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Alfred
Alfred U. hazing on Court TV special
By JOHN ANDERSON
Wellsville Daily reporter
ALFRED | Court TV will air a special on hazing Thursday night featuring the 2002 death of Alfred University student Benjamin Klein.
Klein was found dead behind his Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house and the post office in Alfred on Main Street. Klein, 21, was allegedly beaten by two of his fraternity brothers and was discovered missing the next day.
Television personality Al Roker will explore the dangerous trend in the Court TV documentary "Al Roker Investigates: The Horrors of Hazing."
The program examines the cultural, psychological and legal aspects of hazing through interviews with investigators, current and former members of groups that practice these rituals, and family members of victims.
The show will air at 10 p.m. Thursday and Roker is expected to talk about the show that morning on NBC's "Today Show."
The Horrors of Hazing focuses on Klein, who was a member in good standing of the ZBT fraternity.
Klein's body was found severely beaten the morning after Tapping Night, when fraternities choose their new members. An investigation revealed Klein had been beaten by his fraternity brothers, as punishment for revealing secrets about their hazing rituals at a college conference in Syracuse just days before. The death was ruled accidental or suicide, but the incident led Alfred to shut down the university's fraternity system.
The case was originally looked at as a homicide.
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