazing precedent is consistent. Death cases settle or verdict between $1 million and $14 million. Severe non-fatal injury cases produce $375,000 to multi-million awards. Individual chapter officers can be reached personally — Daylen Dunson’s $6.5 million personal liability is the modern Texas-comparable benchmark. National fraternity headquarters can face criminal conviction (Pi Delta Psi) and pay institutional damages (Pi Kappa Alpha’s $7 million in Foltz). Public universities can be held fully liable in jurisdictions where sovereign immunity has been waived (FAMU’s $1 million Champion settlement, BGSU’s $3 million Foltz contribution). The Texas pleading framework is calibrated against this benchmark in every case our firm handles.