Frat Pledge Dies After Being Forced To Drink 5 Gallons Of Water

[matcom]

<snip>

A Chico fraternity pledge died of water poisoning, authorities said Thursday as experts warned that the dangerous hazing ritual has killed at least one other person as fraternities are replacing alcohol bingeing with excessive water-drinking.

Matthew Carrington, 21, of Pleasant Hill had a heart attack and died during "Hell Week," authorities said, as he was in the final stage of a monthslong process to rush Chi Tau fraternity -- a rowdy house that had been expelled from California State University Chico in 2002 for repeated violence and alcohol violations.

Water bingeing is becoming an increasingly common hazing ritual, especially inside rogue frat houses such as Chi Tau, said Hank Nuwer of Indiana, a national expert on hazing and author of four books on the topic.

"These unsanctioned fraternities have no standing with the university, so to build prestige they like to come up with the most grueling initiations," Nuwer said, "And they think water is safer than alcohol, but it can also be deadly."

Forced water consumption and heavy exercise are known to dilute the salt content of blood to the point where it interferes with brain, heart and muscle function. Without enough sodium, the brain swells and victims can suffer fatal comas.

Carrington's friend who survived the hazing told police that he and Carrington each were forced to drink about five gallons of water. They were kept up all night in the fraternity's basement doing rigorous calisthenics as fraternity members splashed them with ice water and turned fans in their direction.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/04/BAGNSB576121.DTL

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. Sure beats a sherry enema.

:bounce:

[atreides1]

Yeah

But not by much.

[Mark D]

2. Yup. Stupid stupid stupid thing to do.

Bye bye electrolytes. Bye bye systemic function.

As your electrolytes get depleted, your body actually responds by making you more thirsty. When it is at its worst, the desire to drink water is almost overpowering.

Poor kid. Nasty nasty NASTY way to die.

[CJCRANE]

16. Is that also why

your fingertips go all wrinkly if you stay in the bath too long (electrolytes leach out)?

[Mark D]

24. Not really...

(IIRC) You are actaully absorbing water (at a VERY limited rate) in that scenario, and it is a relatively self limiting process, as you are really dealing with nothing more than osmosis. Once you reach equilibrium, the process stops. That is what your skin is there for. :)

With water intoxication you are losing salt, potassium, and sugar through sweat and urine due to the over consumption of water, and your body's natural efforts to evacuate the surplus. If the poor kid had been ingesting a fairly large amount of salt and sugar while he was being hazed, he would probably have just ended up with a horrible stomach ache and some serious dizziness. Banannas would have helped too.

[Merlot]

3. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

They were kept up all night in the fraternity's basement doing rigorous calisthenics as fraternity members splashed them with ice water and turned fans in their direction.

These people have to much time on their hands, and too little brainpower. How sad that they think this is a way to gain acceptance.

[fishnfla]

4. proving that you can overdose on anything

can one OD on air though?

[sir_captain]

15. One can get into trouble in a 100% O2 environment

H2O toxicity is a serious issue. There's a stage proceeding death where one is actually drunk--pretty messed up.

[arcane1]

5. I'm sitting in Pleasant Hill right now

and not at all surprised at stupid shit like this :eyes:


glad I never joined a frat

[YellowRubberDuckie]

14. Good Lord.

When I was a Sophomore in college, I helped a friend's frat initiate their guys on a camping trip right after The Blair Witch Project came out. We scared the shit of those guys. The ones who pissed themselves didn't make it. Those that didn't, did. It was fun. We didn't hurt anyone, though. Haven't those idiots ever heard of creativity?
Duckie

[arcane1]

18. I doubt these idiots could even SPELL "creativity"

your initiation sounds 100 times cooler anyway

[miss_kitty]

6. Ooooh! and he was almost there...

"...he was in the final stage of a monthslong process..."

[havocmom]

7. So, they let total idiots into colleges?

How the hell do these dolts get into an institution of higher learning if they don't even have a clue as to how their bodies work?

[ContraBass Black]

8. Do you know of a way to keep them out?

[jswordy]

9. Dumb shits need to grow up, every one of them, nationwide n/t

[kiki]

10. I don't know what everyone's so upset about.

Why, it's just the kind of harmless fraternity prank they've been doing for years at places like... erm... Abu Ghraib...

Hang on, what was my point again?

