Once revered as tradition, hazing has quickly become a controversial topic as decades have passed--and the temporary wounds and bruised egos developed into permanent injuries and even death. Hazing, in it’s simplest form, is an initiation process that is conducted across a variety of social groups, but notably within fraternities and sororities. These acts generally involve some form of humiliation, abuse, or harassment which then allow the individual to join their community. Although focus on the victims and their families have taken precedent, universities and colleges have now been under scrutiny for not taking enough preventive measures in order to ensure safety for all parties involved, and furthermore, the poor decisions made after hazing …show more content…
Within a month of his arrival to Radford University, however, he would be found dead in his home with a blood alcohol level of .48, six times the legal limit for driving in the state of Virginia. His fateful death would be discovered to be a result of hazing, specifically “excessive alcohol intake,” in order to gain access into the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Moxley). Unfortunately, circumstances such as these happen across college campuses in the United States yearly, but this was not always the case. Hazing is “any activity expected of someone joining a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers regardless of the person’s willingness to participate” (Holmes). This form of harassment takes place in a variety of social groups and communities, but has a prevalence within greek culture on college campuses. When fraternities first gained traction in the 18th century, they primarily sought to promote a level of scholarly and ethical conduct. Recently, however, fraternities have carried a mixed image, stemming from the outlandish reports of “hazing, alcohol abuse, and anti-intellectualism.” In an attempt to decriminalize the current state of fraternities, universities have contrasted this with their high graduation rate, widespread community service, and the member’s willingness to …show more content…
In a nationwide study conducted by the University of Maine, 9/10 students who have experienced hazing in college did not consider themselves to be hazed. Additionally, ⅓ students reported that, while they themselves have not been hazed, they have witnessed hazing personally (Allan and Madden). The lack of education allows this behavior to continue because the students who are subjected to this initiation are not aware that this is not acceptable. Furthermore, if students who witness hazing view this not as an issue, but a “rite of passage,” they cannot prevent physical or psychological harm that may befall the victim. This extends to administration as well. In a study conducted nationwide by the University of Maine, 36% of students said that they would not report hazing primarily because “there’s no one to tell,” and 27% feel that adults wouldn’t handle the situation right. A staggering 95% of hazing victims admitted to never having reported the hazing done to them (Allan and Madden). It is crucial for policies to be implemented that teach students and administration how to deal with hazing, whether it is seen or heard. Recently, in the University of Arizona, a program was founded called “Step Up,” which encourages bystanders to become “active interveners.” Within this program, “the bystander effect” is analyzed, in which one person refusing to step in and solve a problem
High school graduation, one of the many milestones in an individual’s life. Teenagers are given a diploma, maybe a few cords, and if they worked extra hard, they may even receive a medal; these are all tickets to their next destination, a whole new world. They journey into the adult world, into the college world all on their own. They don’t know what lies ahead of them, they don’t know that the most unimaginable can happen, and they don’t know that college is a hunting ground. In the documentary The Hunting Ground, sexual assault and rape are bought to light with heart-wrenching statistics and inspiring stories to change society’s rape culture.
The Penn State crisis intensified as the investigations resulting in child sexual abuse charges for the former assistant football coach. More than two years later, “Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of child sex abuse” (Crandall, et al, 2013, p. 20). As the reputation of Penn State University stood in the balance, there was a division in stakeholder perspectives as to the accountability of the university (Crandall, et al, 2013). The four men that had an ethical responsibility to the university to uphold the well-being of the boys affected by Sandusky’s reign were no longer employees of Penn State. The interim President Erickson had Paterno’s statue removed because honoring a man with knowledge of child abuse sends the wrong message and hinders healing.
The second part of Pat Conroy’s book, The Lords of Discipline, discusses the positive and negative effects of cadre’s hazing upon the participants of the plebe system, particularly that of Bobby Bentley. Bentley is one of twelve people chosen as the target of the cadre’s Taming. Bentley best exhibits the positive and negative impacts of the plebe system due to his lengthy endurance of the Taming. On one hand, Bentley becomes the target of terrible violence and humiliation simply because of events that he cannot control such as his uncontrollable bladder.
We frequently find out about sexual assaults through various news sources and survivors, but what instances are focused solely on a college or university campus? On school grounds, females are more likely to get assaulted than a male. Many will contend that a young woman, who is dressed provocatively or who has had an excessive number of alcoholic beverages, may have had it coming for her. In Desperation Passes by Phil Hutcheon, we discover that the outcome of a fraternity party affects the life of a young drunk woman, who is sexually assaulted by a football coach at a motel. Throughout the following, paragraphs we see how her story unravels.
