VCU news

By Amelia Heymann

Hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University and the Love Like Adam Foundation, the first Virginia Hazing Prevention Summit on Tuesday brought together advocates and experts from around the state to share how they’ve responded to hazing on college campuses and what they’re doing to eliminate it.     

More than 100 people from 30 organizations attended the summit at VCU, including representatives from 19 higher education institutions.

The keynote session focused on Adam Oakes, a 19-year-old freshman at VCU who died on Feb. 27, 2021, due to an alcohol-related hazing incident at an off-campus fraternity event. Subsequently, VCU permanently banned the fraternity as a registered student organization.

To extend Oakes’ legacy, his father, mother and cousin started the Love Like Adam Foundation to preserve his memory and prevent similar tragedies. Courtney White, Ed.D., said that since her cousin’s death, she has been working closely with VCU on anti-hazing measures.

One of White’s partners is Rachael Tully, VCU Hazing Prevention coordinator and assistant dean of students in the Dean of Student Advocacy Office. White and Tully together attended the Ohio Anti-Hazing Summit last year at Bowling Green State University and agreed they needed to bring a similar program to Virginia. The two worked together for a year, meeting at least once every two weeks.

White said it was important that the first Virginia conference be held at VCU because of Adam’s passing.

“I think that it goes to show that both us – the family and VCU – care, and we both care about the students. Their well-being is at the forefront of this whole thing,” White said. “So I feel like it was just meant to be here.”

White delivered the keynote address at Tuesday’s summit, sharing Adam’s story and how the foundation is working to prevent hazing.

“I was standing up there and I’m looking around all these people here,” she said afterward. “And I haven’t grieved, but for a moment it was overwhelming – I was overwhelmed because everything came to fruition … and everybody was learning. It was just awesome.”

White added that sharing Adam’s story with others is a rewarding part of the family’s work, and that they don’t want to be seen as just a “grieving family.”

In Virginia, their advocacy led to Adam’s Law, which requires that every current member, new member and potential new member of a student organization participate in hazing prevention training. White said the law gives students the type of information that could have saved Adam’s life.

At Tuesday’s summit, the Foltz family represented their anti-hazing organization, the iamstonefoltz Foundation. Stone Foltz was a 20-year-old student at Bowling Green State University who died from an alcohol-related hazing incident a week after Adam Oakes’ death. Enduring similar tragedies at nearly the same time, the families forged a bond.

“We developed a really close relationship just because I think of it being so close in proximity that we just kept reaching out,” said DJ Williams, Stone’s aunt and president of the iamstonefoltz Foundation.

“It’s just become a family and family relationship,” added Cory Foltz, Stone’s father.

White said she invited the Foltz family to the summit to highlight their alcohol education program  for high-schoolers but also because they have become part of their family. Advocates say educating that audience about hazing, which they may know nothing about, is crucial.

“They don’t know what rush is. They don’t know what pledging is,” White said of the fraternity and sorority processes. “They need to know … before they come” to college from high school.

She hopes that public school districts and higher education institutions will work together to create a safer environment for students. This includes teaching students about hazing and what to do if they see it happening.

“I don’t feel like Adam had that,” White said.

Tully hopes the Virginia Hazing Prevention Summit can become an annual event like the one in Ohio, and next year the Virginia summit will be hosted at the University of Virginia. In that vein, she said her biggest takeaway from Tuesday is that anti-hazing efforts must continue to grow. 

“Having people come together for these conversations allows people to ideate and think through the best ways to address [hazing],” she said. “We can get in silos, and this allows us to break those down.”