Harm Of Hazing Research Paper

Harms of Hazing
My research question is, “What are the harms of hazing?” I chose this topic because, I believe it is important to understand the harms of the hazing acts sorority sisters and fraternity brothers perform on to their pledges. This is an extremely useful topic because hazing isn't really talked about in society, people believe that police brutality and racism are more important topics. Also parents are extremely quick to persuade their kids to get involved with Greek life, not realizing the cons of joining Fraternities and Sororities; I am here to inform. Make this longer
I’ve found many statistics surrounding college greek life hazing, such as “Over the last decade hazing has become more sexual, more humiliating, and more violent.” ( but
I’ve discovered some terrible but interesting harms of hazing statistics 1. What is hazing? (inside hazing)
Doctors say that “Hazing is a process, based on a tradition that is used by groups for discipline and to maintain the hierarchy.”
2. What percentage of men are harmed by hazing throughout the fraternity process?
3. What percentage of women are harmed by hazing throughout the Sorority process?
(inside hazing)
10% of the female NCAA athletes were physically hazed including being branded, tattooed, beaten, thrown in water or had their head physically forcibly shaved.
50% of the female NCAA division 1 athletes reported being hazed.
More than 20% of female NCAA athletes were subjected to alcohol relates hazing, however even a higher percentage admitted to “mental hazing” which ranged from singing to being kidnapped.
6-9% of the female NCAA athletes were subjected to sexually related hazing including harassment, actual assault or being expected to stimulate sex activities.

4. What are the different injuries that can result in hospitalization, psychological issues, or death? ( stats from education news)
“8 in 10 people says that hazing has become more dangerous over the last decade.”
“Of fraternity and sorority members 1 in 4 say that paddling is involved *(this can cause kidney damage).”
“Half say that binge drinking is involved in hazing *(82% of hazing deaths in colleges involve alcohol)”
“Recorded instances of traumatizing hazing: being forced to consume someone else’s vomit, being forced to pick between snorting cocaine or performing sexual acts, being given a puppy to raise for a month- then being forced to drown it. Since 1970 there has been at least one hazing related death each year.”
5.
How are harms of hazing statistics gathered? (the dangers of hazing
The number of cases in which hazing cause physical harm cannot be estimated because many people rarely go to the hospital to get taken care of or if they do, they do not say exactly what happened to cause their injuries.
6. How many hazing cases resulted in death?

Primary Research
For my primary research I decided to look further into actual hazing cases in fraternities and sororities, at various colleges all over the U.S. Statistics shows that there are reportedly more hazing acts in fraternities than sororities. Also the fraternity’s hazing acts are more physical and masculine and the Sorority’s hazing acts are more sexual and emotional. I feel that it is important to not only understand the crime, but also view how the surviving victims felt before, during, and after everything was done. I also looked deep into the causes of death, and the injuries of the survivors. No one deserves to be belittled and treated as though they are nothing, just to be physically and socially accepted. I researched some cases of Greek life hazing, stories of victims who are now traumatized by the brutal things they experienced and who have died from being
mistreated.
In accordance with the article Pledging Sucks, Tyler Cross attended University of Texas and died a freshman pledge of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, when he fell five stories from above. It was later discovered that he had a blood alcohol level of .41, also that him and all of the other pledges were beaten with bamboo and had serious untreatable trauma. Cross’s parents sued the fraternity for $16 million dollars and won the lawsuit. This case shows the physical damage the pledges endured, Cross’s BAC was extremely close to him being a shot away from an alcoholic coma.
Matthew Carrington and his friend were pledging at California State University, in
February of 2005 according to the article, they had extremely cold water poured on them while fans blew on them. They were also forced to do calisthenics and drink multiple gallons of water while standing on one foot. Carrington passed out due to hyperthermia and water intoxication, he also died a few days later due to water intoxication. This shows that even innumerable continual amounts of water can damage a person’s body. This hazing act, is one of the many traumatizing crimes done during the initiation process. Binge drinking is not only done with alcohol, it’s done with anything that can get a person intoxicated extremely fast. Calisthenics can lead to syncope, vomiting, and end organ damage including seizures and comas.
The Article stated that, Benjamin Klein attended Alfred University in 2002 killed himself with a drug overdose after he was continuously hazed by his frat brothers. He continuously spoke about the hazing but nothing was done, the hazing continued. Hazing is ultimately psychological abuse itself, psychological abuse leads to poor self-esteem, post-traumatic stress, and depression which all can result in suicide.
According to the article, Chad Meredith was pledging in a fraternity at the University of
Miami. While with other fraternity officers at a concert, they all continuously drank alcohol.
Meredith’s blood alcohol level reached .13, the fraternity officers then encouraged and persuaded him to swim across Lake Osceola, and he then drowned 34 feet away from shore. His death lead to the Chad Meredith Act.