September 18th, the Piazza family came to Lehigh to share the tragic story of their son Tim. Tim Piazza was a 19-year-old student at Penn State who was described as a light in people’s lives. He was kind-natured and dreamed of helping people by making prosthetics after college. On February 4th, 2017, Tim’s life came to a halt at the hands of senseless hazing. After a night of being forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol, Tim fell down the stairs, was injured, and ultimately, passed away from injuries he sustained that night.
Tim’s parents, Jim and Evelyn, bravely shared their story to an audience of fraternity and sorority life students. Evelyn painted a haunting picture of what it was like for them to receive that devastating call that changed their lives forever.
Educational events like this make us, as students participating in fraternity and sorority life, yearn for answers and alert us to look for concerning behaviors so this never happens to another student.
We all love our brothers and sisters like our family, which begs the question, how could something like this happen, and how can we prevent it in our Lehigh community?
To learn more about the Piazza’s story or donate to help them spread awareness about hazing, please visit https://www.liveliketim.org/.