“Hazing, the practice of initiating new members into a group, often through harassment and humiliation, is a tradition that has endured in United States culture for decades” (Alvarez,). Since hazing has been around for so long people are terrified that this fad will never go away. Hazing has taken a magnificent role in a plethora of peoples lives, and needs to come to an end. It has not only scarred the lives of millions but also has taken it from them. Hazing has been around for ages and there have been many problems associated with it because of how dangerous it’s become. People are tortured to an extent that no human being should ever go through just to be a part of a group.” Over 50 deaths have been linked to hazing over the past 20 years, with many more injured or maimed. Seldom have so many died so stupidly” (Marr). You would think that it would be put to an end specifically at colleges because of how serious it is, but somehow as time goes on it’s only getting worse. Mostly everyone is familiar with Hazing and the definition of it, but not everyone knows the horror, fright, and tears it personally brings to the people victimized by it, as well as its background. Hazing is a horrific activity that has taken over the act of trying to become a part of something good into people getting their lives risked and being physiologically affected. 

In the year of 2017, many college campuses have tried to convince their potential students that hazing has disappeared from their campuses. There are at least 38 states who have outlawed it and Greek life has banned it from their organizations. This most definitely does not mean that their campus is clear of hazing. Even though there have not been many deaths associated with hazing, there are many terrifying mental illnesses that leave with the students getting hazed, that will always be there with them.  Hazing is a bunch of rituals that incorporate many disgusting and horrific activities. For example, some rituals are “fed stomach-churning mixtures of food heavy on raw eggs, sauerkraut juice, and cayenne pepper, pledges frequently wind up covered in their own and each other’s vomit” (Marr). These are some of the ‘laid back’ rituals; there are several that are physically abusive like burning the pledges with cigarettes so that they are branded and make them more ‘manly’ to go through the pain. “A range of hazing behaviors exists, such as being kidnapped, transported, and abandoned; participating in drinking contests/ games; being deprived of sleep; engaging in or simulating sexual acts; being physically assaulted; carrying unnecessary objects; and being required to remain silent.'” (Campo, S., Poulous, G., & Sipple J. W.). 

The very first death related to hazing took place at Cornell University in 1873. This was associated with the fraternity Kappa Alpha, responsible for the death of Mortimer N. Leggett. As part of initiation, Mortimer was brought on a moonlight stroll. He was brought deep into the woods, blindfolded, and left alone to find his way back to the chapter house. Mortimer fell down a 37-foot cliff and died on the scene. The whole fraternity pledged that Mortimer had died an “accidental death” because they did not want to get in trouble with their fraternity for hazing. They cared more about whether or not they would get kicked off of campus because of this tragedy than the life that was taken due to their hazing. This incident was in 1873 and to this day ‘accidents’ like these are still in full effect. 

Although we always associate hazing with Greek Organizations it also occurs with other groups such as sports teams, high school groups, work groups, marching bands, and military groups. There was an incident in 2001 where the Florida A&M and Southern University dealt with hazing within their marching bands, which then left them on probation for some time and criminal charges. The school was hazing them by beating the new members. “The Alfred University survey found that one in five athlete respondents had been subjected to activity deemed unacceptable and potentially illegal by the researchers.” (Hollmann, Barbara). Another incident that was unrelated to Greek life was a 1999 hockey incident that ended up causing the cancellation of the University of Vermont’s season, criminal conviction, and a lawsuit. These committees, groups, and teams go into this ‘act’ which they feel like brings a bond between them when really it hurts not only the person getting hazed, but the hazer as well.

Colleges are pushing and advertising women and men to become apart of Greek life because it not only gets you involved but can help with your social life. Think about it, you have all your friends picked, right there in front of you, how could one not want to be apart of that. You don’t have to make any plans, you can just go to the house and there are all your friends. But when and if the hazing starts, you are going to be living in your worst nightmare. “When things go wrong, we're not talking about a minor mistake, we're talking about a dead student” (Lipka, Sara). There is a tremendous amount of things that we can do to put this crime to an end. America has a very intense problem with hazing and fraternities, but when learning about joining Greek life they are not going to inform you about these types of ‘rituals’. You are not going to see “parents, you should be aware that hazing is a deep, systemic problem within the fraternity industry “(Lipka, Sara). What is it going to take to change this reality of hazing needed to come to an end? If a death is caused, the lawsuits are taken very far, and are paid by the students in the fraternity that had caused the pain. Most times nothing is paid or done to the fraternity and or sorority itself, which causing the organization to go on as usual, and the same rituals done again the next year, which causes this to be a continuous cycle. What needs to be done is that the Greek life organizations need to be completely honest and inform the parents as well as the students about hazing and ways to avoid/ not let it happen to them. 

