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. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com

Categories
Hazing News

Michel Martin and Hank Nuwer: ‘Equal Opportunity Disgrace’

History Of Hazing As ‘Equal Opportunity Disgrace’

National Public Radio Tell Me More 11:00 AM EST

November 29, 2011 Tuesday

Copyright 2011 National Public Radio (R) All Rights Reserved

 

Length: 1284 words

 

Anchors: Michel Martin

 

Guests: Hank Nuwer

 

 

Body

MICHEL MARTIN: And now, we turn to an issue also involving violence, but much closer to home. In Florida, a drum major with Florida A&M University’s marching band died recently, and police suspect hazing played a role. Funeral services for 26-year-old Robert Champion are scheduled for tomorrow. In the wake of Champion’s death, Florida A&M has called for an investigation, and canceled all upcoming band performances. The university has also fired its longtime band director, Julian White.

Now, many people are probably familiar with hazing allegations directed at fraternities and sports teams, but many were surprised to hear that hazing may play a part in other groups, like a marching band. So we wanted to know more about this, so we reached out to someone who has studied the topic of hazing extensively. Hank Nuwer is the author of several books on hazing. He’s also an associate professor of journalism at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana. Thank you so much for joining us.

HANK NUWER: Thank you.

MICHEL MARTIN: How did you get interested in the whole subject of hazing?

HANK NUWER: Well, I was a graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno, when a death occurred in 1975, in October. The death was of John Davies. And a lot of us simply walked by while that hazing was done. And then a second one, at a bar; and then in a third one – was done in the middle of nowhere; and John Davies died, and another pledge had brain damage. So I contacted Human Behavior magazine to write about the group dynamics – the group-think involved – and got the assignment.

MICHEL MARTIN: Now, is this something that is a particular feature of life on some campuses, more than others? For example, I think many incidents involving HBCUs – historically black colleges and universities – have gotten public attention. But does your reporting indicate that this is something that tends to happen on HBCUs more than others; or are all institutions – or are some institutions more likely to have this than others? Is there a through line?

HANK NUWER: Definitely, some are more likely to have it than others. If you have a culture of hazing, it usually goes back many, many years. And if you take an institution such as Florida A&M, it’s not only been a series of horrific hazing incidents that have cost a lot in terms of civil suits, but they’ve also had fraternities involved in hazing beatings. And in fact, Florida, which has about the toughest hazing law in the nation – with making it a third-degree mis – third-degree felony – has had people sentenced for two years in a Kappa Alpha Psi beating.

MICHEL MARTIN: What are we talking about? When we talk about hazing, what are we talking about? And why does it persist? You know, what’s it for? What’s it about?

HANK NUWER: Well, hazing has a lot of different nuances, as we can see from this case here. It’s usually thought of as anything silly, demeaning or dangerous, that’s used to welcome people into a group. But over time, we have seen it morph where accepted members of a band – or accepted members of a group who are seen as messing up, not measuring up, disrespecting the house, have been punished. And we’ve seen, at the high school level, serious hazing incidents including sexual assault, that have been done to cause someone to quit the team, not to bond with the team.

MICHEL MARTIN: Are there institutions – you just told us that there are just – institutions where this just seems to go on. But are there any commonalities within these institutions where this goes on? For example, I did mention the role of race, and you seem to be telling me that it isn’t race-specific; it’s not HBCUs versus others. But there seem to be certain institutions where this goes on. Why is that? Is there a – sort of a strong tradition, where…

HANK NUWER: Sure…

MICHEL MARTIN: …people feel that if you don’t measure up, you have to go – that kind of thing? What is it that seems to make certain institutions more vulnerable to this than others?

HANK NUWER: Unfortunately, hazing is an equal opportunity disgrace. I mean, we’ve seen problems with the Latino groups, Asian groups, African-American, historically white fraternities that have become integrated. And we’ve had deaths in all of them. What seems to be in common is, a group has a certain amount of status. And the members within that group that have status, are looking for power in some way, shape or form – be it an athletic team, band, or fraternity or sorority.

