Hazing: A Deadly Game

When parents send their children to college, they assume that they will be in a safe, educational environment while enjoying all the benefits campus life has to offer, including fraternities and sororities. But the truth is that many students who seek entry into the Greek system are subjected to hazing, an initiation rite that can be deadly. Hazing practices run the gamut from relatively harmless loyalty pledges to sadistic violence and humiliation, usually combined with excessive amounts of alcohol. Every year at least one college student dies in a hazing incident. Why do students allow themselves to be hazed? Why is the ritual so difficult to break? What are colleges and universities doing about this danger. This episode of Investigative Reports looks at the serious and sometimes fatal practice of hazing. Hazing: A Deadly Game would be useful for classes on Education, American Culture and Society, Law and Justice, and Ethics. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

OBJECTIVES
Students will explore the ritual of hazing by examining the practice and the peer pressure exerted to participate in the process. They will discuss strategies to eliminate the practice as well as the obstacles faced by those who seek to end the dangerous tradition.

• camaraderie
• coroner
• inhibition
• initiation
• masochism
• ostracize
• pledge
• punitive
• sadism
• spontaneous
• tacitly
• vulnerable

1. Hazing is sometimes considered a rite of passage. What is a rite of passage? What other rites of passage are there?

2. Hazing can be humiliating and painful. Why are students willing to undergo the hazing process?

3. Fraternities and sororities have been part of campus life for generations. What is the appeal of these organizations?

4. College student Chad Saucier died in a hazing incident. How did he die? What were the circumstances surrounding his death?

5. Author and hazing expert Hank Nuwer has been following hazing incidents for many years. What are the patterns that Nuwer has charted and reported?

6. Chad Saucier attended Auburn University at the time of his death. How did the university respond to Saucier's death? Was its response appropriate?

7. What is peer pressure? What is the role of peer pressure in hazing? What other forms of peer pressure exist? What forms of peer pressure exist in your life?

8. Many college students participate in binge drinking. What is binge drinking? What are the dangers of binge drinking?

9. Colleges and universities seem to be unable to deal effectively with hazing. What are some of their attempts to eliminate the practice. Why are these methods sometimes ineffective?

10. Discuss the differences between "paper" and "demon" members of fraternities and sororities.

11. Hazing also effects athletics as well as fraternities and sororities. What is the role of this ritual in athletics?

1. Design a poster or brochure for an anti-hazing campaign.

2. How can Universities and colleges stop hazing? Imagine that you are a college administrator and create a plan of action to eliminate hazing on your campus.

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Air Dates

• November 18, 2004