Lawsuit Alleges Ohio HBCU Failed to Stop Deadly Underground Hazing
Hours after Wilberforce University freshman Savanna Jones texted her friends that she was “lowkey scared” to join an underground social club, a picture of her passed out on a bed began circulating across the campus. On April 29, the 18-year-old was set to join the Turtles, which she described in text messages to her friends […] The post Lawsuit Alleges Ohio HBCU Failed to Stop Deadly Underground Hazing appeared first on Capital B News.
Black News 
Hours after Wilberforce University freshman Savanna Jones texted her friends that she was “lowkey scared” to join an underground social club, a picture of her passed out on a bed began circulating across the campus.
On April 29, the 18-year-old was set to join the Turtles, which she described in text messages to her friends as an underground drinking organization. That evening, Jones and at least 10 students crowded in a dorm room on the private, historically Black university’s campus. The school has a no-alcohol policy, but when Jones entered the room, bottles of alcohol were already there, her family alleges.
What happened next is at the center of a dispute now playing out in the Ohio legal system. This much is known: Sometime in the early hours of April 30, Jones passed away in her dorm room, alone and severely intoxicated.
“Savanna was so out of it, she had to be carried back to her dorm room,” said Spencer Meador, an attorney with Cooper Elliott, the Ohio-based law firm representing the family. “Where were the resident assistants? Where was campus security? Where were the students? Why didn’t they call 911? Why didn’t someone help her?”
Jones’ death is the latest in a series of high-profile alleged hazing cases. In recent years, colleges, fraternities, and marching bands have been investigated after hazing incidents led to deaths or severe injuries.
In 2025, Caleb Wilson died after pledging Omega Psi Phi at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Also, last year, Rafeal Joseph, sued The University of Southern Mississippi and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. two years after he said he was hospitalized after a hazing incident that resulted in surgery and a blood transfusion. In Georgia, two students in the Fort Valley marching band were arrested on hazing charges. And in 2011, drum major Robert Champion Jr. was beaten to death during a hazing ritual for Florida A&M University’s marching band.
But Jones’ death at Wilberforce reveals that hazing isn’t just a fraternity, band, or athletic crisis. Hazing is a problem of belonging, Meador said. He also added that institutions are falling short when it comes to enforcing their own policies meant to keep their students safe.
The complaint was filed against Wilberforce, the university’s resident director, and several unnamed students. The Jones family is suing the university on four counts of neglect. The suit alleges Wilberforce failed to enforce its hazing and alcohol-free policies through dorm checks, allowed unsafe dorm conditions, and failed to have employees report conditions that led to a deadly night.
Capital B reached out to Wilberforce University for comment, but the school did not respond prior to publication.
Walter Kimbrough, a hazing expert and former HBCU university president, told Capital B that Jones’ case is different from previous hazing incidents that have rocked the Black college community. The Turtles are an unsanctioned organization that isn’t acknowledged by the university, he said. The attorneys will be tasked with proving Jones’ death was an initiation gone wrong versus an accident.
“This is going to be more nuanced because it’s not an identified group,” said Kimbrough, the former president of Dillard University in New Orleans. “Not only are they having to say this is hazing, but they have to now show that this is a group.”
According to Ohio’s law, anyone participating in hazing can be charged with a misdemeanor or a third-degree felony by the state.
Jones’ representatives say that the Turtles were well known on campus, particularly for drinking games in classrooms and residence halls. Those who did not report, Meador said, are complacent with the death of Jones.
Nationwide call for change
Across the U.S., more than 900 hazing incidents were reported between 2018 and February 2025, according to a new analysis by HazingInfo.org.
Since the death of Wilson, the Southern University student, there’s been a wave of Black Greek and other selective organizations cracking down on hazing. However, experts and families argue summits against hazing aren’t enough to stop the problem.
For the Wilson family, nearly seven months passed before investigators concluded in September 2025 that the 20-year-old’s death was a homicide. Shortly after, the family filed a lawsuit against the university, fraternity, and several people.
“Since Caleb’s death, we have discovered the horrifying truth about underground pledging, hazing, and the needless loss of life caused by longstanding and dangerous so-called ‘traditions,’” Wilson’s family said in a statement. “We intend to honor Caleb by doing everything we can to end hazing and to work toward building a culture where love, respect, and accountability replace hazing once and for all.”
Since then, Louisiana passed the “Caleb Wilson Hazing Prevention Act,” which aims to hold institutions accountable by requiring two-hour training for all students and faculty at postsecondary institutions, creating an online public database of reported incidents and how institutions responded.
Similarly, Meador, who is representing the Jones family back in Ohio, said they aren’t focused on money but on holding those accountable so it doesn’t happen again. But Kimbrough cautioned that there’s a tough legal standard to meet.
“If you want to hold an institution accountable, you have to say this is an unregistered, undefined group that they knew about. So there’s a high bar,” he said.
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