The Piazza Center and Hazing Prevention Network define hazing as, “…a power-dynamic behavior aimed at screening, fostering bonds, or establishing standing in organizations that risks the health and safety of individuals…” Hazing is a destructive epidemic with worldwide scope of varying severity and frequency, but how will you react when it happens to you? The normalization of peer pressure and enforced involvement in dangerous situations has reached the breach point; the brutal impact and terrifying reality of hazing has collided with Flagstaff like a meteor.

In the early morning of January 31, 2026, Colin Daniel Martinez, a Northern Arizona University student, died of alcohol poisoning at a fraternity party. Before this; however, the evening prior began with a Delta Tau Delta (a fraternity founded in 1858 at Bethany College in West Virginia—supposedly driven by the values of truth, faith, courage, and power) event. The invite-only dinner was the concluding event of this year’s Spring Rush (an informal Greek Life recruitment period occurring at the beginning of the spring semester) and was orchestrated by three of the frat’s leading members: Carter Eslick, Ryan Creech, and Riley Cass—all of which were later arrested, thanks to Jack’s Law (established in Arizona in 2022). Four pledges, including the victim, were allegedly forced into drinking nearly 3.5 liters of vodka altogether in the time following the dinner. For reference, this equates to around 78-80 shots of vodka; 4-5 consecutive shots alone of any 80-proof alcohol pushes the body’s tolerance limit to the brink in most healthy men under the age of 65, according to the US Family Health Plan. Of the three, Carter Eslick, the pledge master, is the only one to get indicted by a grand jury.