SAN ANTONIO -- Fraternities and sororities, bands, sports teams, leadership groups, honor societies, and choirs are all dealing with it. From college campuses down to the middle schools, hazing is happening, and it's killing our kids.
Reports of recent deaths and injuries are bringing hazing front and center, with researchers warnings the attacks are getting increasingly violent and sexual.
"All you want to do is be part of that group. You're hazed. The next year, you watch as others are hazed. You are a bystander. Then eventually, you're a senior, and you do unto others what has been done to you," said psychologist Susan Lipkins.
Lipkins points out there are no state or federal agencies that collect statistics on hazing or a central place to report them. But her findings show 1.5 million high school students are hazed each year, and nearly 80% of NCAA athletes say they were hazed initially in high school.
Dr. Lipkins says the physical and emotional attacks intensify each year, as the hazers add their own mark.
"They add a little bit more violence, a little bit more alcohol, a little bit more humiliation," she explained.
Chad Meredith died during a weekend lock-in with his hazers. His father acknowledges many parents are unaware of the dangers their children are facing.
"I was guilty of this, too, before this happened," Meredith said. "And you think 'Well its just a bunch of horseplay.' It's not."
Meredith wants to see a federal law enacted. Hank Nuwer, an assistant professor and author of 4 books on hazing, would like that, too, but hasn't seen much progress in the decades that he's been researching hazing.
"You've got legislators who are former fraternity members, who don't quite get it," said Nuwer.
So, he advises parents to take matters into their own hands.
"Before every sports season, before every semester starts, talk to your kids. Ask them what's going on. Talk to the trainers in terms of sports teams. Trainers are the ones who see the bruises," Nuwer told us.
There are 44 states with anti-hazing laws on the books, though they range in severity and enforcement. There is also a petition to stop hazing that can be signed by checking this site. While you're there, you can check out Texas' law on hazing.
Dr. Susan Lipkin
Dr. Susan Lipkins, a psychologist for twenty five years, is a leading authority in campus conflict and violence in high schools and colleges. She is an author and expert in the field of hazing. Lipkins has appeared on Oprah, Larry King Live, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Sky TV, The Today Show, The O'Reilly Factor, Good Morning America, CBS News, Inside Edition, CNN, SportsNet, Court TV and on over 100 other radio and television programs.
In addition, Dr. Lipkins has been quoted or published in USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The Daily News, Newsday, as well as many other newspapers, magazines and websites.
As an expert in campus violence and hazing, Lipkins has addressed audiences from the Key Note Address at the New Jersey Bar Association's Education Conference to the American Association for Justice's Annual Convention (2007). She has educated college students and administrators from Stonybrook University in New York to Amherst College in Massachusetts; as well as Greek organizations throughout the country.
Dr. Lipkins' book, Preventing Hazing: How Parents, Teachers and Coaches Can Stop the Violence, Harassment, and Humiliation, is the only source for psychological information on hazing. Written with clarity and passion, Preventing Hazing uncovers the deep roots of hazing, how and why it permeates schools, colleges, and communities, and what parents, teachers, and coaches can do to prevent it.
Hank Nuwer
Hank Nuwer is author of four books on hazing, including "The Hazing Reader" and "Wrongs of Passage" (Indiana University Press). He is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). He occasionally speaks to student athletes and Greeks, including visits to the University of Oregon, University of Michigan, Franklin College (Indiana), the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Illinois, University of Maine, Cornell University and California State University, Chico. October 2003 marks his 25th anniversary since the publication of his groundbreaking essay on hazing for Human Behavior magazine which featured an interview with "Groupthink" theorist Irving Janis.
Meredith Family
The Meredith Family is now based in Indiana. Chad was attending the University of Miami in Florida when he died during a hazing incident. His family won a large settlement after suing the fraternity and changed the law in the state of Florida, making it the toughest anti-hazing statute in the nation.
