Hazing practices exposed at Cincinnati sports powerhouse.
Author: Hank Nuwer
Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024 and April 2025 , the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division.
He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com
Excerpt
PHILADELPHIA — School officials on Thursday canceled the remaining two football games at a suburban Philadelphia high school after concluding rookie players had been subjected to “humiliating and inappropriate” initiation rites.
The hazing at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown included a requirement that rookies grab another player’s genitals while fully clothed, an initiation that was carried out in front of most team members, Superintendent David Weitzel said.
“Our inquiry determined that students new to the team were expected to participate in several initiations that were both humiliating and inappropriate,” Weitzel wrote in a letter to the school district community.
“I want to be clear that these activities did not result in physical harm, but were not harmless,” he said.
All varsity and junior varsity coaches were also suspended pending further investigation, the superintendent said, citing the failure of staff to properly supervise team activities. Police said they would investigate whether any of the activity was criminal.
Central Bucks Regional Police Department Chief James Donnelly said the school’s principal had told him that one of the initiation rites involved placing towels over players’ heads and leading them into the shower. He said players referred to the practice as “waterboarding,” but that he didn’t consider fit the definition. Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over a cloth placed on a victim’s face to simulate drowning.
The school’s storied football program includes a run of four state titles in the 1990s, when it regularly appeared in USA Today’s national Top 10 rankings.
Its alumni include Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine Jr. and two of his assistants. Pettine’s father built the school’s football dynasty with a 327-42-4 record from 1967-1999. The school’s most famous dropout is Alecia Moore, better known as the singer Pink.
The football team has struggled more recently, and is 2-6 this year. It was scheduled to play rival Central Bucks East in a homecoming matchup Friday night.
http://www.nfhs.org/articles/essays-sought-on-hazing-prevention/
High school students who can describe how their group, team or organization welcomes new members without hazing them are encouraged to apply to HazingPrevention.org’s (HPO) National Hazing Prevention Essay Competition, sponsored by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).
Essays should be between 500 and 600 words and will be judged on the students’ adherence to this year’s theme, “Hazing Prevention: It’s Everyone’s Responsibility.” The format of each essay should include an introduction of no more than 100 words describing how the student’s group welcomes new members, and then discuss how their process prevents hazing and why it’s important that each member takes responsibility to make sure no hazing occurs.
The top three essays will win cash prizes – $500 for first place, $250 for second place and $150 for third place. One Honorable Mention will also be chosen from each of the eight regional sections of the NFHS and win a $50 gift card. All winners will be announced in March 2015.
Entries should be submitted via email to info@hazingprevention.org by December 31, 2014. Further information on the submission guidelines can be found atwww.hazingprevention.org/high-school-essay-contest.
Parents allege that Taft administrators botched their investigation into hazing charges that included a count of sexual battery. Article and video here.
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