The solid majority of college students — 66 percent — say hazing is a “serious problem that needs more attention,” but a third believe hazing is just a “part of college life,” a new survey released Monday shows.
The survey — conducted by NBC News and SurveyMonkey and officially dubbed the “College Hazing Poll” — also found that a majority of current students — 52 percent — thought hazing will always be present on college campuses while 46 percent thought it could be eliminated.
The poll also comes as a group of federal lawmakers seek to advance the REACH Act, a piece of bipartisan legislation that would require colleges and universities to report acts of hazing and to educate students on what hazing is and how to report it.
The bill was introduced this summer by U.S. Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-Penn.) and Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) and is being co-sponsored by nearly a dozen lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.
The proposed legislation follows the February death of 19-year-old Timothy Piazza, who died after falling down a flight of steps at a Penn State University fraternity party that featured excessive drinking.
News reports indicate that the fraternity brothers argued about what to do and did not call for an ambulance until 12 hours after their own attempts to help Piazza had failed.
