Their son died more than a decade ago, the victim of a fraternity initiation incident at Rider University that drew national attention to the problem hazing on the nation’s campuses
After many years of failures in Congress, the first federal anti-hazing legislation was signed into law by President Joseph Biden earlier this week, increasing transparency and accountability on college campuses across the nation by providing parents and students with better information about hazing incidents and require the adoption of robust prevention policies.
“We’ve been pushing hard for this for a very long time,” said Julie and Gary DeVercelly Sr. in a joint statement, whose son, Gary DeVercelly Jr., died in 2007 in a fraternity hazing incident at Rider. The 18-year-old freshman from Long Beach consumed most of a bottle of vodka during a Phi Kappa Tau initiation ritual…