Hazing in High School Athletics: Recognition and
Prevention
It is the right of a student who is
participating in high school athletics to be safe and free from humiliation and
intimidation. The following information is
what you need to know about recognizing and preventing hazing in your school.
Defining Hazing:
Hazing can be a difficult term to precisely define as the hazing activity may
be engaged in on a voluntary basis or be seemingly “light-hearted” in nature. Typically in the high school setting, older
members of the group force new members to show subservience to the veteran team members. As a result, the self-esteem of the new
members is lowered because of being forced to complete humiliating acts or to endure
intimidation. Hazing is an act,
including physical, mental, or psychological, which subjects another person, voluntarily
or involuntarily, to anything that may abuse, mistreat, degrade, humiliate, harass, or
intimidate him/her, or which may, in any fashion, compromise his/her inherent dignity as a
person. In most hazing incidents, student
athletes are asked to violate school policies and state or federal law (i.e., use of
tobacco or alcohol).
Definition of hazing from the
NFHS’ Interscholastic Athletic Administration magazine (Winter, 2002):
Hazing can be defined as: any act or
ceremony which creates the risk of harm to the student or to any other party and that is
committed as a form of initiation into a particular club or activity. Hazing includes, but is not limited to, activities
that involve the risk of physical harm, whipping, branding, ingesting vile substances,
sleep deprivation, over-exposure to heat or old, restraint, nudity, or kidnapping. Hazing could also include actions or simulations
of a sexual nature, activities that create a hostile, abusive, or intimidating environment
for the student.
Who is hazed?
Hazing occurs in most sanctioned and non-sanctioned groups. These groups could be athletic teams,
music-related groups, art or theater groups, peer groups, and gangs.
The prevalence of
hazing.
While it is not easy to know the extent to which hazing incidents are
occurring in the United States due to the secretive nature of hazing, yet one study from
Alfred University has been done to determine the extent and nature of hazing in U.S. high
schools. This study found that of those
polled 48 percent of the students that belonged to a group reported that they had been
subjected to hazing activities. Thirty-six
percent of the students reported that they would not report a hazing incident because they
feel that there is no one to tell and 27 percent feel that the adults will not handle the
situation “right.”
But doesn’t hazing make students feel
part of the group?
It is hard to create and feel unity within a group of students when some
members subject others to humiliation and embarrassment.
Hazing creates tension and can become divisive and dangerous. In the hazing study, 71 percent of the students
that had been subjected to hazing reported that they experienced negative consequences
(e.g., getting into fights, being injured, poor academic performance, fighting with
parents, feeling confused, angry, guilty, or embarrassed, and difficulty eating, sleeping,
or concentrating).
Is there a law against
hazing?
The state of Ohio does have a law addressing hazing. It states:
The
State of Ohio's Hazing Law is set forth in Section 2307.44 of the Ohio Revised Code. Any
person who is subjected to hazing, as defined in division (A) of Section 2903.31 of the
Revise Code, may commence a civil action for injury or damages, including mental and
physical pain and suffering, that result from the hazing. The action may be brought
against any participants in the hazing, any organization whose local or national
directors, trustees, or officers authorized, requested, commanded, or tolerated the
hazing. If the hazing involves students in a primary, secondary, or post-secondary school,
university, college, or any other educational institution, an action may also be brought
against any administrator, employee, or faculty member of the school, university, college,
or other educational institution. If an administrator, employee, or faculty member is
found liable in a civil action for hazing, then notwithstanding Chapter 2743 of the
Revised Code, the school, university, college, or other educational institution that
employed the administrator, employee, or faculty member may also be held liable. The negligence or consent of the plaintiff or any
assumption of the risk by the plaintiff is not a defense to an action brought pursuant to
this section. In an action against a school, university, college, or other educational
institution, it is an affirmative defense that the school, university, college or other
institution was actively enforcing a policy against hazing at the time the cause of action
arose.
