9th Grade 1st Semester Research Presentation: Hazing

By: Grant Kerr, Lauren Bowser, Tatum Fiacco, Nazeela Khair, Maddy Meredeth

● Any activity that degrades or risks emotional and physical harm as part of an initiation

● Regardless of the person’s willingness to participate

Definition

Society’s Concerns on Hazing

Causes…

● 71% of people that have been hazed have suffered devastating consequences ● Sleep deprivation ● Loss of social skills ● Mental instability ● Post- traumatic stress syndrome ● Death

Statistics● 82% of hazing deaths were caused

by alcohol● 25% of incidents occurred with an

advisor’s knowledge● 10% of female NCAA athletes

were physically hazed including being branded, tattooed, beaten, and had their heads shaved

● 95% of the cases, students did not report that they were hazed

● more than 250,000 students were hazed when joining an athletic team

Hazing Incidents

In 2010 Kappa Sigma fraternity branded one of their new members using greek letters. They first branded him on his rear end, but it didn’t stop there. They continued to brand him, causing third degree burns that needed six surgeries.

At California State University Chico, pledges were locked in the basement of their fraternity house. Each pledge was forced to drink five gallons of water while ice cold water was thrown at them and fans blowing cold air at them. They were also forced to do push-ups and more physical exercises, while standing on one foot on a bench. The hazing continued the rest of the night and pledges were not allowed to use the restroom, so they had to ask permission to pee themselves. They drank more and more water until one of the pledges died from hypothermia setting into his brain and swelling due to water intoxication.

Water Torture

1959…

At the University of Southern California, the brothers of Kappa Sigma forced their pledges to swallow pieces of liver the size of club sandwiches without chewing.One pledge named Richard Swanson choked and died two hours later.

Plan of Action to Stop Hazing

Although the amount of people enrolling into college has decreased, this hasn’t affected fraternities and sororities numbers at all. 74 of the largest frats in the country has seen their pledge numbers rise +50% in the last 10 years. And this is only fraternities (men). to add to this statistically women are more interested in greek life and more likely to end up joining a sorority. Sororities and Frats are only greek life also. This does not even include sports teams, clubs, organizations, etc. But what do all these numbers mean? What's the point?

Plan of Action to Stop Hazing

The point is, that with the large increase in greek life, clubs, and organizations among the college atmosphere. There are more opportunities for hazing to occur and for it to be committed. People fall victim to hazing more often than not, but not always does the media learn about it or do people talk about it. So this means that not a lot of people know about it… But how do we change this, how do we make people more aware and put an end to hazing?: Make hazing known and understood at a national level. We need to make hazing a national discussion, because it is the only way it will be put on the “map”and eventually laws and more programs can be made to reduce the issue. But How do we do this? There are 3 major ways:

1. Protest: Enough protests and rallies can get hazing to be noticed by various media sources and if big enough, our government.

2. Petition: If a certain number of signatures is reached, A senator can bring it to legislation.3. Funding: If the problem of hazing was funded, this would go towards programs that help the victims of hazing

and help to stop the problem

ConclusionHazing is an awful act of abuse and torture wrongly done as initiation to new members of a club or team regardless of their willingness to participate

Hazing victims and their families face awful consequences and even the hazer is affected because the consequences they face can destroy their future.

This senseless act of violence can cause physical and emotional harm that sometimes can't be fixed

. Hazing is such a common act around the world but has yet to come to the nation's attention. We need to petition and protest in order to bring hazing to people's attention and end this terrible act.

Works Cited

http://static2.therichestimages.com

http://www.therichest.com

Common Excuses for Hazing(n.d.):n.pag.Dave Wetsol.Web.14.Nov.2015

Paul wan,Emily N. "Facts:What Hazing Looks Like/Hazing Prevention."N.P.,2015.Web.14.2015

"Hidden Harm".Hazing Prevention.n.p.,n.d.Web.28Nov.2015