President Joe Biden has signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act into law, a landmark measure aimed at combating hazing on college campuses nationwide.
The legislation, co-led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, was inspired by the story of Danny Santulli, a Minnesota native who suffered permanent brain damage three years ago following a hazing incident at a University of Missouri fraternity. Santulli, then 18, endured alcohol poisoning that left him unable to walk, talk or see.
The Stop Campus Hazing Act requires higher education institutions that participate in federal student aid programs to publicly report hazing incidents in their annual security reports.
Institutions must also develop and distribute as part of its annual security report policy statements regarding a comprehensive program to prevent hazing, which must include information on hazing awareness and hazing prevention, and the institution's current campus policies on hazing, which must include procedures that comply with specified collection and reporting requirements.
Klobuchar celebrated the bill’s passage during a news conference in Minneapolis on Monday, joined by Danny Santulli's parents, Tom and Mary Pat Santulli, and Calvin Phillips, vice president for Student Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
"It's Danny's Law, but it could also be called the common sense law," Nick, Danny Santulli's brother said during the news conference.
"Just do the right thing. I mean, anyone who sees someone distressed, you go for help. You don't try to cover up the fraternity because at the end of the day, what's more important, a fraternity or someone's life?"
The Santulli family members, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, have become vocal advocates against hazing, sharing their son’s story in hopes of preventing similar tragedies.
