Sultan: Family of brain-injured student speaks out about Mizzou’s hazing culture (2024)

Even though he grew up in Minnesota, Danny Santulli chose to follow his older siblings’ footsteps and attend the University of Missouri.

He loved sports and hanging out with his friends and family, and never got in any serious trouble.

But early in his freshman year at Mizzou, a horrific hazing incident destroyed his life.

When Danny started college in 2021, he wanted to join a fraternity like his older brother, Nick. Nick had pledged Pi Kappa Alpha. He’d had a great experience and made lifelong friends.

Danny pledged Phi Delta Gamma, known as Fiji. Within weeks of joining, a hazing event left then-19-year-old Danny with severe brain damage — unable to see, walk or speak.

Several members of the fraternity were later charged in the incident, including Ryan P. Delanty of Manchester and Thomas Shultz of Chesterfield. Danny’s family settled a civil lawsuit against the fraternity and 23 members.

Lawsuit documents detail the events leading up to Oct. 19, 2021, when Danny attended “pledge dad reveal night” at the Fiji house. Delanty handed him a bottle of Tito’s vodka, which was then taped to Danny’s hands. He was ordered to drink it. Another member poured beer into his mouth with a funnel and a tube. Members left Danny sitting on a couch with a blood-alcohol level of 0.468%. He ended up lying face-down on the floor with blue lips and pale skin, the lawsuit says.

No one called 911. Fraternity members eventually drove him to the hospital. The incident was recorded on surveillance video.

Danny’s family offered victim impact statements at Delanty’s sentencing hearing on Friday. He pleaded guilty in Boone County Circuit Court to supplying liquor to a minor and to a reduced misdemeanor charge of hazing.

Prosecutors recommended six months of jail time.

David Bianchi, the family’s lawyer, has represented hazing victims for decades and says Danny’s are the worst hazing injuries he’s ever seen. He says curtailing hazing on campuses requires, first, that universities take swift action to expel the students involved.

“They almost never do that,” he said, because the schools fear pressure from the Greek community and donors.

Secondly, Bianchi said, prosecutors must act aggressively in bringing charges rather than offering plea deals that are just a slap on the wrist for these serious crimes.

Danny’s aunt Chrissy Prioleau says she has connected with families across the country whose children have died due to hazing incidents. Most of them are still waiting for any kind of justice, she said. In some states, hazing is a misdemeanor offense.

“People have died, and it’s like giving a traffic ticket,” she said. One of the most heartbreaking experiences for her family has been the silence from Danny’s so-called “brothers” in the fraternity.

“You want someone to say, ‘I’m sorry,’” she said. “We never got it.” In fact, even the families they had known prior to the incident who had sons in the fraternity went silent. She is convinced that if there hadn’t been video evidence of that night, no one would have faced any consequences for her nephew’s life-altering injuries.

“It’s been 31 months that we’ve been waiting for justice for Danny,” she said.

Tom Santulli, Danny’s father, said they had no idea how Danny was being treated during the monthslong initiation. In texts discovered on his phone after he was hospitalized, Fiji members had frequently ordered Danny to the house, telling him to bring them booze and weed — even when he would say he needed to study.

They told him to stand in a garbage can with broken glass that led to him needing stitches on his foot, Tom said. They indoctrinated members on a code of silence.

Tom wants college students considering Greek life, and their parents, to do research on the groups before they join. He had coached Danny’s basketball team and dreamed of his son’s bright future. Danny had considered majoring in business like his older brother.

Now, he requires 24-hour care at home.

“I’m still devastated,” Tom said. “His life was taken away.”

University of Missouri spokesman Christian Basi said the university acted swiftly when it learned about the incident. It eventually removed the Fiji frat from campus. The MU police arrested several of the members involved. The university has instituted training and education on alcohol poisoning for students, along with information on how to recognize hazing and report it.

However, a detailed timeline by the Columbia Missourian of hazing incidents at Mizzou goes back 16 years, documenting various reports and initiatives over the years that failed to prevent the catastrophic injuries Danny experienced.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reported that there were 15 incidents of hazing or alcohol abuse during the time frame beginning in 2018 and ending in 2021 — six alcohol violations, 12 hazing violations and three with both. The Fiji fraternity had been cited for hazing in the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021 — just months before the pledge dad reveal night.

Why did these sanctions fail to change these students’ behavior?

There’s a long history of abusive hazing among Greek organizations, sports programs and clubs at the collegiate level. StopHazing.org notes the lack of a federal law and inconsistent state laws against hazing. Of course, it takes more than laws to change a culture that promotes cruelty, debasing and humiliating others and being too scared to speak up against it.

Changing the culture around hazing requires stronger action from universities and prosecutors, better awareness among parents and students, and a complete mindset change among Greek leadership and its members.

A “brotherhood” does not seek to humiliate, harass or hurt its brethren.

Danny appeared at the sentencing hearing via video conferencing.

Even though he cannot talk, his presence spoke volumes.