BATON ROUGE — A Georgia teen was killed this week after an alleged hazing incident at Louisiana State University.

Maxwell Gruver, 18 of Roswell, was pronounced dead on Thursday at Our Lady of the Lake hospital in Louisiana. Gruver was a graduate of Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell and had just begun his freshman year at LSU.

Gruver was seeking to become a member of the Phi Beta Theta fraternity.  The alleged incident occurred at the fraternity house Wednesday night.  Reports state alcohol was also involved.

As a result of the incident, the school will be suspending all Greek activities on campus.  That includes all pledging and social activities on and off campus.  The president of the school, F. King Alexander, stated the school was in mourning over Gruver’s death.

“There are allegations that Maxwell’s death was related to hazing, but I want to emphasize this is an evolving situation,” Alexander said during a news conference Thursday evening in Baton Rouge, reported in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. “We are investigating this matter with the utmost seriousness.”

Alcohol, Alexander said, “is indeed part of the allegations.”

The ritual of hazing is part of the initiation process for many Greek organizations on college campuses.  Reports state pledges are routinely humiliated and even tortured as part of of the process.  As a result, the practice has been banned by many fraternities and universities, though the practice still continues in secret.

Last February, Penn State sophomore Tim Piazza died from hazing-related incidents.  Reports stated pledges were forced to consume massive amounts of alcohol.  This caused Piazza to repeatedly fall down stairs and eventually died from a ruptured spleen and brain stem damage. As a result, eight of the fraternities brothers are now facing involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges in Pennsylvania.  The fraternity has been closed by the school.

Gruver’s autopsy is scheduled for today.

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