Anti-hazing Programs Focusing on Younger Students

When colleges and universities across the nation opened their doors for the 2016-17 school year, there was guarded optimism that headway had been achieved on many campuses in addressing hazing.

Zero-tolerance rules and anti-hazing educational programs beyond the classroom regarding engagement in historically rooted practices of physical hazing have taken hold, supplemented by active enforcement of state criminal laws barring hazing. Programs aimed at dealing with sexual, gender and race harassment and similar negative conduct have also gained steam.

Today, efforts to combat hazing have been challenged by a proliferation of social media sites boasting negative messages about racial and ethnic groups and gender-specific groups. Bursts of negative political campaigning using bully-toned and demeaning language seemed to suggest such rhetoric is acceptable and effective in communicating with others.

Fighting back

Institutions are responding in myriad ways, from high school to junior high school visits about hazing, bullying and civility in the use of social media to broader and increased monitoring of social media networks and the types of messages they project.

For example, University of Wisconsin officials in early November said they asked two fans attending a Wisconsin-Nebraska football game to remove parts of a costume they were wearing that appeared to be a President Obama mask with a noose around his neck. Earlier this fall, in Nashville, Belmont University, the historically Baptist-rooted college, promptly expelled a student the same day it investigated what the institution called “a racist social media post.”

“As a Christian institution, it is our goal to build a diverse and inclusive community where all members feel accepted, safe and valued,” Belmont said in a statement about the social media message.