Section 2903.31
(A) As used in
this section, "hazing" means doing any act or coercing another, including the
victim, to do any act of initiation into any student or other organization that causes or
creates a substantial risk of causing mental or physical harm to any person.
(B) (1) No person
shall recklessly participate in the hazing of another.
(2) No administrator, employee, or
faculty member of any primary, secondary, or post-secondary school or of any other
educational institution, public or private, shall recklessly permit the hazing of any
person.
No administrator, employee, or faculty member of any
primary, secondary, or post-secondary school or of any other educational institution,
public or private, shall recklessly permit the hazing of any person.
What can schools do to prevent hazing?
Schools should take steps to stop hazing. Here are some suggestions:
- Educate all coaches, students, parents, and other district
employees about hazing awareness and the dangers of hazing.
- Take seriously and investigate all rumors and reports of
hazing.
- Implement a strict anti-hazing policy and include a hazing
section in the Athletic Code of Conduct that includes repercussions that are as serious as
the act of hazing (e.g., suspension from team) that is to be signed by the student
athletes and their parents.
- Hold coaches responsible for what occurs on their team; do not
let them plead ignorance. Hold them accountable and if they suspect hazing and do nothing
about it, the coach should be aware that their job is at-risk.
- Create alternative team building or spirit-building activities
or traditions that carry a positive message (e.g., volunteering at a race for charity,
going to a ropes/challenge course, or building a brick wall piece-by-piece as team goals
are met).
You can learn
more about hazing…
Many schools lack an anti-hazing
policy. Read the cases
below (actual cases from around the country) and ask yourself how you would respond if
they occurred at your school...
- Four years ago a student suffered through a
hazing ritual to become a high school choir member.
“I was beaten with a two-by-four, and left welts across my rear, and I
was hit about four times. I was then covered in human waste, Crisco oil, peanut butter,
things were shoved down my pants.”
- When a student showed up for picture day at high school, he
expected to pose for a snapshot with the track and field team. Instead, he says, he found himself facedown on the
athletic field, the victim of humiliating sexual assaults by his teammates.
“A kid grabbed me from behind and held me,” said the 17 year-old.
“And another one ran up and tackled me to the ground. And then two others came and
held me down to the ground, and one of them started putting their fingers into my rectum
area, through my sweats and underwear.”
- Two football players testified in juvenile court that they
rescued a teammate after he allegedly was sexually assaulted with a foreign object in the
locker room.
- A freshman gymnast alleges that one night she was surrounded
by 30 upperclassmen and forced to participate in a mock sex act as part of a team hazing
ritual.
- Thirteen football players were suspended after a junior
varsity player was beaten up after entering the varsity locker room. The player was treated for fluid in his lungs and
later quit school.
- Three baseball players were suspended and charged with battery
for overpowering a sophomore player and cutting his hair.
- Members of a girls’ athletic squad charged that they saw
evidence of male athletes being sodomized with fingers and objects. A parent of a young
man accused of hazing says due process was not followed.
The basketball coach was indicted on three counts of felony child abuse.
- Fourteen female field hockey players have lost team status
after younger players said they’d been subjected to sexual simulation acts and
demeaning activities. Lawyers for some of the
parents said they would sue to get their daughters back on the team.
- Five seventh-grade football players said eighth-grade players
bruised them following a paddling. “Isn’t
no big deal,” said the father of one eighth-grader.
- Eight students were arrested and seven expelled after a new
wrestling teammate was injured in a hazing ritual. Police say the victim, a student with
learning disabilities, was stuffed inside a locker, slammed into a wall and sodomized with
a plastic knife in a series of attacks. The
victim suffered a serious knee injury in one incident and is receiving counseling for
emotional trauma. A team member also
reportedly told police that both the wrestling and the basketball coaches at the school
saw the victim hog-tied and did nothing.
IS YOUR SCHOOL PREPARED TO
HANDLE A HAZING COMPLAINT?
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