The power in a group-think type of mentality, where everybody is willing to do anything to keep the esprit de corps, leads to individuals acting as they would not act ordinarily because they’re in the group. That leads to people beating others, making them do forced drinking, taking them on scavenger hunts while they’re intoxicated, etc., that they normally wouldn’t do.

What it also results in, is dishonesty afterwards. That’s why it’s hard for police to investigate it. The groups close ranks, they circle the wagons, they come up with stories. And they have a sort of dysfunctional attitude that makes them step back from what they did, and not see it until years later.

MICHEL MARTIN: If you’re just joining us, I’m Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We’re talking about the tradition of hazing in institutions, in the wake of the death of a band member at Florida A&M University. Authorities allege that hazing is implicated in that death.

We’re speaking with Hank Nuwer. He’s an expert on this. He’s written several books about hazing, and he joins us from member station WFYI in Indianapolis. So professor, is there any record of institutions successfully stopping this practice? What would…

HANK NUWER: Yes.

MICHEL MARTIN: What would stop it? What works?

HANK NUWER: Well, right now – and I’m an outgoing board member – there’s a group called HazingPrevention.org, that has really tried to unify schools nationally in terms of athletic hazing, or fraternity and sorority hazing. And one of the group members was present as an adviser, after a death at Plattsburgh State. And she very actively went after the sub rosa chapter where the death occurred – by water torture, incidentally. There were criminal charges placed. Unfortunately, they were not able to get an alum who had kept this group together. He managed to get off.

But they have been putting on – number one, hazing education programs. Number two, when they had a group, Sigma Tau Gamma, caught hazing for a minor way – making members swallow a nickel – they took immediate action. And that’s what you need – education, immediate action, and repeating it semester after semester because the group changes all the time.

MICHEL MARTIN: And finally, professor, you know, if you’re a parent, or a caregiver, about to send your child off to a school, and you get a hint of this kind of thing going on with some group that your child may want to join – I mean, some of these bands, some of these groups are legendary; they have traditions going back generations, and people very much want to be part of it. How would you prepare your child not to become a victim of something like this?

HANK NUWER: There is – I keep a hazing page. If you go to HankNuwer.com, you’ll see a list of incidents. If there is a culture of past lawsuits and stuff, be careful. Do your research, and definitely check in on your son or daughter every day.

MICHEL MARTIN: Hank Nuwer is the author of several books on hazing. He’s an associate professor of journalism at Franklin College, and he was kind enough to join us – as we said – from member station WFYI in Indianapolis. Professor Nuwer, thank you so much for speaking with us.

HANK NUWER: Thank you, Michel.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Categories
Hazing News

NPR interview with Hank Nuwer

History Of Hazing As ‘Equal Opportunity Disgrace’

National Public Radio Tell Me More 11:00 AM EST

November 29, 2011 Tuesday

Copyright 2011 National Public Radio (R) All Rights Reserved


Length: 1284 words


Anchors: Michel Martin


Guests: Hank Nuwer

Body

MICHEL MARTIN: And now, we turn to an issue also involving violence, but much closer to home. In Florida, a drum major with Florida A&M University’s marching band died recently, and police suspect hazing played a role. Funeral services for 26-year-old Robert Champion are scheduled for tomorrow. In the wake of Champion’s death, Florida A&M has called for an investigation, and canceled all upcoming band performances. The university has also fired its longtime band director, Julian White.

Now, many people are probably familiar with hazing allegations directed at fraternities and sports teams, but many were surprised to hear that hazing may play a part in other groups, like a marching band. So we wanted to know more about this, so we reached out to someone who has studied the topic of hazing extensively. Hank Nuwer is the author of several books on hazing. He’s also an associate professor of journalism at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana. Thank you so much for joining us.

HANK NUWER: Thank you.

MICHEL MARTIN: How did you get interested in the whole subject of hazing?

HANK NUWER: Well, I was a graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno, when a death occurred in 1975, in October. The death was of John Davies. And a lot of us simply walked by while that hazing was done. And then a second one, at a bar; and then in a third one – was done in the middle of nowhere; and John Davies died, and another pledge had brain damage. So I contacted Human Behavior magazine to write about the group dynamics – the group-think involved – and got the assignment.

