Anti-Hazing

As a first-year student at IUP, you have the opportunity to join a wide range of groups, including athletic teams, fraternities and sororities, performing arts ensembles, religious groups, public service organizations, and others. Entry into some of these groups may involve formal or informal initiation rites.

Although initiation practices can help new members become part of a group, they can also constitute hazing. Hazing takes various forms, but typically involves endangering the physical health of an individual or causing mental distress through, for example, humiliating, intimidating, or demeaning treatment. Often hazing involves pressure to drink alcohol, sometimes in dangerous amounts.

If you are joining a group on campus, it's a good idea to be an informed consumer and understand the risk of being hazed. Since hazing thrives on secrecy and deception, it is important to be wide-eyed when joining a group.

If you have been hazed at IUP or in the past, you are not alone. Hazing is a problem nationwide, and many college students arrive on campus already having been hazed in high school. Being hazed is serious and can have a significant effect on one's physical and emotional health.

If you want to help stop hazing, find out about the steps to take and the resources that are available. And if you are hazed, one of the most important things you can do is to resist participating in the “tradition” of hazing the next generation of members. As a member of the organization, you will have a chance to challenge hazing and help bring about a change in the culture of the group and campus.

IUP defines hazing as “any action, situation, activity or complicity in activity, or any mental or physical requirement or request placed upon any pledge, member affiliate, or alumnus which causes or has the potential to cause endangerment of the physical, emotional, or mental health or safety of the participant; physical or mental discomfort, pain, injury, fright, degradation, moral compromise, coerced sexual activity, or servitude; and/or the violation of any federal, state, or local law or rule or university policy, as directly or indirectly related to the initiation or admission into or affiliation with or continued membership in an IUP-recognized organization.” For more information on hazing, please visit IUP's Hazing policy website.

While hazing does not necessarily involve alcohol use by either current or new members, often alcohol consumption is either a central or contributing element.

Please see IUP's Policies and Procedures regarding alcohol use by recognized organizations. On the continuum of coercion to drink, an implicit condition may be as subtle as inviting new members to sit and drink with members while watching television. Or it can be more explicit, such as lining up fifteen shots and asking which of the new members can consume them in fifteen minutes.

Some fatal cases of hazing have been labeled as episodes of “binge drinking,” a term that suggests that the students who died of alcohol poisoning just used poor judgment and did not know when to stop drinking. It is more accurate to refer to such episodes as “ritualized drinking” in which there is systematic pressure applied to vulnerable new members that leads them to consume dangerous amounts of alcohol.

A common argument in defense of groups that pressure new members to drink is that they do not “force anyone to drink.” Comments such as “No one poured it down their throats,” and “They could have walked out at any time” ignore the reality of coercive power in groups and the fact that psychological force can be as strong as physical force.

Alcohol plays two main roles in hazing:

1. Consumption by current members. Intoxication of current members is in essence “strategic disinhibition” designed to achieve the following:

• Enhance the fun of making new members go through experiences that current members had to endure.
• Reduce anxiety or guilt about subjecting new members to mental and physical distress. Alcohol enables members who feel conflicted about hazing to temporarily suspend their moral standards.
• Provide a sense of “insurance” against culpability by allowing hazers to point to their inebriated state as the explanation for hazing incidents. The “we were drunk and things just got out of hand” defense seeks to obscure that fact that hazing is generally premeditated and systematic. Intoxication, however, is not a valid legal defense.

2. Consumption by new members. Providing alcohol to new members can serve a variety of functions, including the following:

• As a “social lubricant,” alcohol is used to increase new members' comfort with each other and facilitate self-disclosure that can enhance group bonding.
• Alcohol impairs the judgment of new members, thus decreasing their resistance to engaging in risky behavior.
• When combined with their lack of knowledge about what they are being subjected to, being intoxicated further lowers new members' power relative to those who are hazing them.
• The withholding of alcohol at times from new members while current members drink serves to underscore the “privilege” of full membership, thus increasing the desirability of both alcohol and membership.

