ABC News Managing Editor and Anti-Hazing Advocate to Speak on Nov. 21 at Westminster College

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fulton, Mo. ‒ Nov. 15, 2024: Westminster College is pleased to announce that Richard Braham, Managing Editor and WNT Producer of ABC News, will speak at 12 p.m. on Nov. 21 in Champ Auditorium regarding his decade-long crusade against hazing.

Braham’s address, which is open to the public, will focus on the tragic loss of his son, Marquise.

“I’m incredibly excited to have the opportunity to speak with the young men and women in Fraternity and Sorority Life and other organizations at Westminster College,” Braham says of the event, which is a collaboration between the Office of Student Affairs and the Missouri Beta chapter of Phi Delta Theta, which is conducting a series of Anti-Hazing Week activities Nov. 18-22. “Previous visits to other college campuses where I’ve shared Marquise’s deadly hazing experience have been impactful and, in some cases, life-altering.”

Marquise Braham experienced fraternity hazing before dying by suicide in 2014.

Marquise was an 18-year-old biomedical engineering student who died by suicide in 2014 after undergoing hazing in a fraternity at Penn State University’s Altoona Campus.

Since that time, Braham and his wife, Maille, have formed the Anti-Hazing Coalition, which seeks to eradicate hazing practices from college and university campuses nationwide.

The coalition is a collaboration of the National Panhellenic Conference, the North American Interfraternity Conference, and parents who have tragically lost children to hazing.

As a result of their efforts, the Coalition was successful in passing the bipartisan Stop Campus Hazing Act (H.R. 5646) through the U.S. House of Representatives in September.

According to the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, hazing is not exclusive to fraternities and sororities. Clubs and sports teams also are known to participate in the behavior, leading to more than 100 hazing-related deaths across college and university campuses since 2000.

Derek Zander, Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics, Athletics Advancement, and Strategic Programs, encourages all students to attend Braham’s talk.

“Because we aim to foster a healthy campus environment where all students are safe, the College is encouraging all those participating in Athletics and Fraternity and Sorority Life to attend this meaningful event,” Zander says. “On behalf of Westminster College, we welcome Mr. Braham and fully support his goal of encouraging deeper self-reflection and greater dialogue among students to prevent dangerous behavior from taking place on our campus.”

ABOUT WESTMINSTER COLLEGE: Founded in 1851 and home of Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech, Westminster College is ranked prestigiously by The Princeton Review as one of the “Best 150 colleges in the Midwest” for 2024. New graduates experience a more than 90% placement rate within six months of graduation, while Westminster alumni are in the top 16% nationwide for graduate earnings. The only National Liberal Arts college in Missouri, Westminster has long been recognized for its focus on educating and inspiring students to make an impact on the world around them. Find out more about Westminster College by visiting our website.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Sarah Backer at 573-220-9038 or [email protected].