Hazing became an issue in many colleges and universities during the 1980s. It has turned into a very detrimental doing that was soon introduced to be a health hazard in the medical field in 1982. Because hazing has become huge in fraternities and sororities, nurses and doctors will most likely know males from ages 19 to males in their 20s are in hospitals from suffering hazing incidents during February and April or September and October. Many students suffer from different types of hazing practices. Injuries and accidents are caused from alcohol intoxication, heat exhaustion, electrocution, sexual torture, and other dangerous hazing practices (Hazing Remains Secret…).
Today’s college students are becoming more sensitized to the harshness of the outside world. Instead of learning to be resilient to others’ comments, they are being taught to take offense to any little word that could in some way be connected with a bad experience they might have had, and college administrators and professors are aiding this childish behavior. They are backing this movement to make adults into children. With this new movement to rid college campuses of any speech that may make anyone feel uncomfortable, students are being treated less like adults, and more like elementary children.
If this was true, then why does it keep happening? For instance, studies have shown that at least one student has died of hazing-related injuries every year since 1970 (Source Two). Fraternities are simply out of excuses. Fraternities are out of excuses.
I felt safe knowing that the sororities were strict with hazing and were very welcoming. I noticed the
Although the actions of the students of the Sayreville hazing incident suggests that they thought and acted as adults, this incident of their high school careers should not be used to ruin their future in colleges and life. As most of the students who were involved in the hazing were minors, they could be tried in a juvenile court and have their records closed. According to the New York Times ‘s article on the matter, it stated “A conviction in adult court results in a criminal record, and generally, longer prison terms” (DOYNE). If the students were tried as adults, they could be faced with longer prison sentences and have a criminal record. But whether they are tried as adults or juveniles, teenagers convicted of sex crimes are required to register as sex offenders for at least 15 years (Michon).
In society and college campuses, sexual assault occurs quite frequently. According to an estimation one third of women experience a forced sexual experience at least once in their life and most of the time it occurs in colleges. Men have also been reported to be victim of sexual assaults mostly by other men. Most of the time the sexual assault is planned and perpetrated by a third person, who is known to the victim of incident. Drug and alcohol use play role in this issue and contribute to the problem as most of the time the victim and perpetrators are under the effect of alcohol or any other drug during the incident.
“Health and Behavioral Consequences of Binge Drinking in College” and “Too Many Colleges Are Still in Denial about Alcohol Abuse” by Henry Wechsler, Charles Deutsch, and George Dowdall discuss the same topic: binge drinking in college. Although both of the writings have the topic in common, they are both written differently. “Health and Behavioral Consequences of Binge Drinking in College” is a scientific study on how many students are binge drinkers in college and what consequences rise from that while “Too Many Colleges Are Still in Denial about Alcohol Abuse” is a persuasive essay about what actions need to be taken in order to reduce the amount of binge drinkers in college. Even though essays serve different writing styles, they both deliver
The students four years after high school mark the moment in life where students become independent and free. Because of the freedom, college students are more suspectiblento impetuous actions like drinking, doing drugs, and even commuting sexual assault. Sexual assault on campus has been a huge topic that has been discussed in the country and “colleges have done little to stop violence in their campus” (Dick, Ziering). In 2015, Brock Turner, a student from Stanford, sexually assaulted a young woman on campus. Turner claimed that because he was drunk, was with friends, and saw a “promiscuous” female students, that pressured him to collimating such a heinous crime.
In the military hazing, has become a big issue. It has got to the point where soldiers are now getting hurt,
Dorothy Siegel’s argument in the essay “What Is Behind the Growth of Violence on College Campuses?” is persuasive. Siegel persuades the reader by presenting her points and validating them with facts and statistics. One of the strongest aspects of the argument is that contrary to popular belief, students are committing a majority of the crimes that take place on college campuses; the students “themselves may become the assailants”, not persons from outside of the campus. She further supported this by pointing out that students tend to know their attackers. Another strong aspect of her argument is that campus violence is due to substance abuse.
The study shows that, half of college student involved in clubs and organization have put their lives at risk because of hazing (Allan 11). College and high school student are the most individuals who are affected with this problem. Some of them feel good about it and some say that, they are “willing to endure this torture because they feel it necessary to be accepted as part of the group” (Chaney 5). Which mean that, these individuals are basically do this just because they want to be in the group but is not because they are convinced that hazing is one way that can put them