Risks of Alcohol in Hazing

In addition to potential legal and judicial consequences, there are three health main risks that alcohol poses in hazing:

1. Acute risk to new members

Rapid consumption of large quantities of alcohol can kill by suppressing brain functions:

• A person can pass out and then drown in his or her own vomit because of an impaired gag reflex.
• A person can pass out and then suffocate with his or her face in a pillow.
• A person's breathing or heart beat can stop.

Heavy drinking can also lead to a wide range of negative consequences such as injuries and memory loss. It can also contribute to being sexually victimized. Whenever a person is severely intoxicated, it is imperative that someone call for medical assistance. Every student should be familiar with the signs of alcohol poisoning.

It is never worth risking someone's life for the sake of the group. When someone does the right thing and calls for help, IUP administrators consider the act of calling a mitigating circumstance when determining any sanctions that might apply to an organization. Not calling is an aggravating circumstance that will result in more severe sanctions.

2. Chronic risks to new members

One in ten students reports worrying that they might have a problem with alcohol or other drugs. Many of these individuals have either developed or are at risk of developing alcohol dependency (the clinical term for alcoholism).

New member processes that involve alcohol pose extra risk for students with alcohol problems. The consequences for the individual can be serious and can have a major negative impact on the group as well. By creating conditions where it is difficult for a person with an alcohol problem to decline to drink, the group contributes to the person's problem.

In some cases, members are either unaware of such risks or recklessly disregard them. In one case, a new member explained to current members that another new member was recovering from a drinking problem. Rather than exempt the recovering member from drinking rituals, the members targeted this person for drinking activities.

3. Risk to hazers and the group

In addition to increasing their own risk of the acute and long-term individual consequences described above, members who haze risk harming others and bringing sanctions upon themselves or their organization. When the members of a group that is hazing become intoxicated, they may make disastrous decisions. Impaired judgment can turn a premeditated act of hazing into a tragedy.

In the spring of 1980, a pledge at an Ithaca College fraternity died during a hazing episode. Whether or not this individual or the brothers in the fraternity had consumed alcohol prior to the incident is not clear. But the poor judgments of these individuals lead to both the death of a fellow student and the abolishment of the entire fraternity system at the college.

Why Look for Alternatives?

Some students who haze contend that hazing results in positive outcomes for the group (e.g., increased closeness), the individuals who are hazed (e.g., personal growth from overcoming challenges), and the persons who do the hazing (e.g., pride in continuing traditions). But these positive outcomes can be achieved through non-hazing activities that avoid the negative effects that often result from hazing.

Strong group unity and a sense of individual accomplishment are important for groups throughout society to achieve. Many businesses, for example, invest considerable resources to foster effective group processes and enhance individual motivation. And they generally do so through positive, encouraging strategies that build people up rather than tearing them down.

Let's say you are a proponent of hazing. Now imagine that you have graduated and are in your first job as a sales representative for a major corporation. At a staff meeting your boss asks for suggestions on how to strengthen the functioning of the sales team. You recommend that he blindfold the team members, make them form a line, and then scream insults and threats at each of them. Would you argue that such an exercise would lead to increased sales? Wouldn't it be better if you could recommend a set of constructive, group-building strategies that you learned as a member of a group while in school?

Some members of groups that haze say that one of the biggest barriers to changing their practices is that they don't know what else to do that would accomplish their goals. On one hand, if the desired goals include making others endure the pain and degradation you went through, then there are no real alternatives. On the other hand, if the goals are to increase group unity, promote individual growth, instill positive values, and foster an identity with the group, then there are options. Employing alternatives to hazing doesn't mean holding hands in a circle singing Kumbaya. A program of activities aimed at replacing hazing will likely need to incorporate some level of challenge or intensity. It may also need to incorporate non-hazing mechanisms of self-governance for holding new members accountable to the expectations of the group.