MICHEL MARTIN: Now, is this something that is a particular feature of life on some campuses, more than others? For example, I think many incidents involving HBCUs – historically black colleges and universities – have gotten public attention. But does your reporting indicate that this is something that tends to happen on HBCUs more than others; or are all institutions – or are some institutions more likely to have this than others? Is there a through line?

HANK NUWER: Definitely, some are more likely to have it than others. If you have a culture of hazing, it usually goes back many, many years. And if you take an institution such as Florida A&M, it’s not only been a series of horrific hazing incidents that have cost a lot in terms of civil suits, but they’ve also had fraternities involved in hazing beatings. And in fact, Florida, which has about the toughest hazing law in the nation – with making it a third-degree mis – third-degree felony – has had people sentenced for two years in a Kappa Alpha Psi beating.

MICHEL MARTIN: What are we talking about? When we talk about hazing, what are we talking about? And why does it persist? You know, what’s it for? What’s it about?

HANK NUWER: Well, hazing has a lot of different nuances, as we can see from this case here. It’s usually thought of as anything silly, demeaning or dangerous, that’s used to welcome people into a group. But over time, we have seen it morph where accepted members of a band – or accepted members of a group who are seen as messing up, not measuring up, disrespecting the house, have been punished. And we’ve seen, at the high school level, serious hazing incidents including sexual assault, that have been done to cause someone to quit the team, not to bond with the team.

MICHEL MARTIN: Are there institutions – you just told us that there are just – institutions where this just seems to go on. But are there any commonalities within these institutions where this goes on? For example, I did mention the role of race, and you seem to be telling me that it isn’t race-specific; it’s not HBCUs versus others. But there seem to be certain institutions where this goes on. Why is that? Is there a – sort of a strong tradition, where…

HANK NUWER: Sure…

MICHEL MARTIN: …people feel that if you don’t measure up, you have to go – that kind of thing? What is it that seems to make certain institutions more vulnerable to this than others?

HANK NUWER: Unfortunately, hazing is an equal opportunity disgrace. I mean, we’ve seen problems with the Latino groups, Asian groups, African-American, historically white fraternities that have become integrated. And we’ve had deaths in all of them. What seems to be in common is, a group has a certain amount of status. And the members within that group that have status, are looking for power in some way, shape or form – be it an athletic team, band, or fraternity or sorority.

The power in a group-think type of mentality, where everybody is willing to do anything to keep the esprit de corps, leads to individuals acting as they would not act ordinarily because they’re in the group. That leads to people beating others, making them do forced drinking, taking them on scavenger hunts while they’re intoxicated, etc., that they normally wouldn’t do.

What it also results in, is dishonesty afterwards. That’s why it’s hard for police to investigate it. The groups close ranks, they circle the wagons, they come up with stories. And they have a sort of dysfunctional attitude that makes them step back from what they did, and not see it until years later.

MICHEL MARTIN: If you’re just joining us, I’m Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We’re talking about the tradition of hazing in institutions, in the wake of the death of a band member at Florida A&M University. Authorities allege that hazing is implicated in that death.

We’re speaking with Hank Nuwer. He’s an expert on this. He’s written several books about hazing, and he joins us from member station WFYI in Indianapolis. So professor, is there any record of institutions successfully stopping this practice? What would…

HANK NUWER: Yes.

MICHEL MARTIN: What would stop it? What works?

HANK NUWER: Well, right now – and I’m an outgoing board member – there’s a group called HazingPrevention.org, that has really tried to unify schools nationally in terms of athletic hazing, or fraternity and sorority hazing. And one of the group members was present as an adviser, after a death at Plattsburgh State. And she very actively went after the sub rosa chapter where the death occurred – by water torture, incidentally. There were criminal charges placed. Unfortunately, they were not able to get an alum who had kept this group together. He managed to get off.

But they have been putting on – number one, hazing education programs. Number two, when they had a group, Sigma Tau Gamma, caught hazing for a minor way – making members swallow a nickel – they took immediate action. And that’s what you need – education, immediate action, and repeating it semester after semester because the group changes all the time.

