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Preventing and
Eliminating Hazing
throughout Collegiate
Athletics By Michael Crowley
What is Hazing?
Hazing is defined as any activity
expected of someone joining a group
(or to maintain full status in a group)
that humiliates, degrades or risks
emotional and/or physical harm,
regardless of the person's
willingness to participate
(StopHazing.org). Although it is a
tradition dating back to the Ancient
Greece over 2000 years ago, hazing is
far from socially accepted. In the
days of these Greeks hazing was
used to teach young members of
society to have respect for their
elders and academic institutions.
Many philosophers including Plato
criticized hazing as completely
unnecessary and often wicked and
evil (Clemmitt 142). With hazing
facing such adversity from the mind
of Plato himself and most reasonable
thinking minds throughout history it
is a wonder how or why the practice
still exist today.

Hazing does more than just exist
today. It is not something that comes
up every few years; it is not
something practiced by few. Hazing
is happening all over our society
every single day. The most common
environments hazing can be found
are College Greek Societies, the
Military, and among sports teams.

Hazing is used to form respect and a
bond between new members of an
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organization and its current
members, however sports team are
different. New members to an
athletic team pose a threat to its
current members (Clemmit 146).
These new players are coming onto a
team, in which they will most likely
be fighting to take the current
position of an existing member, and
they are therefor often subjected too
much worse forms of hazing.

Ty Cobb was one of the greatest
baseball players to ever pick up the
ball, however that does not mean he
was bypassed in the hazing process.
According to Clemmitt, in his first
year, Cobb faced brutal hazing in
which the crowns of his ball caps
were smash and his prized
homemade baseball bats were
destroyed. This torture often brought
the worst out in Cobb and resulted
in fistfights with other players.
When Cobb was asked to recall this
hazing he remembered it as, the
most miserable and humiliating
experience Ive ever been
through.(Clemmitt 147)

What is the current situation?
In 2008 a National Study of Student
Hazing, done by the University of
Maine, 74% of Collegiate Varsity
Athletes have been subjected to at
least one form of hazing (Allan and
Madden 16). These athletes are
faced with different forms of hazing
from being forced to drink large
amounts of alcohol to participating
in sex acts and everything and
anything in between (Allan and
Madden 19).

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The most commonly reported hazing
rituals in college are often involving
different forms of drinking games.
These games are designed to
intoxicate participants as much and
as quickly as possible, and usually
involve embarrassing actions for the
losers if not everyone playing the
game. According to another study
done by the University of Maine
measuring the most frequently
reported hazing rituals in college
student groups, 26% of all reported
hazing incidents involve drinking
games (Allan and Madden 17). As
we look at a similar study done by
the same group focusing on Varsity
Athletes in College we see that 47%
of reported incidents have involved
drinking games (Allan and Madden
19).

Hazing rituals are not left just to
drinking games and can sometimes
be very potentially dangerous both
physically and emotionally. The next
most common forms of hazing
reported among Varsity Athletes
include sleep deprivation or
exposure to harsh weather without
proper clothing (Clemmitt 136).
Some of the more serious violent
hazing rituals can involve paddling,
slapping, pushing, shoving, burning,
shocking, tackling, and excessive
exercise. Several incidents have
caused serious injury and sometimes
even death for college athletes in
completely unnecessary events of
acceptance for new members.

The most recent high profile case of
hazing to make global headlines has
been the death of the Florida A&M
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University drum major Robert
Champion. Champion was beaten to
death by several of his band mates in
a historic ritual in which pledges
were punched, kicked, and beaten
while they attempted to make it to
the back wall of the bus (Sutton).
According to Joe Suttons CNN
article twelve former FAMU
students were faced with
manslaughter charges and could
have served up to 15 years in prison
for the actions that happened on that
bus in 2011.