What Else Could Be Done?

Below is a list of ideas that can be used as substitutes for hazing or to strengthen a non-hazing program. A few points about the list to keep in mind:

• Some activities may seem more relevant to all-male groups than all-female groups. Similarly, some are more relevant to fraternities and sororities than other organizations.
• Activities cannot include consumption of alcohol by new members.
• Traditions can be created as well as inherited. While the first year of an activity doesn't constitute a tradition, future cohorts of members will see it that way.
• Some group activities can be non-hazing or hazing, depending on how they are done. For example, having new members do skits can be a non-hazing activity. But not if members verbally degrade the performers or throw food at them. Similarly, scavenger hunts are not inherently forms of hazing (as any day camp counselor can tell you). But when the list includes things that must be stolen or would likely be humiliating or embarrassing to obtain, then it becomes hazing.
• Having current members participate along with new members in certain activities, such as cleaning the chapter property, can shift the activity from being hazing (i.e., servitude) to non-hazing.

Community Service/Philanthropy

• Divide the new members into two groups with current members as team leaders and conduct a clean-up on a Saturday morning.
• Serve meals once a week to homeless community members, or distribute food through the local food pantry.
• Require new members to perform a set amount of community service hours in support of community agencies. Have the new members appoint leaders within their group develop a plan through the Office of Service Learning at 724-357-2235.

Athletic Competitions

• Have new members compete in basketball, volleyball, or softball against current members or other groups.

History and Values Exercises

• Have new members learn about the history underlying values of the organization. Divide them into groups and have them prepare PowerPoint presentations about the organization. Make the presentations preparation for the work world: have current members dress formally. Invite alumni to attend.
• Have new members conduct twenty-minute interviews with subsets of current members to learn about their backgrounds and beliefs. Hold new member meetings in which each new member delivers a report on his/her interviews in order to “introduce” the members who have been interviewed.
• Have current members and alumni speak to current members about the values of the group and what they hope the new members will contribute and receive as part their experience.

Mentoring

• Set up a “big brother/big sister” mentoring program. Assign the mentor responsibility for teaching about the values of the organization and monitoring the new member's participation and academic performance (to ensure minimal expectations are met).
• Have the mentor take a new member out to dinner or to an athletic or cultural event at least three times.

Entertainment

• Put on a talent show. Include categories such as karaoke singing, instrumental music, skits, impersonations, and magic tricks. Since it is not the new members' responsibility to entertain the members, have willing members from each year participate and entertain each other.

Sharing Common Activities

• Have new members join members for meals two to three times a week. Have new members sit by themselves and talk freely with each other. As initiation day approaches, invite them to sit with current members once a week symbolizing their gradual entry into full membership.
• Hold study hours in which new members are expected to be present and studying with current members. At the end of a study period, order pizzas.
• Divide new members into two teams. Give them each a box full of miscellaneous materials. Give them one hour to devise a competitive game using all of the items (only rules: everyone must plan and no one can get hurt). Have the two teams compete against each other.

Rituals

• Hold formal initiation rites that have a quality of solemnity. Formal attire, candlelight, and symbolic actions (e.g., taking an oath or signing a document) may be integrated into the ritual.
• Invite alumni to address the new member group as part of the initiation.
• Have representatives from the new member group speak about the meaning of their experience and hopes for the future.

Accountability Practices

• Have each new member meet with his or her mentor weekly to review the new member's knowledge of the group and its members.
• Provide written guidelines for new members outlining the expectations of the group.

The university prohibits hazing.

To learn more, see the IUP Anti-Hazing Policy from the Office of Student Support and Community Standards.

For current news coverage and archival media stories about hazing, visit StopHazing.org.

The purpose of StopHazing.org is to serve as a resource for accurate, up-to-date hazing information for students, parents, and educators. The site includes links to news stories about hazing. Over 30,000 visitors access the site each month.

