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Elizabeth Allan and Mary Madden, the study's authors and professors in Maine's College of Education and Human Development, surveyed 11,480 college students at 53 universities to assess hazing at the college level, and also used the students' experiences during their high school years for comparison. The study found that hazing occurs across a wide range of groups with the highest rates of hazing in high school occurring on sports teams (47 percent), ROTC (46 percent), and bands or performing arts organizations (34 percent). Types of hazing activities also ran the gamut, including associating only with a selected peer group (28 percent), singing or chanting in public (21 percent), verbal abuse (19 percent), and getting a tattoo or piercing (12 percent).

Hazing acts also took on a more serious nature as 12 percent of high school students reported participating in a drinking game, with eight percent drinking until becoming sick or losing consciousness. The most shocking cases involved sexually charged activities or even sexual assault. The average number of hazing incidents experienced by males during their high school years was 2.4 and for females, 1.5.

Another topic of note was the definition of hazing. For this study, hazing was defined as "any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them regardless of a person's willingness to participate." But the authors found that many administrators couldn't differentiate between hazing and bullying. Madden told the Associated Press that bullies humiliate and ostracize others to feel better about themselves with no desire to make the victim part of their group, while hazing involves coercion and a strong group dynamic.

"The coercion can be subtle, but it's powerful," Allan told the Associated Press. "You have these really nice people who are generally reasonable kids making sound decisions for the most part. And then all of a sudden they're swept up in his group dynamic--it contributes to impairing judgment."

The students themselves also struggled with identifying hazing as eight out of 10 high school students and nine out of 10 college students who experienced hazing incidents did not feel they had been hazed. Of the college students who did report being hazed, 95 percent did not inform campus officials. Some hazing would not need reporting as the study found much high school hazing, such as taunting incoming freshmen, occurs in the presence of adults. At universities, 25 percent of coaches or organization advisors were aware of a group's hazing activities and 25 percent of hazing occurred in a public space on campus.

As the two hazing studies show, schools have made little progress in preventing hazing, with the Maine study finding that college students had little exposure to hazing prevention beyond a "hazing is not tolerated" policy. In hopes of reversing this trend Allan and Madden make several recommendations for administrators, including:

• Differentiating hazing from bullying with clear consequences for both
• Avoiding simple anti-hazing approaches and one-time presentations in favor of more comprehensive programs
• Designing activities to foster team unity, sense of accomplishment, and the leadership skills needed to intervene if teammates are being hazed
• Reducing privilege for upperclass students.

Spanning the Country
Hazing is taking on many different forms and the traditional images of verbal taunts on football teams are being joined by sexual assault on marching bands. And each incident is handled differently as some teams are canceling their seasons and saying very little while others are being put on display via public trials.

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Robertson High School in Las Vegas, N.M., experienced a hazing scandal no school would wish on its most hated rival. Reports surfaced last August that older members of the football team were hazing younger players by sodomizing them with a broomstick. Three football coaches resigned when the complaints became public, and are now being charged--along with five school officials, the superintendent, and athletic director--with failure to report child abuse.

Last week, four of the five adults pleaded not guilty to the charges. One assistant coach was out of the state and will enter his plea later. Six players have been charged with felonies, including rape. One accused player pleaded guilty to rape and conspiracy, another pleaded no contest, and the remaining four await trial.

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Curry College wasted little time in suspending the remainder of the men's lacrosse season after allegations of hazing at an off-campus party surfaced in late March. The school nixed the season and launched an internal investigation despite several players claiming the allegations are false.

"Upon being made aware of the allegations, the college took swift action to the issue and this involved launching our own internal investigation and reporting it to the Milton Police Department as required by law," Fran Jackson, Director of Communications at Curry, told The Boston Globe. "While we regret needing to take this step, partly since it impacts the whole team, based on the information we have it was the best way to address the issue at hand."

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The University of Wisconsin marching band was suspended from playing during a football game against Ohio State University last year following accusations that freshmen members were forced to drink alcohol, perform sexual acts, and other humiliating behavior. The university investigated the band after parents of the freshmen sent letters of complaint to administrators. The band was allowed to play after the one game suspension, and the school added a staff position to oversee the band, encourage a culture change, and alter travel policies.

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While under investigation for a hazing incident at Anderson County High School in Clinton, Tenn., former Head Softball Coach Heather Branum resigned. The incident allegedly occurred during a spring break tournament in Myrtle Beach. A parent of one of the players said older teammates forced freshmen to undress and remain in a swimming pool for 10 minutes. Branum is also a special education teacher at the school and will retain that position.

RESOURCES
To read the full University of Maine study go to: hazingstudy.org.
Athletic Management covered the issue of hazing in the feature, "Clearing the Haze."

Kyle Garratt is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management. He can be reached at: kg@MomentumMedia.com.