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More about the story
In 1990, Longstreet Press published Hank Nuwer's first book on hazing, "Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing," which concentrated on the story of 20-year-old Chuck Stenzel.
Stenzel, known around the country for his appearance on a Geritol commercial, was an athlete and an honors student at Alfred University in New York when he pledged Klan Alpine fraternity in 1978. He was kidnapped late at night, shoved into a cold car trunk and forced to drink alcohol before he was released. Like many greek rituals, it was a litmus test for manhood, Nuwer said, and the Klan Alpine pledges tried to exceed it.
He died from alcohol poisoning hours later.
"It devastated our lives," said his mother, Eileen Stevens. "The circumstances were compounded by the fact that it was a planned, premeditated act that could have been prevented. I decided to channel my grief into something positive that would benefit others."
Stevens, who was interviewed again in "Wrongs of Passage," said both of Nuwer's books have "journalistic appeal," and the public listens to him. As a result of Nuwer's work and Stevens' pressure, Alfred University did a comprehensive study on athletic hazing and in 1998 formed an alcohol council to change students' attitudes about risky behaviors.
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