Myth: The definition is so vague that anything can be considered hazing—it's such a gray area.
Reality: Read the definition and then ask yourself the following questions:

• Does the activity involve mental distress such as humiliation or intimidation?
• Does it involve physical abuse (e.g., sleep deprivation)?
• Is there a significant risk of injury or a question of safety?
• Would you have any reservations describing the activity to your parents or a university official?
• Is alcohol involved?
• Would you be worried if the activity was shown on the evening news?

If the answer to any of the above questions is “Yes,” the activity is probably hazing.

Myth: New members want to be hazed.
Reality: Occasionally there are new members who say they want to be hazed. But generally most do not want to be humiliated, intimidated, or physically abused. “Wanting” to be hazed usually means desiring an intense, challenging experience. It is not necessary to haze new members in order to challenge them.

Myth: Hazing only “a little bit” is not really that bad.
Reality: While there are more and less severe forms of hazing, even low-level hazing crosses the line. Even a “little” hazing can have an unintended negative impact on new members. And if the action meets the definition of hazing, the group will get in trouble if caught.

Myth: Hazing builds unity among new members.
Reality: Hazing may create unity among new members, but often there are costs as well. The effect of hazing on a group can be like the effect of a hurricane on a community: residents feel closer to each other afterward but some may be suffering. Would anyone suggest that it is good for a community to be hit by a hurricane?

Myth: Hazing is the only method for holding new members accountable.
Reality: While holding new members accountable may be important, there are effective ways to do so without hazing. Effective parents, teachers, and bosses all know ways to hold others accountable without humiliating, degrading, or physically hurting them. These skills can be learned.

Myth: “If it doesn't kill you, it only makes you stronger.”
Reality: If this statement was true, then child abuse and torture would be prescriptions for personal growth. So while it's true that difficult situations can help individuals grow and prepare for life's challenges, many experiences that don't “kill” nevertheless do damage because of their psychological or physical impact.

Myth: Hazing is okay as long as it is not physically dangerous.
Reality: Mental hazing can be brutal and leave lasting psychological scars. Some hazing victims report that the mental hazing they endured was worse than being physically abused.

Myth: Hazing is a way to improve the attitude and character of a new member.
Reality: Hazing often generates anger and resentment. Plus it teaches that “values” such as deception, coercion, and intimidation are acceptable means for achieving your goals.

Myth: As long as there's no malicious intent, a little hazing should be okay.
Reality: Even if there's no malicious “intent,” safety may still be a factor in traditional hazing activities that are considered to be “all in good fun.” For example, serious accidents have occurred during scavenger hunts. And when members are drunk, they sometimes subject the new members to more than they originally intended.

Myth: Hazing continues because everyone in the group supports it.
Reality: Many group members may not approve of hazing but go along with the activity because they mistakenly believe everyone else agrees with it. This “reign of error” helps to perpetuate hazing. The strongest supporters of hazing are often the most vocal and dominant members.

Myth: If someone agrees to participate in an activity, it can't be considered hazing.
Reality: In states that have laws against hazing, consent of the victim can't be used as a defense. This is because even if someone agrees to participate in a potentially hazardous action, it may not be true consent because of peer pressure, intentional or unintentional threats, and the withholding of information about what will occur.

Myth: Since alumni and current members were hazed it is only fair that the new members go through it too.
Reality: “Tradition” does not justify subjecting new members to abuse. Traditions are created by groups, and groups hold the power to change or eliminate them. It only takes one year to break a hazing tradition. Remember that the founding members of organizations were not hazed.

Myth: Eliminating hazing makes an organization just like any other social club. It will be too easy to become a member.
Reality: Hazing is not necessary for an initiation experience to be challenging and unique. A well-organized, creative program will build group cohesion and foster character development. Any group can haze new members—that's the easy way out. It takes vision and commitment to run a good, non-hazing program.

