Terrible: the story of Sanda Dia
Suddenly I saw his face pop up. On Facebook, on Instagram, and now all over the internet. The face of 20-year-old Sanda Dia, who unfortunately did not get to experience his 21st year of life.
He passed away on December 5, 2018, during his ‘student initiation’ (hazing) from his student association Reuzegom. And only last week did it become really clear what had happened there. Reading about it made me incredibly nauseous. Well, I already don't think highly of student associations — actually, especially not of the accompanying hazings and the ‘mandatory’ drinks in the years after, but this really takes the cake.
Sanda Dia was an engineering student at KU Leuven and was one of the eighteen students present during the student initiation. A brief summary of what the newcomers had to endure: eating live goldfish, mice, and eel. Drinking a liter of gin as a ‘starter’, then continuing to drink half liters of beer. Throwing up? Just keep going.
Three students had to participate in this trial by fire, of which Sanda Dia was one. All three had to sleep in Dia's ‘kot’ (student room). All three completely wasted after the mandatory drinking. Faucets were hermetically sealed in the kot, because they were not allowed to drink water. Not to sober up and not to quench their thirst.
Why on earth would you participate in this? I really don't understand. When I heard around me that people had signed up for the corps, my reaction was always: ‘WHY?!’ Why would you voluntarily let yourself be tortured for several days? To belong to some club? The idea that people want to do this to themselves completely escapes me.
But then the fatal evening of December 5, 2018. Police found Dia when he had a body temperature just above 27 degrees; it later turned out that he had to spend the entire evening in a tub of ice water. He later died in the hospital.
And his fellow students, who gave him all these tasks, must have been horrified? Paralyzed with guilt? Well... not exactly. WhatsApp groups were deleted, photos removed. Dia's kot was cleaned up, as was the place where it all happened. The students have cunningly tried to erase their traces. That you can do this to someone and then your first reaction is how to get out of it as best as possible.
Getting out of it almost happened: KU Leuven gave them a community service sentence of 30 hours. While a boy died because of their actions. 30 hours?! But now they must appear in court on September 4, after these new details have leaked. It will be decided there whether they will be prosecuted “for intentional administration of harmful substances, unintentional killing, and degrading treatment”.
On social media, #JusticeforSanda is going viral; very good that this is getting attention. Absurd that they initially get away with a community service sentence of 30 hours. And then just get to pick up their lives, finish their studies, start a family, and continue with life as if nothing happened. Moreover, sources say that after Dia's death, they just kept partying. I just can't believe it.
