How to Prevent Hazing

Fraternity hazing has become a serious problem throughout the world. Hazing is an action required of an individual who wants to join a specific group. This action humiliates the individual and often times, can cause serious injury or death. Most hazing occurs in high school sports, fraternities, sororities, and the military. The following steps will tell you how to stop hazing in your community.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Educate yourself and others around you about hazing and the effects of hazing. Many people do not understand that hazing is a serious problem in their community. However, if you educate yourself and others the problems associated with hazing will diminish over time.

2. Research, read, and join hazing prevention groups to educate yourself. Most colleges and universities have anti-hazing groups associated with their Student Affairs Department. Stop Hazing is a national website dedicated to just that (see Resources below). The last week of September is recognized as National Hazing Prevention Week and this would be the perfect time to get people involved.

3. Recognize hazing. After you become educated, recognizing hazing will be much easier. It is a good rule of thumb to recognize hazing as any action that involves humiliation or injury to a person who is attempting to join a group. Hazing ranges from beatings, being urinated on, placed in a coffin, or forced to drink alcohol against their will.

4. View hazing as a serious problem. To most people, some hazing is not seen as a serious problem. However, it is extremely important to see any kind of hazing as extremely dangerous. Most people involved in the hazing believe if they can get away with it once, it's ok to do it again. Sadly, the next time may be more severe and lead to permanent injury or even death.

5. Take action against hazing by reporting it to the proper authorities, then following up with them if no action is taken. If the action takes place in a high school go directly to the principal or superintendent of the school. If the hazing occurs in a college or university, the campus police or president of the school can help, and if it occurs within a military branch or unit, a high ranking officer should be made aware of the situation.

Resources

• Stop Hazing website
• National Hazing Prevention Week at HazingPrevention.org

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[misthaven]

on 7/2/2009 Nice article. Most colleges are hypocrites when it comes to hazing. They say they are anti-hazing, but their definition of hazing includes doing ANYTHING to be accepted into a Greek letter organization, even academic fraternities! It's nuts.