March 12, 2008

Hazing Is Widespread Among Student Groups, Study Finds

Boston — More than half of students who belong to campus organizations experience hazing, according to a national study presented here at the annual conference of Naspa — Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

While the practice is most common among fraternities, sororities, and varsity athletics teams, with more than two-thirds of their members experiencing hazing, it also happens to half of students in performing-arts organizations and more than a third of those in academic clubs, says a report on the study, by Elizabeth J. Allan and Mary Madden, both associate professors in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine at Orono.

Based on survey responses from more than 11,000 students at 53 institutions, the study defines hazing as “any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them.” The activities typically involve alcohol consumption, sex acts, and sleep deprivation, the report says, and they can result in physical and psychological harm, as well as death. Hazing is illegal in most states and classified as a felony in some.

But hazing is “woven into the fabric of student life and campus culture,” Ms. Allan and Ms. Madden say, and it’s often “dismissed as nothing more than silly pranks or harmless antics.”

Nine in 10 students who experienced hazing by the study’s standard did not think they had been hazed, the authors reported. And among students who did identify their experiences as hazing, most said its consequences were more positive than negative, and nearly all opted not to report it to campus officials.

The study also found that a quarter of coaches or advisers were aware of their teams’ or clubs’ hazing rituals, a quarter of such incidents occurred in public on a campus, and in more than half of cases, students posted pictures online.

Colleges’ efforts to prevent hazing are falling short, the report says. Institutions must do more than distribute anti-hazing policies and give one-time presentations, it says, and they should reach out to all student organizations, not just the usual suspects.

Ms. Allan and Ms. Madden plan to publish more reports on their data throughout the year. —Sara Lipka

Comments

1. “Nine in 10 students who experienced hazing by the study’s standard did not think they had been hazed”

   Maybe they weren’t hazed? maybe we just think they were. Hazing is more psychological than physical. What one person finds distasteful another may find enjoyable.

   — Phillip    Mar 12, 02:45 PM    #

2. Gee guys, this is GREAT!

   — Flounder    Mar 12, 03:41 PM    #

3. Of course hazing is part of campus culture. We have regulations on it: they’re called tenure & promotion policies.

   — Brian Abel Ragen    Mar 12, 03:44 PM    #

4. Good one Brian! :-)

   — Karen    Mar 12, 04:03 PM    #

5. if something has been done for a long time and it hurts people in the mind or in the body,example,sticking people in cages with hungry lions, and people wise up ,thus -school , then they should replace it with something smart,thus-school,think nice it feels good

   — faina silber    Mar 12, 04:33 PM    #

6. Phillip, get real. As a professional who works in student life, specifically with student organizations, what you said is absurd. Admittedly, there isn’t a consistent understanding of hazing, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The average student, when asked, thinks of hazing as forcing a student to “driink too much” or to “beat someone”, but we SHOULD all know that it’s much more.

   Hazing is BOTH psychological and physical, but doesn’t have to be both. When you deal on a daily basis with student organizations beating pledges, forcing them to sleep no more than 1 or 2 hours every day or two, threatening violence or death if they report their experiences, maybe then you’ll understand that what they are doing is wrong and take things seriously.

   — rcarsonk    Mar 12, 04:41 PM    #

7. “When you deal on a daily basis with student organizations beating pledges, forcing them to sleep no more than 1 or 2 hours every day or two, threatening violence or death if they report their experiences, maybe then you’ll understand that what they are doing is wrong and take things seriously.”

   I’m pretty sure that “more than half of students who belong to campus organizations” don’t experience that level of hazing. When I was an undergraduate I got to take a break from school for several years. I happened to be gone while they got rid of hazing in the early 90’s. When I came back I was looking forward to certain experiences. They had been done away with.

   The two I miss the most were an overnight event with the members of two organizations which worked closely together and a bonding experience that I looked forward to participating in. These were now considered hazing.

   The terrible hazing events? An overnight camping trip, and an incredibly powerful experience involving filling a cup with water and navigating an obstacle course blindfolded. After several unsuccessful attempts to arrive at the end with a full cup of water, a “big buddy” would step forward and offer to intercede on behalf of the younger person and would then fill their cup to the top and guide them to the end.

   Now I do agree that there are some nasty things going on that do need to be addressed, but locking everyone down is a little ridiculous.

   Neither extreme is healthy.

   — Phillip    Mar 13, 09:10 AM    #

8. There are some people who like to spank and others who like to get spanked. They meet and agree on rituals. Ecce homo.

   — marci    Mar 13, 01:25 PM    #

9. I’m glad to read this article. I am faculty member at my undergraduate alma mater, and have seen the chages from my undergrad days in the 80s and now. One thing I have long observed is how the fraternities and sororities are probably more closely monitored (and educated) than any other group w.r.t. hazing, and that other organizations (band, ROTC, athletic teams, cultural and professional clubs, etc) routinely engage in activities that would get any social fraternity “in trouble.”

   (I also agree with Philip above that while hazing is a problem, the one-size-ban-all solution has eliminated some great experiences. I personally thought that that city-wide “treasure hunt” I engaged in all day on a Saturday 20 years ago was a great time — no laws were broken, nobody was in danger, and we really bonded as a group. Today treasure hunts are called hazing, even though my kids and I routinely pursue “multi-cache geocaching” — the same thing!)

   — Rob    Mar 13, 02:50 PM    #

10. www.umaine.edu/hazingstudy/

    “Copious alcohol consumption, and … sex acts” was highlighted by U.S. News & World Report Mar. 12, 2008, as another flawed survey of campus hazing was touted by two professors from the University of Maine. They claimed to have surveyed 11,482 college students (but only 12% actually responded).

    Of the ones responding, according to the 50+ page report, 37% were “not involved in ANY campus activity” but still submitted opinions on hazing.

    The Maine professors admit that the students sampled are not typical of any campus: 64% female, 36% male, and 3% black.

    The heart of a hazing survey has to be the definition of hazing, and this study had a serious flaw, or used a definition likely to produce the desired results. If you include “Participate in a drinking game” as a form of hazing, no results can be taken seriously. Beer pong, and similar games with other names at some campuses, is the most common “drinking game” – and it’s a mile-wide gap to consider it as hazing.

    These hazing researchers did include beer pong as a form of hazing, and SURPRISE, it’s the most common form of hazing – nearly twice as common as anything else. 54% of the surveyed athletes and 53% of the fraternity and sorority members play beer pong. (A Google search for “beer pong” yields 2,000,000+ hits, and 219,000 images, for those not familiar with the common campus game which requires nothing except paper cups, beer, and a table.)

    The Maine survey cites an earlier flawed Alfred University hazing survey, which included “forced to return to campus before other students” as a form of hazing – making every football player, soccer player, band member, and cheerleader a hazing “victim” if they arrived early for fall practice.

    Hazing has severely hurt fraternities nationally, and college sports and sororities have also suffered. It is a problem worth studying, but the Maine professors’ study is too flawed to be useful.

    — DT    Mar 15, 11:35 PM    #

11. There are some people who like to spank and others who like to get spanked. They meet and agree on rituals. Ecce homo.

    Ah. Well of course. Let’s not forget to “Ecce etiam femina,” Bruta.

    — Robert    Mar 17, 03:51 PM    #

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