Lindsey Gilmore, a graduate student from Waterloo, Ill., approaches students to sign a petition for legislation that would make hazing that results in death or serious injury a felony in the state of Kentucky. Seventeen hundred crosses stood on South Lawn to represent hazing-related deaths per year. BRENDAN SULLIVAN/HERALD

On the night of Sept. 16, 2004, Gordie Bailey, then a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and 26 fellow pledges of Chi Psi fraternity were taken blindfolded to the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests, where they were told to drink four 1.75 liter bottles of whiskey and six 1.5 liter bottles of wine in 30 minutes. After the group returned to the fraternity house, Bailey was intoxicated. He was placed on a couch and left to sleep it off.

He never woke up.

About 60 Greek students at Western heard Bailey’s story Monday night in a movie about hazing. The movie event was the start of National Hazing Prevention Week at Western.

The movie, “HAZE,” told the story of Bailey, who died because of an alcohol overdose.

Housing and Residence Life and Greek Affairs put up 1,700 white crosses on DUC South Lawn Thursday in honor of the nearly 1,700 students who die each year from binge drinking.

This is the second year Western has recognized the hazing prevention week, said Gary Wiser, coordinator of student activities.

Lindsey Gilmore, a graduate student from Waterloo, Ill., put together this year’s events for National Hazing Prevention Week.

She said she started doing research on hazing this summer for a Student Affairs internship class she is taking this semester.

Gilmore is also one of the hall directors in Meredith Hall, which houses many sororities. She said her research is special to her because it directly affects the lives of women she interacts with every day.

After the movie, she led the group in a discussion about the movie and about hazing rituals.

The group named other campus organizations, including athletics and band, that they think haze.

Wiser said hazing is common.

“Whether it’s subtle or not, I see it going on on different parts of campus,” he said.

There haven’t been any issues with hazing among band members, Director of Bands Gary Schallert said in an e-mail.

“All of the bands in the Department of Music at Western are academic classes, and there are no initiation rituals involved in order to participate,” he said in the e-mail.

Schallert said he knows of some student-run bands at other universities that have experienced problems with hazing, but he credits Western’s strong faculty presence with maintaining a safe environment for students.

Athletics Director Wood Selig said in an e-mail that he’s concerned about hazing and has heard of some incidents among students and student athletes on campuses, though not at Western.

Gilmore also organized an event for National Gordie Day, which was Thursday.

She started a petition to get Kentucky legislators to make hazing that causes serious injury or death a felony.

Kentucky law places the burden of punishment for hazing on universities, according to Kentucky Revised Statute 164.375.

The penalties for hazing on a college campus should include expulsion or suspension, according to the statute.

Alicia Azimipour, a senior from Hendersonville, Tenn., signed Gilmore’s petition.

“Death should not occur in a situation where people are trying to fit in,” she said.