This week at SUNY Cortland and many other schools was known as “National Hazing Prevention Week.” Many events were held to stress how dangerous hazing can be and how it can affect college students lives forever.
Messages were sent out every morning to student emails spreading information about hazing. The SUNY Cortland definition of hazing is “Any activity that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or which endangers the mental, emotional, or physical health or safety of a student, or which destroys or removes public or private property, for the purpose of initiation, admission into, affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in an organization or team whose members are or include students at SUNY Cortland.”
There have been many instances where students were seriously harmed, or even faced death while being hazed for their club. SUNY Cortland sophomore Hannah Golden says “I think that hazing in Greek life and sports should be taken more seriously because people from my hometown have passed away from rushing orders.”
An example of a hazing incident gone wrong was the “Bible Study” ritual at Louisiana State University. In this case pledges rushing the Phi Delta Theta fraternity were covered in mustard and hot sauce. They were then asked questions about the fraternity and if answered incorrectly, were forced to drink 190-proof liquor. 18-year old Maxwell Gruver was found unconscious the next morning, later dying in the hospital from alcohol poisoning.
Situations like these need to be taken a lot more seriously. Many alternatives are given in the emails from SUNY Cortland like “Create mixed teams and play sports, board games, video games, etc. Or just attend an event together and bond that way.”
Hazing is a very serious matter than is easily preventable. If we work together as a community we can ensure that this risky behavior gets put to an end and no more young lives are at stake.