MICHEL MARTIN: And finally, professor, you know, if you’re a parent, or a caregiver, about to send your child off to a school, and you get a hint of this kind of thing going on with some group that your child may want to join – I mean, some of these bands, some of these groups are legendary; they have traditions going back generations, and people very much want to be part of it. How would you prepare your child not to become a victim of something like this?

HANK NUWER: There is – I keep a hazing page. If you go to HankNuwer.com, you’ll see a list of incidents. If there is a culture of past lawsuits and stuff, be careful. Do your research, and definitely check in on your son or daughter every day.

MICHEL MARTIN: Hank Nuwer is the author of several books on hazing. He’s an associate professor of journalism at Franklin College, and he was kind enough to join us – as we said – from member station WFYI in Indianapolis. Professor Nuwer, thank you so much for speaking with us.

HANK NUWER: Thank you, Michel.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Categories
Hazing News

Niklaus Nuspliger interview with Hank Nuwer

«Jedes Jahr stirbt ein Jugendlicher an den Folgen der Schikanen»; Der Universitätsprofessor und Buchautor Hank Nuwer dokumentiert seit 40 Jahren Gewalt und erniedrigende Rituale unter amerikanischen Teenagern

Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Internationale Ausgabe) & NZZ am Sonntag

22. Juli 2013 Montag

Copyright 2013 AG für Die Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ Alle Rechte Vorbehalten

 

Section: BILDUNG UND GESELLSCHAFT; S. 38

 

Length: 765 words

 

Byline: Interview: Niklaus Nuspliger

 

 

Body

Frage Herr Nuwer, wie verbreitet sind Erniedrigungen und sexuelle Übergriffe unter den Jugendlichen in den USA?

Antwort Es ist eine verbreitete Kultur von sexuellen Übergriffen, Mobbing, Cyber-Mobbing und Gewalt zu beobachten. Seit 1970 stirbt in den USA jedes Jahr mindestens ein Jugendlicher an den Folgen von Schikanen und Gruppenritualen an Gymnasien und Universitäten. Früher waren solche extremen Vorfälle seltener. Die Dunkelziffer ist hoch, doch laut einer Studie aus Maine werden 50 Prozent der Jugendlichen als Gymnasiasten oder junge Studenten Opfer von Erniedrigungen.

Frage Nehmen auch sexuelle Übergriffe zu?

Antwort Vor allem unter jüngeren Teenagern an Gymnasien ist eine starke Zunahme zu beobachten, wobei die sexuellen Übergriffe zwei Dimensionen haben: Innerhalb von sozialen Gruppen wie Sportteams oder Studentenverbindungen wird Neulingen oder Emporkömmlingen Respekt gelehrt, indem sie zum Teil sehr brutal sexuell erniedrigt und gedemütigt werden. Daneben ist auch zu beobachten, dass sich gerade männliche Mitglieder solcher Gruppen mit hohem sozialem Status berechtigt fühlen, Mädchen sexuell zu belästigen. Anders als an Universitäten steht die sexuelle Gewalt an Gymnasien meistens nicht in Verbindung mit Alkoholmissbrauch, sondern hat gesellschaftliche Gründe.

Frage Welches sind die Ursprünge der Erniedrigungs-Rituale an Universitäten?

Antwort Das Phänomen des «Hazing» geht auf europäische Universitäten im späten Mittelalter zurück. Der Reformator Martin Luther hat im 16. Jahrhundert solche Praktiken an der Universität Wittenberg beschrieben und argumentiert, dass die Erniedrigungen die jungen Studenten auf die Härten des Lebens vorbereiteten. Über Eliteuniversitäten wie Harvard gelangten die Praktiken dann in die USA.

Frage Ist «Hazing» heute auch ausserhalb der USA zu beobachten?

