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Sept. 15, 2006

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Hazing

For some reason I can mostly remember the absurdity of it. On an early Saturday morning the student’s father rushed into the hospital, apologizing for his morning breath. He drove in from Houston immediately after the emergency call that his son was taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. Not much time for personal hygiene when your child may not live.

In this case, the student did live, because his new friends who hazed him eventually did the right thing – they saved a life rather than worry about the consequences to their club.

Identifying most hazing is easy. The challenge for students and staff is often recognizing and addressing subtler forms of hazing. Generally, activities that are expected of only new members and that have no relation to the mission of the group are considered hazing. An athlete with social anxiety disorder is made to stand on a table in a dining hall and sing. Is it harmless and funny? Probably to the onlookers, but it can be frightening and extremely embarrassing to the victim.

Think you know what constitutes hazing? Consider this:

There is no such thing as voluntarily consenting to hazing. Violators and victims mistakenly think that if a person submits by choice, hazing is okay. It isn’t, not under our policy or Texas law. By the very nature of its definition, the act offers little in way of choice. Victims feel a strong pull and intense pressure to join and be accepted in a group. It takes extreme courage to walk away – or stand up to hazing, or to bring these issues to light.

In addition, hazing springs from a dangerous power imbalance. Asking or demanding that others do subservient work (such as cleaning someone’s apartment) or humiliating activities (dressing in a costume meant to shame) is not fair to new members, who feel pressure to comply.

New members shouldn’t be expected to serve the pleasurable or sadistic urges of experienced members. Taking advantage of the powerless is senseless. The path to membership into any group shouldn’t be endurance of embarrassing and dangerous activities.

Certainly rites of passage and initiation serve important roles for students. Indeed, many people have found great connections with others through teams and organizations. Activities should build up the individuals and groups, not tear them down. Groups can form meaningful bonds without destroying the dignity of new members. It happens all the time in the workplace, in clubs, churches, families, and across campuses, including ours.

However, alumni and parents often report that they bonded with a group because they endured hazing rather than in spite of it. This can be a dangerous message because it glorifies hazing. Nostalgic stories of the “best years” can ring hollow to students who must endure what occurs today.

Hazing someone is easy. Designing a meaningful program for new members is hard work. Students have an opportunity and obligation to welcome new students, have fun, and develop the fundamental mission and goals of the team or group and the individual members.

I saw the looks on the faces of the young men who met the parent on that Saturday years ago. Fear, remorse, regret, loneliness… is it anyway to treat a friend?

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