On Feb. 7, 2021, Stone Foltz pledged to the Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) fraternity at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). A month later, on March 4, he attended a party where he, along with other new members, were forced to drink an excessive amount of alcohol.
Foltz was then dropped off at his apartment, where he was later found unresponsive by his roommates, and he was taken to the hospital. His blood alcohol level was .35, which is more than four times the legal limit.
Foltz died in the hospital three days later on March 7.
Roughly two years prior, on the opposite end of the state, Collin Wiant met a similar fate. When 911 was called, one of Wiant’s fraternity brothers claimed he had passed out due to an overconsumption of alcohol; however, the coroner’s report later found that he had died due to the ingestion of nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is the gas used in a whippet, which is what Wiant had inhaled shortly before his death.
Collin Wiant died on Nov. 18, 2018, at Ohio University. Wiant, a pledge to the Sigma Pi Fraternity Epsilon Chapter, was in his second month of pledging when he collapsed on the floor of his fraternity house.
Then Ohio Representative Theresa Gavarone and state Senator Stephanie Kunze co-sponsored Collin’s Law: Ohio’s Anti-Hazing Law in 2019, soon after Wiant’s death. The law did not pass that session.
After Foltz’s death in early 2021, Collin’s Law (SB 126) was introduced again on March 10, 2021, and it was later passed into legislation on Oct. 7, 2021.
Rex Elliot, the Foltz family lawyer, said it was Foltz’s death that reignited the efforts to pass Collin’s Law.
“When Stone was killed, the efforts to resurrect Collin’s Law came about because of the outrage of what happened to Stone, and Collin’s Law was passed the summer after Stone died,” Elliot said.
Gavarone recounted her experience about her involvement in Collin’s Law.
Gavarone said she had sat in “the Senate Education Committee in 2020, listening to the testimony of anti-hazing legislation, spurred by the death of Collin Wiant at Ohio University.”
Gavarone later heard the news of Foltz’s death.
“Hearing about the senseless nature of those actions leading to the death of a young student really shook me to the core. He [Foltz] was my son’s age, they had common friends, and my son was also in a fraternity on campus,” Gavarone said.
Gavarone became a senator in 2019. Before being elected, Gavarone attended BGSU and stayed in BG with her husband and raised their three children.
The event of Foltz’s death spurred Gavarone into action.
“As soon as I learned about the tragedy, I thought about the best person to team up with on new legislation, and quickly thought about my good friend Stephanie Kunze. We built upon the anti-hazing work of former State Representative Dave Greenspan from the previous General Assembly in 2020. This partnership became Collin’s Law,” Gavarone said.
Gavarone explained the bill’s implementation of stronger punishment for hazing.
“That bill explains clearly what hazing is, and expressly includes in the criminal definition of ‘hazing’ coercion of individuals to consume alcohol or a drug of abuse. It also adds the offense of being an accessory to hazing and requires all universities and places of higher education to enact clearly defined, anti-hazing policies,” Gavarone said. “Furthermore, it enhances penalties for those who have knowledge of hazing practices and do not report them to law enforcement, ranging from 4th degree misdemeanors to 5th degree felonies.”
In Foltz’s case, there were eight members of the fraternity found guilty. Only six out of the eight served jail time. Those six were collectively sentenced to 165 days in jail.
Elliot said that because Collin’s Law was passed, there would never be another instance of hazers having minor repercussions for their actions.
“Criminal prosecutions of the defendants in Stone’s case will be the last slap on the wrist that hazers will receive now that Collin’s Law has been passed. From here forward, if you haze, particularly through the administration of alcohol and drugs, and someone gets hurt, you’re going to prison and you’re going to prison for a long time,” Elliot said.
Gavarone expressed pride in the changes that have occurred because of Collin’s Law.
“This bill was created to change the harmful hazing culture on campuses and universities around the state. Every parent who sends their child to a university in Ohio should have confidence that their child will be protected from any such senseless and sometimes tragic activities. I am proud to have co-sponsored this legislation, which has brought the realities of hazing and its effects to the height of awareness,” Gavarone said.
Soon after his death, Shari and Corey Foltz, the parents of Stone Foltz, created the iamstonefoltz Foundation.
“Our mission is to provide education to students and parents on the dangers of hazing and the effects of alcohol poisoning,” the iamstonefoltz website said.
After Foltz’s death, BGSU joined the Foltz family in gathering the Inner University Council (IUC) to reinforce anti-hazing policies.
“The Foltz family had been heavily involved in getting the [IUC], which is comprised of the 14 largest public universities in the state of Ohio. Bowling Green is one of those, and the IUC in the summer after Stone passed away adopted a zero-tolerance policy to hazing,” Elliot said.
Prior to the passage of Collin’s Law, universities were not required to provide information pertaining to hazing incidents on campus, keeping students and families ill-informed about the hazing activity on their campus.
Since Collin’s Law has been enacted, there have been 147 incidents of hazing reported between 2018 and 2025 across Ohio’s 68 colleges and universities.
BGSU declined the request for an interview but provided secondary resources.