Myth: Enduring hazing is a sign of strength.
Reality: While it does take a certain strength to make it through hazing, many people submit to it because they desire acceptance by others, are afraid to resist, or feel a need to prove to themselves or others that they are worthy or tough enough (e.g., “a real man”). These motives reflect conformity, fear, and insecurity, which are not qualities typically associated with strength. In contrast, standing up to a group of abusive peers or breaking free from hazing takes courage. That's real strength.

Myth: Hazing is no more than pranks that sometimes go awry.
Reality: Accidents happen during hazing, but hazing is not accidental. It is premeditated abuse that can be emotionally traumatic, physically dangerous, or even life-threatening.

Myth: Hazing practices preserve the uniqueness and exclusiveness of the group.
Reality: Since hazing practices are secret, group members often don't realize that their “unique” practices are typically variations on common themes: extensive memorization with verbal abuse for incorrect answers, sleep deprivation, servitude, kidnappings, drinking rituals, calisthenics, lineups, cleaning up messes, isolation of members, theft, impossible games, sexual embarrassment, inappropriate clothing, absurd scavenger hunts, unpalatable food, and physical violence.

Myth: Other groups on campus will not respect an organization that does not haze.
Reality: A positive, educational program will result in a better all-around organization and the ability to attract the best new members. Being able to recruit the best students will earn the respect of other groups.

Myth: Hazing only exists in fraternities and sororities.
Reality: Hazing incidents have occurred across the country in athletic teams, military units, performing arts groups, religious groups, and other types of clubs and organizations. Hazing occurs in high schools as well as on college campuses. National fraternities and sororities do not condone hazing practices.

Myth: Hazing must be okay if the military does it.
Reality: The U.S. military does not, in fact, condone hazing practices. The military does engage in a unique type of training for dangerous military operations. This training is conducted by professionals to prepare military personnel for putting their lives on the line for their country. According to the Department of the Army's TRADOC Regulation 350-6: “Hazing is strictly prohibited” and is “an offense punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

IUP Anti-Hazing Policy

Pennsylvania Hazing Law

StopHazing.org provides accurate, up-to-date hazing information for students, parents, and educators. There are informative articles on all forms of types of hazing, including high school, military, athletic, and fraternity/sorority hazing.

Fraternities and Sororities

Strengthening the Bonds: A Positive Fraternity Pledge Program for the 21st Century
Written by a former fraternity brother, this article argues that hazing builds dissension and eventual retribution and presents a seven-step process for pledging that builds unity, teamwork, and loyalty without hazing.

Legal Trends Reflect Grim Future for Greek Hazers
Dr. Walter Kimbrough, the author of Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities.

Reactions You Might Have

Reactions to being hazed vary. Two people who go through the same experience might feel quite differently. Some people feel relatively positive about going through hazing (seeing it as an achievement), some feel mildly annoyed, and others have strong negative reactions. Reactions depend on the extent of the hazing, individual characteristics, and past experiences. For people who have been abused in the past, hazing can be re-traumatizing.

• Anger, confusion, betrayal, fear, resentment, embarrassment, humiliation, hopelessness, helplessness, anxiety, and depression are all normal reactions to being hazed. Some individuals have become suicidal.
• Physical consequences can include exhaustion, headaches, hangovers, illnesses, injuries, and scars.
• It's common to believe that things won't get worse, though they often do.
• You may want the hazing to stop, but don't want to get the group in trouble.
• You may want to leave, but fear the consequences or feel like you've invested too much already to walk away.
• Self-blame can occur and is fueled by hazers who tell new members that they will let others down if they leave or tell anyone what is going on.

Testimony

The impact that prolonged hazing can have on one's mental health is described first-hand by Adam Zwecker '04 in an excerpt from his award-winning paper “Hazed and Confused.”

