Hazing in Schools Gains National Attention

Studies show that hazing is affecting a younger demographic. The University of Maine reported that 47 percent of students have experienced hazing even before starting college.

Hazing activities are generally considered to be physically or emotionally abusive, and sometimes dangerous. While alcohol use is common in many types of hazing, other examples of typical hazing practices include: acting as a servant, sleep deprivation and restrictions on personal hygiene, being yelled at or insulted, being forced to wear embarrassing or humiliating clothes in public and physical beatings. Hazing may also include consumption of vile substances, as it did recently at a Massachusetts high school.

High school hazing and athletics

	Director of Athletics Christopher Bergeron at Andover High School said he intended to suspend the athletes from playing for varying periods of time due to violations of the school's athletic policies and rules.

Last summer, two Andover, Massachusetts High basketball players claimed that two older teammates urged them to play a game called "wet biscuit" while at a team summer camp. The loser apparently had to eat a cookie covered in a bodily fluid.

Although the hazing took place last summer, news of the incident didn’t surface until recently in the North Andover Eagle-Tribune, Steve Gibbs, the director of the camp, called the alleged incident "disturbing and reprehensible."

Seven students have reportedly been kicked off the basketball team, while two team members were expelled.

A life lost due to hazing

	The Marching 100, Florida A & M University's ultracompetitive marching band, has been suspended indefinitely.

Hazing has also come under much scrutiny after Robert Champion, a student from Georgia who was a drum major for Florida A&M University (FAMU), died after a football game on Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel.

Champion had reportedly been punched by a small group of band members on the bus as part of a hazing ritual, then vomited and passed out. When others on the bus could not revive him, they called for an ambulance. He died a short time later at a hospital.

A criminal investigation is under way, as well as a probe into whether warnings about hazing were ignored.

Four students have been dismissed for their role in Champion’s death and 26 band members were dismissed. Four separate investigations have been ordered, including one by Gov. Rick Scott, who asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to step in, and one by the university president.

Stopping hazing in high schools

	According to the group stophazing.org, 44 U.S. states have hazing laws in place including Florida and Massachusetts.

While many colleges and universities in the United States have anti-hazing rules, very few high schools have the same, according to the group stophazing.org.

The organization suggests hazing be incorporated into anti-bullying activities and peace clubs, and that students, parents, teachers, coaches and administrators discuss misconceptions about hazing at the beginning of every school year.