Preventing Hazing at Harvard crimson shield

 

Reasons Not to Haze and
Why Hazing Still Exists

Reasons Not to Haze

College is demanding and often overwhelming. Harvard can also feel like a very large and intimidating place. That’s why joining student organizations or playing on an athletic team may provide a good outlet for students, which also comes with the added social benefit of friends and emotional support. However, when hazing is involved in the process of affiliating with an organization or team, the costs of holding membership in the group may end up outweighing the benefits. Various hazing practices can make life at Harvard more stressful, challenging, and potentially dangerous than it ought to be.

Remember that first and foremost, you are here at Harvard to learn and to grow –intellectually, emotionally, and/or spiritually. Harry R. Lewis, former Dean of Harvard College, has expressed the mission of Harvard College as follows:

The advancement of all good literature, arts, and sciences; the advancement and education of youth in all manner of good literature, arts, and sciences; and all other necessary provisions that may conduce to the education of the ... youth of this country...." In brief: Harvard strives to create knowledge, to open the minds of students to that knowledge, and to enable students to take best advantage of their educational opportunities.1

The use of hazing practices counters the College’s mission. Any activity that that potentially causes physical or psychological harm can impair Harvard students’ ability and motivation to take advantage of opportunities that exist at the College.

Here are several additional reasons why hazing may challenge students’ ability to succeed, both at Harvard and beyond. Hazing scholars have found that hazing practices …

  • Show disrespect to newcomers of an organization2
  • Alienate new members of a group2
  • Detract from the experience of a meaningful initiation or affiliation with a group (by definition, “initiation” does not involve hazing)2
  • Denigrate sense of self-worth among persons who are hazed3
  • Strip individual liberties from persons who are hazed3
  • Damage the trust and unity within a group2
  • Lead to conflict between the group and its alumni4
  • Constitute a form of violence3
  • Pose criminal and civil liability issues
  • Lead to the canceling of an athletic season6
  • Create risks of disbanding an organization or losing members2

Hazing is particularly dangerous when there is no one in control of the situation and/or looking out for the safety and welfare of persons who are hazed.5

Remember that…

  • Those who haze new members of a group may be unaware of the new members’ past life experiences, their tolerance for alcohol, and/or their threshold for pain.5
  • The psychological scars developed from hazing may not be visible to others and can last a lifetime.5

Reasons Why Hazing Exists

Despite the above reasons why hazing can be detrimental to students and to an organization, some groups continue to haze. Listed below are some, but not all, reasons researchers have found to explain why organizations use hazing practices:

  • Train new members to have skills that are relevant to the group (e.g. ensure athletes are physically fit for competition)7
  • Create team/group cohesiveness through a common experience3,5-6,8
  • Encourage individuals to feel dependent to the group7,9
  • Help lead a team or organization to success8
  • Create a hierarchical structure3,10
  • Exert control over newer members2
  • Maintain traditions11
  • Create a rite of passage11
  • Ensure that new members gain acceptance in an organization12
  • Ensure that new members display strength/social status by enduring hazing3
  • Perceive that upperclassmen have a right to haze younger students since they themselves were hazed5
  • Perceive that hazing is fun and harmless4,8
  • Perceive that hazing is a group’s only option13
  • Perceive that coaches and other staff condone hazing6,13

(For males)

  • Develop/demonstrate masculinity2,3
  • Make boys/men tougher3
  • Denounce homosexuality3 (though, ironically, many common hazing practices intending to humiliate new members of an organization, such as, naked runs are homoerotic.13)

Sources:

1 Lewis, H.R. (1997). The mission of Harvard College. Retrieved from http://www.harvard.edu/siteguide/faqs/.

2 Allan, E.J. and DeAngelis, G. (2004). Hazing, masculinity, and collision sports: (Un)becoming heroes. In J. Johnson and M. Holmes (Eds.), Making the team: Inside the world of sport initiations and hazing (61-82). Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc.

3 Holman, M. (2004). A search for a theoretical understanding of hazing practices in athletics. In J. Johnson and M. Holmes (Eds.), Making the team: Inside the world of sport initiations and hazing (50-60). Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc.

4 Cornell University. (2006). Consider the Issues: Arguments for and Against [Hazing]. Hazing.Cornell.edu: A revealing look at hidden rites. Retrieved from
http://www.hazing.cornell.edu.

5 Lipkins S. (2006) Preventing hazing: How parents, teachers, and coaches can stop the violence, harassment, and humiliation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

6 Finley, P. and Finley, L. (2006). The sports industry’s war on athletes. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.

7 Keating et al. (2005). Going to college and unpacking hazing: A functional approach to decrypting hazing practices among undergraduates. Group dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 9(2), 104-126.

8 Campo, S., Poulos, G., and Sipple, J.W. (2005). Prevalence and profiling: Hazing among college students and points of intervention. American Journal of Health Behavior, 29(2), 137-149.

9 Nuwer, H. (2001). Wrongs of passage: fraternities, sororities, hazing and binge drinking. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

10 Lenskyj, H.J. (2004). What’s sex got to do with it? Analysing the sex + violence agenda in sport hazing practices. In J. Johnson and M. Holmes (Eds.), Making the team: Inside the world of sport initiations and hazing (83-96). Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc.

11 Kimbrough, W.M. (2003). Black greek 101: The culture, customs, and challenges of black fraternities and sororities. Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

12 Caperchione, C. and Holman, M. (2004). Gender differences in coaches’ perceptions of hazing in intercollegiate athletics. In J. Johnson and M. Holmes (Eds.), Making the team: Inside the world of sport initiations and hazing (97-117). Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc.

13 Cornell University. (2006). Consider the Issues: Research and Theory. Hazing.Cornell.edu: A revealing look at hidden rites. Retrieved from
http://www.hazing.cornell.edu.

14 Novak, K. (2007, June 12). Using Science to Design Hazing Prevention Strategies. Online presentation hosted by Magna Publications. Retrieved from www.magnapubs.com.