Antwort Es ist ein weltweites Phänomen: Mir sind Praktiken aus den Philippinen oder Indien bekannt. Nimmt man das mediale Echo zum Massstab, scheint es sich in Europa derweil um ein Randphänomen zu handeln. In den USA liest man täglich von brutalen «Hazing»-Vorfällen. Einzigartig an den USA ist auch, dass die Erniedrigungen im institutionalisierten Rahmen von Studentenverbindungen und Sportteams geschehen.

Frage Sind Politik, Gesellschaft und Universitäten für das Thema sensibilisiert?

Antwort In den letzten zwanzig Jahren hat sich einiges bewegt. Es wurden härtere Gesetze erlassen, wobei im Kontext von «Hazing» erfolgte sexuelle Übergriffe oder Todesfälle viel milder bestraft werden als «normale» Sexual- oder Tötungsdelikte. In Gymnasien gibt es grossen Handlungsbedarf, doch auf universitärer Stufe haben sich Organisationen dem Kampf gegen «Hazing» und gegen sexuelle Gewalt verschrieben. Zudem haben viele Universitäten Task-Forces oder Fachstellen eingerichtet.

Frage Dennoch bleibt «Hazing» an Universitäten ein weitverbreitetes Phänomen.

Antwort Die Universitäten setzen vor allem auf Prävention und Erziehung. Sie sollten aber Studenten, die sich an extremen Missbräuchen beteiligen, konsequenter von der Schule weisen. Anders als früher stellen sich die Universitätsleitungen heute auf den Standpunkt, dass sie nicht kontrollieren könnten, was ausserhalb des Campus und in den privaten Klubhäusern geschehe. Die universitären Sicherheitsdienste könnten aber durchaus strengere Kontrollen durchführen. Ein grosses Problem ist der unkontrollierte Alkoholkonsum: Bei 80 Prozent der schweren «Hazing»-Übergriffe ist Alkoholmissbrauch im Spiel.

Frage Welche Rolle spielen erwachsene Alumni von Studentenverbindungen?

Antwort Es wäre wichtig, wenn sich Alumni zumindest gegen die schweren Übergriffe einsetzen würden. Oft ist leider das Gegenteil der Fall. Erwachsene Alumni kommen oft zurück in die Häuser der Verbindungen, um in alten Erinnerungen zu schwelgen. Es hat schon Todesfälle bei Einführungsritualen gegeben, an denen erwachsene Alumni aktiv mitgewirkt haben.

Frage Warum setzen sich nicht mehr Jugendliche zur Wehr?

Antwort Angesichts der Kultur der Verschwiegenheit ist es nicht einfach, sich gegen seine Kameraden zu stellen. Die Erfahrung zeigt, dass Whistleblower zum Teil schlimme Anfeindungen über sich ergehen lassen müssen. Je nach sozialem Status kann ein Whistleblower aber auch zum Helden werden und eine positive Dynamik auslösen. Letztlich müssen Veränderungen von den Jugendlichen selber ausgehen. Die Teenager werden im Gymnasium mit Übergriffen konfrontiert und glauben, dass diese normal sind und «dazugehören». Daher müssten Präventions- und Sensibilisierungsmassnahmen bereits in der Elementarschule einsetzen.

Interview: Niklaus Nuspliger

 

Categories
Hazing News

Hank Nuwer, CNN

CNN CNN SATURDAY MORNING NEWS 07:00

May 10, 2003 Saturday

Copyright 2003 Cable News Network All Rights Reserved

 

Section: News; National; LIVE REPORT/INTERVIEW

 

Length: 1797 words

 

Byline: Anderson Cooper, Whitney Casey, Arthel Neville

 

Guests: Gregory Danielson, Hank Nuwer


Highlight: Live report on the high school hazing incident at Northbrook High School outside Chicago, where criminal charges may be filed against students who beat other students. An interview with Danielson, a hazing survivor who describes his experience at an initiation for a college soccer team. Author Nuwer, who’s written extensively about the practice of hazing, explains what motivates youth who are involved on both sides.