“It is not hard to imagine that drastically recreating oneself to take on a whole new persona must take a significant emotional toll on a pledge. The pressure of having to constantly manage one's impression upon those around him and the perpetual difficulty of acting a part around one's new group of friends to maintain a desired status among an in-group leads to a number of psychological struggles. Not surprisingly there were several kids who suffered meltdowns or became depressed to the point of contemplating suicide... After weeks of attempting to recreate one's personality many pledges must find themselves wondering who they are or who they have become.

“Some pledges successfully circumvent the process either because they already fit the mold of a Delta Gam (not the real name) before they begin to pledge or because they are too headstrong to allow themselves to be broken down and recreated. Others aren't so fortunate. In my pledge class we had several kids suffer from depression that was either brought on or exacerbated by pledging, and at least one of them contemplated and later attempted suicide.

“General melancholy and constant anxiety were everyday realities for most pledges, who lived in fear of the next line up or verbal assault by their older brothers. There was a look in the eyes of all of the pledges, who had to eat at a separate table from all of the brothers, of paranoia. Meals typically became silent meals more out of the fear of drawing the attention of frat brothers who might decide to turn a routine dinner into another opportunity to degrade their brothers to be. On weekends it was not unusual to see anxiety overcome many pledges as their fears and suspicions stemming from the approaching Sunday line up began to eat at them. Since quizzes and chores assigned to pledges were intended to be nearly impossible to accomplish, it was inevitable that some pledges would have unfulfilled duties and incorrect answers to quiz questions that would soon come to haunt them in the form of an additional 100 push ups and being ceremonially chastised by frat brothers.”

What You Can Do

• Stay connected with friends outside of the group. Groups that haze often try to isolate their new members from others who might challenge them to question what they are going through.
• Talk with others about what you are going through. You do not have to keep it a secret. Demanding secrecy is a common practice designed to protect people who are abusing others. You have a right to tell anyone anything you want about what you are going through, even if you were made to promise that you would not do so.
• Seek guidance from your parents/guardian or other family member.
• Refuse to participate. Others before you have done so.
• Join together with other new members to refuse to be hazed. There is power in numbers because groups depend on getting new members to join. Some fraternity members admit that they became very worried when it appeared that a group of new members might rebel, because the financial consequences to the group would be serious if the new members left. Hazers don't want new members to realize how much power they have, so they work hard to keep them subjugated.
• Leave the group. This is hard to do, but is always an option. Walking away from hazing takes strength. Don't believe it if anyone who tries to tell you that it is sign of weakness or that you weren't tough enough to hack it. Quitting when you are being hazed takes character.
• Talk to a health care provider to help you sort out what to do. University Health Services provides the following services for students who have been hazed:
  • University Health Services (724-357-2550)
  • Counseling Center (724-357-2621)
  • Report the hazing

If you are concerned that someone you know is being hazed, you can make a difference by helping that person.

The demands of hazing often isolate students from their friends who are not in the group. By having a friend who is outside of the group provide support, the person who is hazed can think more clearly about what options are available. See If You Are Hazed for insights into the experience of someone who is hazed.

How to Talk with a Friend about Your Concern:

• Tell the person that you are concerned.
• Describe what you have observed (e.g., lack of sleep, changes in your friend's mood, energy level, ability to do work).
• Ask your friend what he or she has had to do as part of joining the group.
• If the person describes being hazed, underscore that hazing is wrong and that he or she doesn't have to go along with it.
• If you suspect that your friend is being hazed but he or she won't say so, ask if there are things going on that he or she isn't supposed to talk about. If that is the case, it's very likely that the person is being hazed.
• Let your friend know that it's okay to withdraw from an organization at any point.
• Offer to support the person and ask how you can be helpful.
• Let your friend know what resources are available for support and reporting.

If you are concerned about someone who you suspect is being hazed, you can also talk to university staff members for advice about how to support. You can also make an anonymous report via the Tip Hotline at 724-357-2255.

If you are thinking about joining a group (e.g., fraternity, sorority, performing group, team, club, organization), consider whether or not doing so might involve some type of initiation.