Furthermore, Orlando Sentential
writers Stephen Hudak and Denise-
Marie Ordway explain the first hand
accounts of Ryan Dean a co-
defendant in the Champion case that
pled guilty in March of 2013. Dean
explains that he, like so many other
including Champion, resisted the
hazing ritual, which was known as
Crossing Bus C. However, many
students, including himself, were
forced to cave to hazing from the
peer pressure and constant
reminders that they werent really
part of the group (Hudak and
Ordway). With constant reminders
of exclusion it is no wonder that so
many students choose to participate
in what seems like idiotic hazing
rituals.

How to prevent Hazing?
There are no federal laws against
hazing, however, when bullying
overlaps any form of harassment
federally funded schools, including
but not limited to colleges and
universities have an obligation to
step in and stop the harassment
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(StopBullying.gov). According to the
federal government website
managed by the U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services,
StopBullying.org, when a school
cannot properly or adequately
resolve a situation the U.S.
Department of Educations Office for
Civil Rights and the U.S. Department
of Justices Civil Rights Division may
be called upon to help. While there
are no true over branching federal
laws preventing hazing, there are
currently 44 states in the US that
have their own laws against hazing
(StopHazing.org).

It is not only the Justice Department
who should be responsible for
preventing hazing, but rather more
so, the responsibility should lie on
the shoulders of school officials.
When there is a case of Athletic
hazing, both the President of the
school and the Head of the Athletic
Department should be involved.
Hazing is no longer just a case of
simple boys will be boys or harmless
fun, but instead people are seriously
being affected both physically and
emotionally. The most serious
actions should be taken in order to
eliminate hazing from our society as
soon as possible. Many schools are
doing what they can but we should
encourage all schools to follow the
models set by some of these
forerunning universities.

Drexel University is setting a great
example with its Hazing Prevention
Awareness Week which ran from
September 30 through October 5
(Drexel University). All week long
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there were different programs and
speakers to encourage student to
exclude themselves from acts of
hazing. This is something all schools
should look into doing especially
during the beginning of the
semester; right as many new
students and student athletes are
arriving on campus for the first time.

According to the Student Handbook
coming straight from the Dean of
College at Dartmouth College hazing
is strictly prohibited and punishable
through many means. Any form of
hazing reported and found to be true
can result the responsible group or
team to suffer a multiple term
suspension from social activities, loss
of new member recruitment, and/ or
loss of competition rights for a
specified period of time (Dartmouth
College). The most serious hazing
reports may result in the revocation
of recognition of the specified
organization by the college
(Dartmouth College). Every college
and university needs to follow these
guidelines and have similar
standards for hazing prevention.

The NCAA is a very influential
organization not only is athletics but
to a much more widespread
audience because it often has the
responsibility of protecting our
student athletes who often become
tomorrows great leaders of society.
Understanding its great
responsibilities, the NCAA does a lot
in the prevention effort of hazing.
The NCAA provides speakers and
presentations which both aim to
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recognize and eliminate all forms of
hazing.

Both Federal and state level
legislators need to begin to work
with school officials and NCAA
representatives in order to create a
more serious hazing prevention and
elimination plan. With the both the
physical and emotional safety of our
young student athletes at risk, we
must do better.

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Allan, E. & Madden, M. (2005). Examining and transforming campus hazing
cultures: Pilot study report. www.hazingstudy.org.
Federal Laws." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/federal/>.
Clemmitt (2013, February 8). Preventing hazing. CQ Researcher, 23, 133-156.
Retrieved from http://0-library.cqpress.com.www.consuls.org/cqresearcher/
Hudak, Stephen, and Marie Ordway. "Defendant gives eyewitness account of
Champion's hazing death." Orlando Sentinel. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
<http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-03-08/features/os-famu-hazing-robert-
champion-eye-witness-20130308_1_aaron-golson-robert-champion-lasherry-
codner>.
"StopHazing.org -- "Educating to Eliminate Hazing"." StopHazing.org --
"Educating to Eliminate Hazing". N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.stophazing.org/laws.html>.
Sutton, Joe, and Chandler Friedman. "Manslaughter charges added in FAMU
hazing death." CNN. Cable News Network, 5 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Mar.
2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/04/justice/florida-famu-hazing/>.
"Welcome." Office of Student Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
<http://osl.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k65178&pageid=icb.page490241
>.