Body

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And when I looked up and I saw blood, I knew that this wasn’t right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, this is from a paint can being thrown at me and Tabasco sauce and vinegar and stuff like that in my eye. And just spam on my face. And fish guts, pig ears, there was pig intestine wrapped around my neck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ugh. A victim of an Illinois high school hazing describes some, and just some, of the abuse dished out by her classmates. It happened last Sunday at an off campus gathering. Mostly female students from Glenbrook North High School. Such disturbing video we’ve been watching.

Criminal charges in this hazing could be filed next week and some adults could also be in trouble.

CNN’s Whitney Casey is covering the story and she joins us from Chicago — good morning, Whitney.

WHITNEY CASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.

Well, police have certainly had a prodigious task here sifting through all of that videotape that we’ve been showing you. If you watch the videotape closely, you can see that there are other boys and girls there with video cameras, possibly about two dozen, police say, that they’ve had to look through.

But what they’re focused on right now is some video we showed you yesterday and that’s of the girls there in the yellow jerseys. Those are the senior girls. They’ve got some videotape in where you see the girls drinking out of kegs and that’s what they’re focused on right now. They say they have identified most of the girls in the hazing and the school has already disciplined them.

But what they’re focusing on is an anonymous tip that came in from — into the local police department, saying that parents may have provided this alcohol that fueled this melee. What they’re saying is that the alcohol started out as a pre-party with the seniors and some of the girls who watched the videotape with me said that there were four kegs there and some of the video we showed you yesterday were girls doing what they called keg stands, hand stands on kegs, excessive amounts of drinking.

There was quite a bit of violence and police are saying it’s that drinking that escalated this melee.

Now, school officials say they have no jurisdiction here. They say that this was not school sanctioned. It was held off campus. And so they say they could not suspend these kids. Instead what they have done is, as they went into this weekend, they no longer can participate in some of their extracurricular activities.

Police, in the meantime, have been visiting local liquor stores in order to find possibly the connection between what they say may have been parents. Because at local liquor stores here in Illinois, they have to leave an I.D. and they have to sign a release. So they say if, indeed, parents were involved, they believe they’ll get to the bottom of it, Anderson, and they hope to have charges as soon as Monday.

COOPER: Whitney, is there any information about whether or not these girls are talking? I mean are they coming, have they come forward? We heard, we’ve heard from some of the juniors. You know, are the seniors talking to the police? I mean are they admitting what went on?

CASEY: Well, right now they’re a little tight-lipped after they initially started talking because we found out that 60 lawyers in this area have been hired to handle this case. They have, you know, the offensive and the defensive, the seniors and the juniors.

But I actually spoke with yesterday one junior who claims to be one of the captains of the teams. She says what I think is really interesting is they’ve been going back to school. Everybody had to go back to school. So these juniors, who have been watching this videotape and the five girls that have been initiated are all back in school with the seniors that injured them.

So far they say they haven’t even communicated whatsoever — Anderson.

COOPER: All right, and as you said on Monday charges may be filed.

Whitney Casey, thanks for following the story — Arthel.

ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, we want to get more perspective now on hazing and what can be done to stop it.

Joining us now is Hank Nuwer. He is the author of three books on hazing. And Gregory Danielson, who was the victim of hazing as a college student.

We want to say good morning to both of you and thanks for joining us.

Gregory, if I could, let me start with you.

Tell us, first of all, what sort of hazing incident were you involved in?

GREGORY DANIELSON, HAZING SURVIVOR: Well, it was my college freshman year. I was coming in as a soccer player for the men’s varsity team. And so it was an initiation, a hazing for the soccer team, the men’s varsity team.

NEVILLE: But what happened to you? How bad did it get?

DANIELSON: Well, it got to the point where I was unconscious and had to be sent to the hospital because of blood alcohol poisoning.

NEVILLE: So were you forced to drink?

DANIELSON: Yes, I was. There were certain games, certain drinking games, certain obstacles that all the freshmen had to participate in as a rite of passage into the soccer team.

NEVILLE: But, so at what point, or why didn’t you just say listen, I don’t care about being on the soccer team? I’m not going to kill myself.

