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 and Best Humorist, second place.
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
U of Iowa Baseball Initiation FOIA Request Day 5 Update – Kind of a “good news, bad news” day for this story. We actually received a nice email from someone at UI on Monday, which read:
Mr. Reno,
University of Iowa Sports Information Director Phil Haddy forwarded me your public records request, which he received June 15, because I am the custodian of public records for the UI.
I am checking to see whether we have copies of the photos in question. Otherwise, it appears that the only document that we have regarding this incident is the memo to President Skorton from Prof. Altmaier and Associated Athletic Director Fred Mims.
If that is all there is, I will e-mail a copy to you and there will be no
charge. I should be able to respond fully yet this week.Steve Parrott
Director of University Relations
University of Iowa
The bad news is that we asked for more than just that final report: we also wanted any transcripts of interviews that the investigators did with the baseball team and either they didn’t take any notes, or we didn’t ask for the right thing. Damn! Now we wish we had finished law school . . . or college for that matter. We sent an email back asking for any documents related to the interviews, if any exist. Our guess is that they never put any of it in writing. Either way, we hope to get post that memo to the prez for you later in the week.
BONUS: Bridgewater State College Investigates Alleged Hazing, Uses “Iowa Defense” – The guy at the “Dirty 30” site linked to these pictures and we vaguely remember seeing them, but it’s interesting to see that the BSC athletic director is taking the same investigatory technique with its women’s soccer team that Iowa did with their men’s baseball team: ignore their own hazing policy and clear the team of hazing allegations because a) players weren’t forced to participate and b) the incident happened after the season was over . . . so it couldn’t possibly be hazing, right? Athletic Director John “See No Evil” Harper even went so far as to boast that, “I know hazing when I see it.” While that mildly reassuring and disturbing at the same time, it might help if you read your own policy there John, ’cause there’s nothing in there about when it occurs during the season and, in fact, the last line reads “An individual in alleged violation of the hazing policy may not use consent as a defense to any prosecution.” (Taunton Gazette)
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Op ed writer praises hazing
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Kids gone wild? In praise of hazing
By Gary Alan Fine, a sociology professor at Northwestern University and the author of “With the Boys: Little League Baseball and Preadolescent Culture.”
Published June 20, 2006
Hazing is good for America. Those of us who have been through fraternity (and some sorority) initiations, at one time a hallowed part of campus life, know that they develop shared feelings of honor and pride. But such rituals have been toned down in today’s no-risk, litigious, surveillance society. Where once we accepted the rough-and-tumble of youth culture, now everything is examined through the thorny eyes of lawyers.
Recently, Northwestern University suspended some members of the women’s soccer team from some 2006-07 regular-season games for hazing. Some players also received probation and others unspecified “additional disciplinary action.” The men’s swim team and the Northwestern Wildcat mascot squad also were punished in separate incidents.
The truth is that in almost all instances hazing is not harmful. Girls will be girls (and boys, boys) and any punishment will be ineffective. And hazing rituals have real benefits.
Initiations require mutual support and bonding among members. The initiates give up some of their dignity, smudge their reputations, because they know that others in the group will have done the same. They gain a confidence that their mates will support them through college and after. Those more senior know that the initiates wish to join with such intensity that they are willing to let themselves be humiliated. You agree to become the butt of a collective joke, shrouded in secrecy. No one will ever know, so one’s public self is preserved.
Being told that you’re going to eat worms, strip to your skivvies, or chug a few beers while being paddled is not everyone’s idea of fun. But it is precisely the willingness to put up with these uncomfortable (and sometimes painful) antics that indicates you care deeply about membership. The group matters. Initiates give up part of their personal reputation to acquire the benefits of the reputation of the team. And this strengthens the group and the person.
Indeed, what is striking about the women’s soccer initiation at Northwestern is that all reports suggest the women participated voluntarily and considered it fun.
Granted, initiations can go too far. Some rules are essential (no sexual contact, reasonable boundaries on physical punishment, and, most significantly, demands that the organizers refrain from alcohol). Excessive practices often occur when authorities prohibit initiations. When we do not teach teenagers how to drink responsibly, they learn to drink rapidly and to excess. When initiations are pushed underground, they are re-created without tradition and sometimes without boundaries. When universities do not learn that bonding rituals are valid and valuable, they respond with fear and create foolish rules that encourage violations.
Initiations were once tied mostly to the doings of college men. Perhaps the sexist idea that this rough sport was acceptable for boys led to a greater acceptance of these rituals. However, female athletes and sorority members are now quite as wild as their male counterparts. And good for them. Bonding used to be a male activity, but now female bonding serves the same valid purposes as they did for their brothers.
However, one rule should be inviolable. No Internet pictures. Today the tut-tut images of young adults romping in their panties, downing brews, being bound with tape or giving lap dances on Web sites such as badjocks.com combine smarmy voyeurism with unctuous morality, the worst of both worlds. For hazing to have its positive effects, it must separate the group from those outside to create a powerful connection among members.
College administrators may want to punish students for their violations, but these are rules that no one needs or wants.
Left alone, these students will create connections that will serve them for life. Just ask President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and their Skull and Bones brothers.
California Hazing Law Vote Expected Tuesday
SOC Urges Californians To Call Their
Assemblymembers In Support Of Matt’s Law
Matt Carrington (pictured right) a 21 year old California State University-Chico student died in the basement of the Chi Tau fraternity house on February 2, 2005 during hideous acts of hazing. He was forced to drink from a five-gallon jug of water filled more than five-times and do calisthenics in the frigid sewage infested basement with cold fans blowing on him until this torture caused his brain to swell and heart failure from water intoxication.
Following his death Matt’s family learned that under California law hazing, even if it resulted in death, was only a misdemeanor and was a part of the Education Code rather than the Penal Code. Non-students, alumni of the unrecognized house, also attempted to argue that this law did not apply to them.
With the support of California state Senator Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch), “Matt’s Law” (Senate Bill No. 1454) has been introduced to remedy these problems. Matt’s Law would move hazing law into the Penal Code and would increase penalties to a felony in the event of serious injuries or death. It would also give prosecutors clear authority to bring charges against anyone or any organization involved in the hazing, not just currently enrolled students.
Matt’s Law passed the state Senate, in a 34-2 vote on May 30th, but urgently needs your help to pass the state Assembly and actually become law. If you are a California resident please call or fax your member of the Assembly today and ask them to support and vote for SB 1454. The contact information for your legislative representatives can be accessed by going to http://www.legislature.ca.gov/ and entering your ZIP Code in the “Find My District” search box located on the right hand side of the page.
The Assembly’s Public Safety Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill at their Tuesday morning meeting so time is of the essence. Please call or fax today in support of this life saving legislation!