Frat Members Charged in Freshman's Hazing Death

Died as a result of excessive drinking

Nearly two dozen members of a Northern Illinois University fraternity were charged with hazing crimes Monday after a student died following excessive drinking at a party last month.

On the night before his death, freshman David Bogenberger went from room to room in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, answering a series of questions in exchange for vodka and other liquor over a two-hour period, authorities said.

It was a part of an annual ritual known as "parents' night," an alcohol-infused party in which senior members of the fraternity and associated sororities are assigned as mentors to new members. Bogenberger, a 19-year-old finance major from Palatine, had recently pledged the house in an effort to make friends at his father's alma mater.