Southern University will hold a public memorial service on Friday, March 14, in the campus’ F.G. Clark building for student Caleb Wilson, who authorities say died while participating in a fraternity hazing ritual.
A public viewing will be held from noon to 5 p.m., immediately followed by the celebration of life service.
Wilson, 20, was a junior mechanical engineering major at the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based HBCU. The Louisiana native
played the trumpet in the Human Jukebox marching band and was in the process of pledging to the Omega Psi Phi fraternity when he died on February 26.The incident occurred when Wilson and eight other fraternity pledges were at a warehouse in Baton Rouge, police say. According to police reports, fraternity members wore boxing gloves and
hit the pledges in their chests.The men later dropped Wilson, who was unresponsive, at a local hospital and claimed that he collapsed after he was hit in the chest while playing basketball, according to court records obtained by USA Today.
The student’s death was “the direct result of a hazing incident where he was punched in the chest multiple times while pledging to Omega Psi Phi fraternity,” Baton Rouge Police Department Chief Thomas Morse Jr. said at a March 7 news conference.
Four days later, the Baton Rouge Police Department announced that Caleb McCray, 23, had been charged with criminal hazing and manslaughter. He turned himself in on March 6 and was later released on bond. Two other suspects, Kyle Thurman, 25, and Isaiah Smith, 28, were charged with criminal hazing; both men were taken into custody.
Southern University has paused all fraternity and sorority activity for the rest of the academic year.
Another funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 15, at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Kenner, Louisiana, Wilson’s hometown.
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