While hazing is one problem and alcohol is another in the college scene, when these are paired together its becomes even more dangerous then when they are alone. “One researcher observed that 90 percent of hazing deaths involved extreme alcohol consumption” (Hollmann, Barbara). This is because absurd amounts of alcohol are forced to be drank by the pledges during initiation activities. Alcohol abuse in sororities is the most common type of hazing among all universities. As an example of an incident, at the University of Colorado a young seventeen-year-old pledge was found by police after she had gone to a function for the new pledges. When found “she had a bloody, swollen lip, and a cut on her nose, and tests revealed her blood-alcohol level was .202 (Hollmann, Barbara). College campuses promote that ‘controlled’ alcohol consumption is what is normal throughout the student body and isn’t too much of a problem. As there begin to be more and more incidents involving alcohol authorities are starting to realize that this absurd amount of alcohol consumption by the students is actually a major problem. It’s very obvious that hazing and the abuse of alcohol are very much related and need to addressed. 

After reading through some of the book “Preventing Hazing” it talks about the history of hazing, why, and how it fills schools, colleges, and many communities. The author does a great job explaining to the readers how to go about hazing if it becomes a problem for an individual. She focuses a lot on the bystander view of it and what they could do to help if put in that position. Lipkins states, “hazing has occurred throughout history and is now firmly embedded in our culture” (Lipkins, 2). Hazing has become the ‘norm’ so people do not look at it too seriously when it is done to one another. This is why it has become as serious as it is in this day and age. The author added a letter written by a freshman pledge in a fraternity, and this made the idea of hazing much more real because it's coming from a ‘brother’ who had gone through it.  He states, “I think that the most important thing for people to know about hazing is that it doesn’t bring people together. What it really does is to slowly break a person down mentally, so they relinquish control to their hazers. Pledging changes, a person if they relinquish control. The brothers say you aren’t a man or aren’t worthy of being a member if you don’t eat or drink some disgusting mixture. For example, I had to eat whole onions, unpeeled, drink a gallon of milk as fast as possible, and finish an entire keg of beer between ten pledges” (Steve, 17). 

“Tim Piazza fought for his life for 12 hours before his Beta Theta Pi brothers called 911. By then, it was too late” (Flanagan, Caitlin). On Friday February 3, a sophomore at Penn State University had lost his life due to the horrific acts of hazing. That day he was a normal, happy, college student trying to make friends and fit in. He was later none of those characteristics anymore, “he had a lacerated spleen, an abdominal full of blood, and multiple traumatic brain injuries” (Flanagan, Caitlin). The members of the fraternity waited almost 12 hours before calling 911 for help, they stated they called because “Tim looked fucking dead”. He went through several surgeries but it was way too late, resulting in him dying the next day. If they had called for help much earlier, Tim would most likely be alive today. The members of his fraternity who did not seek help right away because of their fear of getting in trouble are criminals.  Fourteen members of brothers are getting charged with the felony of hazing, resulting in the death of freshman Timothy Piazza. These charges are very serious which could result in years in prison. 

“Why frat boys like hazing if they live through it”. This is a statement that is so true and at the same time so scary. When boys go through the pain of hazing, and actually make it though they feel as if they are invincible. After finding an article about a boy who has gone though the tortures of hazing and made it through he explains the feeling of “accomplishment” that the torture has brought. He tells us how just joining a group wasn’t enough, they want to feel that they have earned it though blood, sweat, and tears. “It's in every story: The hero must face trials and tribulations to grow in strength and knowledge to become all that he or she can be. It has to be hard. But how hard is hard enough?” (Burkman, David).  This gives a different outlook on the situation, we need to educate the world that hazing will never come to a complete end, but there are other ways that we can go about and fulfill it. Hazing will always be there, but we can make it into a positive activity to create the ‘bond’ that it is used for.

The concept of hazing is not necessarily bad, it’s the actions of those who decide to take it to horrific levels who give it that horrible reputation. In 2017, hazing is illegal in 44 different states but that does not seem to stop it from happening. There are constantly incidents to this day where students are hurt and the ones who did the crime, many times are not even left with the right punishments. It is the time to realize everything that is wrong with hazing if something is going to be done in the near future. Even though many have tried to put this to and end and it still is going on, what matters is that the world keeps trying. The reputation of hazing is at it’s last straw because of all the deaths and life long harm it had brought to adolescence. 
