In the morning of Sept. 17, 2004, police received a frantic 9-1-1 call from fraternity members at the University of Colorado at Boulder. When police arrived, they found 18-year-old Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr. lying face down with racial slurs written all over his body in permanent ink. He had been dead for hours.

Freshman Lynn Gordon “Gordie” Bailey Jr. had been in school for only a month when he decided to pledge the Chi Psi Fraternity. The fraternity’s bid night involved taking 26 pledges to the Arapaho Roosevelt National Forest and leaving them there until the group drank four handles (1.75 liter bottles) of whiskey and six (1.5 liter) bottles of wine. In less than 30 minutes, the alcohol was gone.

Gordie, along with his fellow pledges, returned to the fraternity house visibly intoxicated. According to the Gordie Foundation Web site, he was left to “sleep it off,” and no one checked on him for the rest of the night.

Many people were affected by the loss, none more so than Leslie Lanahan, Gordie’s mother. Lanahan immediately decided to turn the tragedy into a learning experience for young adults across the nation. With the help of her husband and family friend, Jane Navin, Lanahan formed the Gordie Foundation.

“To know you may have saved a life or educated a new generation that will take a call to action to spread awareness is an incredible feeling,” Navin said in an e-mail interview.

Hazing, as defined by the SMU Code of Conduct, is “any intentional, knowing or reckless act, occurring on or off the campus of an educational institution, by one person alone or acting with others, directed against a student, that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization whose members are or include, students at an educational situation.” According to stophazing.org, more than 130 deaths caused by fraternity hazing have been reported.

The mission of the Gordie Foundation is to educate young adults about the dangers of alcohol and to prevent alcohol-poisoning, binge drinking and hazing. Volunteers at the Gordie Foundation travel the country speaking to students at high schools and colleges.

Jane Navin serves as the executive director. She said that although she never knew Gordie personally, she has had a great deal of experience with alcohol abuse. Around the time Gordie died, her close friend died of liver failure due to alcoholism. Shortly after, she had to help two other friends enter rehab due to alcoholism.

Wanting a more meaningful job, Navin left her career as a business owner to help the Lanahans start the foundation. She said the ability to help students make educated decisions about alcohol and hazing is incredibly rewarding.

As part of the education process, the Gordie Foundation gives students a GORDIEcheck card. The card identifies the six signs of alcohol poisoning and encourages students to call police when any signs are present.

“Drinking is a reality and part of our college culture,” Navin said. “We must arm students with knowledge in order to navigate these dangers.”

John Sanger, a counselor at SMU’s Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention, said education is the key to preventing alcohol abuse. Along with other counselors at SMU, he sponsors a program called TIPS (Training for Intervention Procedures). This class teaches students how to identify fellow students’ problems with alcohol and drugs as well as provide them with ways to help those students when they notice a problem.

Like the University of Colorado, SMU has also had problems with hazing. In 2003, one student ended up in a coma after a hazing incident. Ryan Williams, coordinator of student activities and Greek affairs, said SMU does a great deal to ensure that serious incidents caused by hazing do not occur in the Greek life on campus. He said the university tries to take a “three-prong approach” to hazing education.

Williams explained that the first prong is the current Greek members. He said it’s important for them to understand what hazing is and what the consequences can be. The next prong is the potential new members. He explains that they must understand hazing is not acceptable and they don’t have to participate in it. The final prong is the parents. Williams says the parents are the most important aspect because they are usually the only ones the student tells when there is a problem.

Williams noted that hazing is a difficult issue because it’s not black and white. He said it’s important for students to understand all forms of hazing are wrong. Williams said a common misconception is that minor hazing, like yelling or humiliation, bonds the members of the organization. In actuality, he said, it creates animosity.

“It is so off base from what fraternities and sororities stand for, which is trust, brotherhood and sisterhood,” he said.

Last year SMU dealt with its own tragedy: the loss of three students to substance abuse. This year SMU has reformed its peer education group, added a task force to evaluate the alcohol-abuse prevention techniques and hired a full-time health educator. Sanger said the university hopes these additions will further educate students and help them make good decisions.

“Students are the ones engaging in high risk behavior,” Sanger said. “So they need to make the choice to change.”

The Gordie Foundation continues its efforts to give students the necessary tools to make good choices about alcohol and hazing. The Gordie Foundation is currently working on a full-length film that explores the hazing and alcohol abuse problems many campuses experience. HAZE is due to be released in Spring 2008. Navin believes this film will make an impact on young people.

“I firmly believe that the work of few can alter the lives of many,” said Sanger.