Initiation into a group can be a single event or an extended process. See the Message for First-Year Students to read a statement on hazing.

Since the process of joining a group may involve hazing, it is important to be an informed consumer of the experience for which you are signing up. Here are suggestions to reduce the likelihood of winding up in a situation in which you are hazed:

Ask Current Members

• What kinds of things do you have to do to join the group?
• What is the group's position on hazing?
• Has the group ever been in trouble for hazing?
• How long does the pledging/new member/joining process last?
• Does the group have a policy of non-secrecy?
• How much time will be involved?
• Do they have a hell week?
• If your organization initiates members after an intake or recruitment process, do you pledge “underground?”

If the group members cannot give thorough descriptions of what new membership involves (e.g., service projects, pro-social group-building activities) or seem evasive, have your guard up. Even if they say that they do not haze, be cautious if they are unable to describe what they do.

Ask Other Students

• What do you know about this group?
• What kind of a reputation does it have?
• Have you heard about what they do with new members?

Check Other Sources

• Search the Penn for articles about the group
• Speak with staff (e.g., Student Involvement and Leadership Development, Fraternity/Sorority Life and Student Engagement, Office of Support and Community Standards)

Many individuals want hazing to stop. Some are friends or relatives of people being hazed, some are students who are being hazed themselves, and others are members of organizations that haze. They may even be hazers themselves, albeit reluctant ones.

In order to play a role in preventing hazing, there are six steps that individuals must go through (adapted from Berkowitz, A., 1994) to move from being bystanders to active change agents:

1. Recognize the existence of hazing. Individuals may become aware of that hazing is occurring through observations or reports from others. One barrier to recognizing hazing is a lack of understanding of the indications of hazing. For example, a student who is being hazed may exhibit excessive fatigue or appear disheveled. Or the sign may be more explicit, such as wearing odd clothing. Another barrier to recognition is avoidance of questions about high-risk situations. If you know that someone is going through something called “hell week,” you may need to ask him or her questions to find out what that involves.
2. Interpret the practices as a problem. Even when people are aware that someone is being hazed, they may not view the activities as being problematic. They may consider the practices to be silly or stupid, but not recognize them as being harmful or illegal. They may or may not consider what is occurring to be hazing, but even if they do they must see it as a problem or else they will not take action to challenge it.
3. Believe that they have a responsibility to do something. Even if individuals recognize that hazing is occurring and they interpret the behavior as a problem, they will not do anything about it if they do not believe that they have a responsibility to do so. But in a community, the responsibility to challenge harm to others is a shared one. It is therefore important for individuals to recognize the potential role they have in stopping hazing.
4. Know what to do. Some individuals are aware of hazing and feel a responsibility to do something about it, but they do not know what should be done. Whether there is a need to encourage someone to leave a group, make an anonymous report, or challenge a group to change its practices, it is important for bystanders to have some understanding of what should be done in order to make a difference.
5. Acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to act. Someone who is motivated and knows what must be done may still need to acquire specific knowledge (e.g., how to make a report, what alternatives to hazing exist) and the skills (e.g., a rehearsed plan of what to say) to execute what he or she knows will be required for change.
6. Overcome fear of potential negative consequences. If a person possesses the knowledge and skills to take action, he or she may still not take action because of fears (e.g., anger from the person they are trying to help or retaliation from the group being challenged).
7. Take action. If steps 1-6 are met, a person will be prepared to take action to help stop hazing. Some people pass through steps 1-6 in an instant, while others may struggle over time and not reach the point of action.

Since some students want change but don't know what to do in place of hazing, this site describes alternatives to hazing that will help strengthen groups and initiate new members. You can also find resources from national organizations.

If you are a member of a fraternity or sorority that hazes, you can contact Fraternity/Sorority Life and Student Engagement for guidance on how to conduct a model non-hazing new member program. You do not need to disclose that your group is engaged in hazing. Just indicate that you want to develop a model new member program.

