"They took him into a room and five members of the fraternity attacked him. They punched and kicked him. I asked if he ever got the urge to swing back and he said, `We can't.' He said he had been kicked in the head."

This recollection comes from Felicia Taylor, the former girlfriend of Michael Davis who died in February of 1994 after being beaten to death while pledging Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity at Southeast Missouri State University.

The day after this conversation, Davis collapsed after submitting to another beating at the hands of his fraternity brothers. Had they called an ambulance, he probably would have survived. Instead, they stopped to get some food at a Taco Bell directly across the street from a hospital, then drove the unconscious boy home and put him to bed. At 1:30 in the afternoon his roommate, another pledge, saw green foam coming from Michael's mouth. After finally calling 911, the fraternity brothers lied to the rescue workers by telling them that Michael had been injured playing football. After the police and ambulance left they tried to remove all fraternity-related evidence of the hazing from the apartment.

However, when the coroner removed Michael's clothing during the autopsy, he found a small red spiral notebook hidden in Michael's underwear -- a notebook Michael had on him the moment he died which contained the unintentially ironic notation, "Hazing is the physical conditioning of the mind."

According to the office of the prosecuting attorney, Davis had "broken ribs, a lacerated kidney, a lacerated liver, and bruises all over his chest, neck, back and arms. He died from internal bleeding in his brain."

Four other pledges were badly bruised and sore from the continual beatings they had received over the week before Davis died. These included being hit with books and beaten on the soles of their feet with a cane. As a result, sixteen defendants were charged with hazing. Seven fraternity brothers also either pled guilty to or were convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Most of the seven served short jail sentences.