October 13, 2022
The hazing death of Penn State University fraternity pledge Tim Piazza will be the subject of an upcoming limited series currently in development at Hulu.
"Death at Penn State" is an adaptation of Caitlin Flanagan's 2017 feature in The Atlantic, "Death at a Penn State Fraternity." The story explores fraternity culture and details the 12 hours Piazza was left to fight for his life after a fall at Beta Theta Pi's house on the University Park campus before his fraternity brothers contacted 911.
The idea came to fruition when former NBC and Showtime executive Robert Greenblatt received a copy of Flanagan's article. He immediately knew that he wanted to tell the story from a human-focused perspective, delving into fraternity culture through the lens of Piazza's tragic death. Flanagan and The Atlantic will also serve as executive producers on the project, which does not yet have a release date.
"I appreciate Lionsgate and Hulu for taking on the tragedy of Tim Piazza's death due to a careless hazing incident at Penn State's Beta Theta Pi's fraternity in 2017," Greenblatt told Variety. "It resulted in one of the largest criminal indictments against a fraternity and its members in recent U.S. history. While hazing is illegal, there continue to be similar incidents around the country each year, and we want this to be a cautionary tale."
On the night of Feb. 2, 2017, Beta Theta Pi's fraternity pledges each took a turn participating in "The Gauntlet," a drinking ritual that involves consuming an entire bottle of vodka, a beer, and a bag of wine. Piazza was one of the first pledges to take part, and was visibly intoxicated about an hour later.
By 11 p.m. that night, Piazza fell down a flight of steps at the fraternity, and was carried by fraternity brothers to a couch. Rather than contacting emergency services for Piazza, the brothers slapped and punched him, threw his shoes at him, poured beer on him, and sat on his twitching legs, Flanagan wrote.
At around 3:49 a.m. the next day, Piazza woke up and struggled to stand up. An hour later, he managed to stand up, then fell again, this time headfirst into an iron railing and then onto the floor.
Piazza was seen several times in the house throughout that morning, but the fraternity brothers declined to call 911 until just before 11 a.m., after much of the evidence was cleaned up. It was too late. Piazza was pronounced dead at Hershey Medical Center in the early morning of Feb. 4, 2017.
The coroner's report found that Piazza would have experienced "severe and unremitting pain" from his injuries sustained through the night, which included a fracture at the base of his skull and a ruptured spleen. An autopsy report concluded that Piazza's blood alcohol level was at least four times the legal limit, and his death was caused by "multiple traumatic injuries," The New York Times reported.
Piazza's death resulted in one of the largest hazing indictments in United States history, as the fraternity and 18 of its members were indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges related to his death in May 2017.
A collection of court rulings eventually dismissed many of the major charges against the students, despite efforts from the Attorney General's Office to appeal the decision. Several members served jail time in connection with the hazing incident, and the local chapter of Beta Theta Pi was suspended and disbanded.
"We are grateful and fully supporting of Lionsgate and Hulu taking on this project related to our son's tragic and very preventable death," Jim and Evelyn Piazza, Tim's parents, told The Hollywood Reporter. "Given the reckless and deplorable behavior of fraternity members and their advisors, the lack of oversight by the University and the National Fraternity and the ongoing criminal and civil proceedings that continue five plus years later, we feel this is a story that must be told to prevent similar incidents from happening to another young man (or woman) and their family."
In 2018, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed the "Timothy Piazza Anti-Hazing Law" into effect, which requires stricter penalties for hazing and permits courts to order confiscation of frat houses where hazing has occurred.
Last year, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed "Timothy J. Piazza's Law," which requires public schools and higher education institutions to implement anti-hazing policies.
Though the Piazza's are pleased by the news of the limited series, they have no editorial or financial interest in the project, the Inquirer reported. In addition to Greenblatt, Flanagan, and The Atlantic listed as executive producers on the project, "Better Things" writer Joe Hortua will executive produce and write the screenplay.
