About Hazing

The following conduct is defined as hazing when engaged in, whether on or off University premises, for the purpose of admission, initiation, or continued association with a group or organization:

Recklessly or intentionally:

• Engaging in or enabling an act or situation that subjects another person to the risk of
  • Physical harm
  • Emotional distress, humiliation, degradation;
  • Harm from unreasonable requirements that interfere with a student’s ability to function as a student, including financial requirements outside of membership dues; 
  • Diminished physical or mental capacity, or
• Causing or encouraging another person to violate any law or University regulation.

Hazing typically takes one of two forms: physical or psychological. 

Physical hazing includes, but is not limited to, such things as forced consumption of alcohol or other substances, forced tattooing or branding, paddling, hitting, and calisthenics.

Psychological hazing includes, but is not limited to, such things as sleep deprivation, creation of excessive fatigue, compulsory servitude, restrictions on personal hygiene, yelling, swearing and insulting new members, being forced to wear embarrassing or humiliating attire in public, and severe psychological shock or humiliation.

A bystander is anyone who observes a situation where someone else might be in danger or at risk of being hazed. Bystanders have the power to intervene and prevent hazing from occurring or continuing.

If you believe you have observed hazing, please report the situation. If there's an immediate threat to health or safety, call 911 right away.

While bullying and hazing both involve harmful behaviors that can cause significant damage to victims, they differ in several important ways:

Bullying typically involves targeting individuals with the goal of excluding them. Bullying behaviors are often random or spontaneous, and the perpetrator generally has no intention of accepting the victim as a peer or group member.

Hazing, by contrast, specifically targets new or prospective members of a group with the ostensible goal of including them as members after they've "proven themselves." Hazing activities are typically planned and systematic, usually involve group participation or approval, and occur within specific organizational contexts. The connection to group acceptance or participation is what primarily distinguishes hazing from other forms of mistreatment.