[Dogmudgeon]

11. I lived in Chico for a while

Nice town.

Except for the Frats.

I've seen a few Greek-letter-organization college towns, but Chico has them all beat for shitheel frats -- even the U of Pee. (Penn has two decent frats; Chico had one). They even held a riot in the early 1990s during "Pioneer Days" (Chico was founded by John Bidwell, a popular military hero, who settled there after the Civil War). Police arrested several hundred rioters, none of whom could give an answer as to what they were rioting about.

I guess it was one of those California Zen Riots.

Interestingly, the Sororities at Chico State have had some of the most intelligent, socially aware young women I'd ever met. Honorable Mention: Zeta Tau Omega. (I think that was the name of it.)

I was there in the middle 1980s. High point: 28th Day. Incredible band. Cole Marquis, Barbara Manning and Mike Cloward shoulda been up there in the musical pantheon with Paul Westerberg, Chrissie Hynde and Clem Burke. And Cloward had Conan O'Brien hair before Conan even learned the proper use of Tenax.

There ain't no justice. (*sigh*)

Their metro weekly paper, the Chico News and Review, is one of the best papers of its kind. For a small college town, that's saying a lot -- it's easily the equal of similar papers in NYC, LA, or Philly.

Alas, right after I left Chico, I took sick and subsequently lost contact with my pals out there. Life has a funny way of doing soul-withering things like that.

So much for the trip down Memory Lane.

And, with any luck, Chi Tau and its officers will be facing their own hazing in the nearest California State Correctional facility.

--p!

[ronnykmarshall]

12. Charge that little bastards with murder.

Anyone that was part of this is guilty and should be in prison.

[nickgutierrez]

19. Yep.

It's murder, no two ways about it.

[ronnykmarshall]

13. Oh how SWEET!

So they are holding a vigil right in front of the place where the murders live. :puke:


<<A candlelight vigil for Carrington will be held today outside Chi Tau fraternity, at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut streets in Chico.>>

[CrownPrinceBandar]

17. Reminds me of when I was in college....................

At WVU good portion of the frat houses are situated on a hill above the main campus. One night, a pizza delivery guy was bringing a pie to a frat that had an especially steep driveway. When he left his car to take the pie to the door, some mental giant thought it would be funny to release the brake on his car and set it rolling down the street. Turns out it worked. The car rolled about 50 ft. down the hill, took an immediate turn to the left, jumped a embankment and landed on a female student outside of a dorm, killing her.

I hope all involved with this latest fiasco go to jail. The officers of the frat are accountable, they will have to answer.

[mr blur]

20. We don't have this fraternity nonsense in the UK

Don't you think that by the time someone gets to college/university they should have grown out of this little boy gang-mentality crap?

[elperromagico]

21. Dihydrogen Monoxide Strikes Again!

[trof]

22. I honest-to-god wonder

how I made it from way-back-then to here-and-now.
Maybe there is a god?
:shrug:

[KG]

23. i'll never understand this desire to endure such humiliation just to

belong to a club.

insane.

[SmileyBoy]

25. I think it's called Polydypsia.

An electrolyte imbalance that results from drinking too much water.

[Mark D]

29. It is Hyponatremia.

Polydipsia is an excessive thirst. Usually associated with diabetics, but I'm pretty sure head trauma can bring it on too.

[Patiod]

26. In defense of Greek organizations

I was in a sorority in college and we didn't haze. At all. I know it's not for everyone, but it was a really good experience for me.

Most of the national sororities got rid of this sort of thing long ago, and the guys are doing it now - mostly in response to skyrocketing insurance rates. As the article noted, this was a local group under control of no national organization.

Stupid Stupid Stupid

[Worst Username Ever]

28. See my post below

My fraternity, at least on my campus, is now done with hazing. There is still a pledge period (although they don't call it that anymore) but there is none of the stuff I went through (I was a freshman in 1995). To be truthful, I enjoyed my "hell week." It sucked at times, but so would boot camp. Nothing like the story above, though.

[Worst Username Ever]

27. Another story giving the whole fraternity community a bad name

Yep, I agree they're murderers. But I stand by my decision to join my fraternity, it was one of the best experiences of my life. My best friends are from there, I met my finacee, and I have my job all because of people I met there. Plus, holy shit, the parties were awesome.

On edit, we did have some hazing, but nothing like that.