Organizations that do not haze can play an important role in stopping hazing on campus.

Here are some ways that your group can help:

• Develop a non-hazing policy statement and share it with prospective and new members. Communicate openly and up front that you do not haze.
• Speak out in public settings against hazing, such as at meetings and conferences. Being vocal and visible in your opposition to hazing will help shift the campus culture towards less tolerance for hazing.
• Consider a non-secret approach to your initiation. Even some groups that do not haze nonetheless like to keep their practices secret. But being open about your practices would help contribute to a climate of openness on campus that would challenge the secrecy that perpetuates hazing.
• Offer to advise other groups who are looking for guidance in developing non-hazing approaches to initiation.
• Be vigilant in monitoring the evolution of your own practices, especially if your organization has engaged in hazing in the past. Maintaining a non-hazing approach requires ongoing attention, especially as membership changes over time.

Members of organizations that haze may hold a range of views about their practices. If your organization hazes new members, you may support those practices, oppose them, or have a mixture of feelings.

The choices individuals make about whether to haze other people can be influenced by their perception of what others in the group believe. Sometimes hazing continues because members mistakenly believe that everyone in group supports it. Without knowing what others think, members must make assumptions. When they see the entire group engaging in hazing, members might understandably assume that everyone in who is participating approves of the activity.

In reality, there may be some or even many members who do not approve but nonetheless go along with the activity because they believe everyone else agrees with it. This “reign of error” helps to perpetuate hazing. Those members who support hazing may create a climate in which other members do not feel comfortable or safe expressing their concerns or opposition.

If you are not sure whether your group's activities constitute hazing:

Read about the Campus Code of Conduct and review the descriptions of hazing.

If you know that your group hazes, but are not convinced that it is a problem:

Consider the arguments for and against hazing and think about the following ten reasons to stop hazing:

1. Regardless of potential benefits of hazing to the group, there are costs as well.
2. Hazing is either harmful or creates a significant risk of harm, whether mental or physical.
3. Getting caught can result in the suspension or elimination of your organization.
4. You may be charged as an individual under the Campus Code of Conduct or Pennsylvania law (lawyers are expensive even if you are found not guilty).
5. A lawsuit can ruin your group and financially devastate you and your family.
6. A reputation for hazing can negatively impact members' future employment or graduate school applications.*
7. There are effective ways to achieve the group's pro-social goals without hazing.
8. Learning ways to build group cohesiveness without hazing will develop skills that can be used after graduation.
9. You will be more likely to generate committed alumni support.
10. You won't have anything to hide or regret and will leave a positive legacy for future generations of members.

*When members graduate and develop professional lives, they often do not want to be associated with an organization that hazes. As one alumni who owned a major software company said, “If I were reviewing applicants and found out that one had been involved in hazing during college, I wouldn't want him in my firm.”

If your group hazes and you want to challenge it:

• Raise your concern with other members that you trust. Form an informal subgroup of members who would be willing to raise their objections to the leaders and larger group.
• If the group has relationships with alumni members, seek their support.
• Frame your argument at multiple levels. You may be able to convince some members that hazing is intrinsically wrong and harmful to individuals. Other members may only be persuaded that the risk of getting caught and the consequences that could result make hazing not worth continuing.
• Take a stand that you do not believe that new members should have to go through what you did.
• Offer ideas for alternatives to hazing that can achieve the positive outcomes of initiating new members while eliminating the risks and costs that come with hazing.
• Seek support outside of the group. Talk with friends and ask their advice.
• Refuse to participate in the hazing.
• Do not feel obligated to keep the hazing a secret. You may want to let new members know what is going to happen to them.
• Consider quitting in protest.
• Consider reporting the hazing to university officials.

Be aware that challenging hazing can evoke considerable resistance from some group members. It is possible that other members may pressure, harass, or threaten you in an attempt to preserve the status quo. Getting support from at least one other person in the group who will stand with you can help considerably. Challenging hazing takes courage.