DANIELSON: Well, you know, that’s the tough situation. You know, I had trained 18 years. It was my passion to get to this point, the same as the other freshmen. You kind of have to look at it in the context. At this point, it would have been just as easy for me to say no to my soccer coach, saying I don’t want to train, I don’t want to take the fitness test, as it would have been to say no, I don’t want to do this drinking. It, you know, I wouldn’t have been part of the team at that point.

NEVILLE: Sure.

DANIELSON: I would have been, you know, looked down upon.

NEVILLE: That’s horrible.

Mr. Nuwer, let me bring you in here now and ask you, I mean, what drives this sort of hazing and how does it get out of control like this? And, as Gregory just told us, I mean he felt like he was in a catch-22.

HANK NUWER, AUTHOR, “HIGH SCHOOL HAZING”: Well, part of it is that a team relies on camaraderie. It’s not enough that your coach says that you can start. It’s important to you that your teammates accept you. In the case of Greg Danielson, the players had been warned that an initiation is coming for some time, but they don’t use the word hazing. And there’s a lot of joy at the beginning because you’re, you know you’re going to be accepted after that night. It’s a kind of ritual, well, you’ll be drinking and there’s even outsiders there cheering you on. And so there’s all this excitement.

But the point is a sane person such as Danielson, after drinking a certain amount, doesn’t want to participate at, if he didn’t at the beginning, he certainly doesn’t want to participate when he thinks he’s in danger.

NEVILLE: But he can’t back out then.

NUWER: He can’t back out and he’s not in control of his functions at this point, as his blood alcohol skyrockets over to a point near death. He was in a closest and then they shaved his head.

NEVILLE: So who is responsible? At the end of the day, I mean who is liable?

NUWER: Well, I want to — Greg is in my next book coming out and I wanted Gregory to tell his story as a case study. I wanted his coach, Coach Ballovic (ph) at the University of North Carolina, to tell his story. And the athletic director at the time, John Swofford, who is now the head of the ACC, to tell their story with it.

In my opinion, the soccer initiation had been around for a long time. They needed a clear policy that said as a disciplinary issue that hazing was not allowed.

I saw their disciplinary statement. Correctly they said drugs should not be allowed. They said what kind of athletic shoes they should be wearing.

NEVILLE: But what about alcohol?

NUWER: But nothing about hazing and nothing about binge drinking and nothing about an alcohol initiation or shaving of heads.

NEVILLE: So then that, does the responsibility lie, then on the shoulders of the administrators at school?

NUWER: Yes, it is, and that one went all the way up to the chancellor. And they did an investigation which did not bring police in. At this point, you have a criminal matter, police investigated it, it needed to go to a prosecuting attorney and it needs to become a criminal matter.

NEVILLE: And how likely is that going to happen?

NUWER: Not very likely. We’ve had cases of alcohol poisoning and so on, including Indiana University, the death of Joe Bisanz, where then prosecuting attorneys declined to press charges, saying that basically the victims were responsible because they started out just like the others as part of this. There’s…

NEVILLE: The victims aren’t responsible, Gregory, right? I mean as you were saying, this is your passion. You wanted to be on this soccer team and you — what advice do you have, Gregory, to some other students who may be coming up and following along that same path, who wanted to join an athletic team or perhaps a sorority or a fraternity? I mean what do you say to them? Should they at some point “rat out” their fellow students?

DANIELSON: Well, first of all, they need to have the knowledge. Like when I was 18, I had no idea what hazing was. So I didn’t even know that I was a victim of a crime. And so I started blaming myself at that point. But they need to have the knowledge and know what hazing is. And they also need to have an open communication with someone in a position of authority so that they can speak out and feel comfortable about doing that and feel like they’re going to get a sincere and honest response from that coach, from that teacher, from that principal.

NEVILLE: So the do…

DANIELSON: And that…

NEVILLE: Do you do this before you go into some sort of initiation?

DANIELSON: Well, even before you sign with the school, before you, you know, even get into the school, maybe you talk to the principal. Before, you know, you sign with that soccer team, you talk to the coach and say what are your policies on hazing? I’ve heard about it. I know about it. Can you tell me, has it ever happened in the past? Things like that.

NEVILLE: OK, Gregory Danielson, I’d love to talk to you more, but I’m out of time here.

