Family of Hazing Victim Caleb Wilson Erects Billboard to Demand Accountability
For the next two days, a towering electronic billboard in downtown New Orleans will serve as both a memorial and a call to action.
The display honors Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old engineering student at Southern University who died in February following a fraternity hazing ritual in a Baton Rouge warehouse. Organized by his aunt and uncles, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the dangers of hazing and demand accountability for the tragic loss of a life full of promise.
The digital tribute, situated at 1000 Poydras St. in the Central Business District, will cycle through multiple powerful messages through Saturday, strategically timed to coincide with a major gathering of Omega Psi Phi members in the city, as reported by NOLA.com. Thousands of fraternity members from Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma are in town for the organization’s Ninth District annual meeting, just blocks away from the billboard.
“In honor of our nephew, Caleb Wilson, we created this billboard campaign to demand accountability, raise awareness and ensure that his story is never forgotten,” said Renata Colbert, Wilson’s aunt, in a statement released alongside three of his uncles. “Caleb was a brilliant, kind-hearted young man with limitless potential — a gifted musician, a loving family member, and a light in the lives of everyone who knew him. That light was extinguished far too soon because of hazing.”
One version of the billboard shows a smiling photo of Wilson on Southern University’s campus, alongside the message: “Caleb Wilson. He had a future. Hazing took it away.” Below it, his birth and death dates — November 1, 2004, to February 27, 2025 — are followed by a haunting line: “Caleb was failed. Completely. In the most unthinkable, irreversible way.”
Another slide lists the milestones Caleb will never reach — his 2026 graduation, the start of his engineering career, his wedding day,and fatherhood. Only one is marked with a check: his March 15 funeral.
“These billboards are a public declaration of our grief, our love, and our fight for justice,” his family wrote. “They speak to what Caleb lost — but also what the world lost. We want every student, parent, educator, and community member to understand the real cost of hazing. This is not tradition — it’s trauma. And we will not allow it to continue to go unchecked."
Caleb’s death has sparked a wave of proposed reforms across Louisiana. Tony Clayton, chairman of Southern University’s Board of Supervisors and district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, has proposed shifting all fraternity and sorority recruitment and intake to graduate chapters, removing the process from undergraduates entirely.
Meanwhile, State Rep. Delisha Boyd (D-New Orleans) has introduced a bill titled the “Caleb Wilson Act,” which would mandate stronger anti-hazing education for college students across the state.
The billboard campaign follows a series of recent developments, including the suspension of two Tulane University fraternities for suspected hazing, and comes just a month after Caleb’s funeral in Kenner.
For his family, the campaign is as much about remembrance as it is about reform.
“Caleb’s story shouldn’t end with tragedy,” Colbert said. “It should spark change.”
