Hazing is no longer just a college tradition—it’s a crime. After Louisiana passed the Max Gruver Act, another student’s death is putting the law to the test.

Southern University student Caleb Wilson, 20, died following an alleged hazing incident involving Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Three men have been arrested, with one facing charges of felony hazing and manslaughter.

Before the Max Gruver Act, hazing carried minimal penalties. The law changed after LSU freshman Max Gruver died in a 2017 fraternity hazing incident, making hazing a felony if it results in serious injury or death.

“In the Max Gruver Law, which is hazing, so it incorporates not only misdemeanor hazing, the act of regular hazing, but also when hazing involves great bodily injury or death. There is a felony component to hazing and it carries up to five years,” East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore said.

Now, the same law that followed Gruver’s death is being applied to Wilson’s case.

“Unfortunately, when Max passed away, the hazing law was hardly even a slap on the wrist. It was just a one-hundred-dollar fine and up to thirty days in jail,” said Gruver’s father.

He believes the law has made a difference in holding people accountable.

“That law should, you know, act as a great deterrent for folks to step in and make a difference and say no to hazing and report it. It wasn’t a deterrent before, but it surely is a deterrent today,” he said.

Gruver’s parents turned their grief into action, pushing for tougher hazing laws and founding the Max Gruver Foundation to raise awareness.

“It really hurts us that anybody in any organization would continue to haze because we know what happened to my son and now, unfortunately, if it’s in fact hazing, it happened to Caleb as well. These deaths hurt us to the core,” Gruver’s father said.

As Wilson’s case moves forward, the Max Gruver Act faces its biggest test yet—will the law be enough to prevent hazing before another life is lost?