Severe paddlings, forced garbage ingestion and other initiation tactics have sparked the interest of UNC-system leaders, following recent allegations of hazing instances nationwide.
Dartmouth College made headlines earlier this month for recent allegations that hazing events, including swimming through a pool of vomit, took place in a Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity pledging event. And Florida A&M University dealt this past fall with marching band hazing incidents, which resulted in a death, according to CNN news reports.
Members of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments were prompted by these hazing incidents to start a discussion on the dangers of hazing at the group’s monthly meeting.
“We wanted to raise awareness about hazing and identify it,” said Lauren Estes, student body president at Appalachian State University.
The discussion precedes the Annual N.C. Higher Education Safety Symposium, which will examine campus safety, on March 28 at East Carolina University.
Peter Romary, director of Student Legal Services at ECU, said the hazing discussions during the symposium will tackle issues of prevention and awareness.
“The misconception is that hazing only occurs in Greek organizations,” he said. “It happens across the board, it happens in teams, in a residence hall — it has the ability to impact anyone.”
North Carolina state law upholds that the act of hazing is illegal, and “to subject another student to physical injury as part of an initiation, or as a prerequisite to membership” could result in a class two misdemeanor.
The UNC system has a strong no-tolerance policy on hazing, but studies suggest that most hazing incidents go unreported.
Most universities in the system use a self-reporting method to deal with hazing.