DANIELSON: Sure.

NEVILLE: Hank Nuwer.

NUWER: Thank you.

NEVILLE: Thank you both for joining me this morning.

NUWER: Thank you.

NEVILLE: OK. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 

Categories
Hazing News

Matt Lauer interview with Hank Nuwer

MATT LAUER, co-host:

Now more of our series, tackling PARENTS’ WORST FEARS. And today we’re talking about hazing. By the time your son or daughter enters high school, he or she may have already been involved in some kind of hazing incident. Unfortunately, hazing has become a problem at all academic levels from grade school to university. And while most kids make it through it relatively unharmed, others are not so lucky.

Dr. DAN REARDON: Daniel was–was just a really wonderful child from the time of his birth, and you know, un–until he died.

Ms. NANCY McKEMME: What I love to remember about Daniel was his ability to sing.

Dr. REARDON: I received a call at 5:30 in the morning from the campus police that–that my son, Daniel, was in ICU.

LAUER: Dr. Dan Reardon and Nancy McKemme got the news all parents hope they never receive.

Dr. REARDON: The attending physician took me aside and explained to me the extent of Danny’s damages, and the likelihood that he was brain-dead and would never regain consciousness.

LAUER: And after seven nights in intensive care, 19-year-old Daniel Reardon died on Valentine’s Day, 2002, a fraternity hazing ritual gone awry. Daniel, along with the other pledges, was prodded into drinking an excessive amount of alcohol.

Dr. REARDON: I used to joke and say I’ll be a successful parent if I can get my kids out of their 20s alive. And I don’t joke about that any more. Danny was four months short of his 20th birthday.

LAUER: At the time of his death, Daniel was pledging Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity at the University of Maryland. The university says, quote, “Reardon’s death was a terrible tragedy,” and through education and enforcement, they hope to prevent this from ever happening again.

Ms. McKEMME: At some point, the boys that were central in this event, will grow up, they will marry, they will have children. Those children will go to university. We’ll see if they allow their sons and daughters to be in the good Greek life, knowing what they’ve experienced.

LAUER: Susan Lipkins is a psychologist who specializes in children and adolescents.

Ms. SUSAN LIPKINS: I’m still shocked at how many different ways people come up to die or to be seriously hurt as a result of this kind of hazing.

LAUER: Two years ago, all Jake Savoy of Louisiana wanted to do was play high school football. But on his birthday, after practice, he was hazed by some of the older boys on the team.

Mr. JAKE SAVOY: When I got on the bench, they started taping me from my ankles all the way up to my neck and my hands, and they pulled my pants down to my knees, and one by one they started hitting me, putting their butts in my face, and finally somebody said, `Hey, look, he’s bleeding.’

LAUER: Twenty-eight students were disciplined by the school because of the incident. Today, Jake’s a high school senior at that school. Karen Savoy is his mother. Because of what happened to Jake, she started MASH: Mothers Against School Hazing.

Ms. KAREN SAVOY: It changes everybody’s lives. It changes the perpetrator’s lives, it changes the victim’s lives. It splits communities. What I say is, `Think before you do.’

LAUER: Daniel’s parents paid the ultimate price. They lost their son. They only hope other people can learn from their tragedy.

Ms. McKEMME: We spent a week before they gave Daniel a brain calmer. I held him in my arms for eight hours in ICU while he shook. And we tried to decide if he could recover. And you have to make decisions like that when your child dies. And you know that other fa–families are facing that and you wonder how these circumstances can continue year after year, month after month.

LAUER: Hank Nuwer is a journalism–journalism professor at Franklin College in Indiana and the author of four books on hazing, including “Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing” and “High School Hazing: When Rites become Wrongs.”

Hank, good morning. Good to see you.

Mr. HANK NUWER (Franklin College): Hello.

LAUER: Now for people who are watching this and think, OK, this only happens with football teams and fraternities, think again.

Mr. NUWER: Right. There’s occupational hazing. We’ve had two adults die in the last two years. Band hazing. We have hazing in the military and so forth. So it’s a societal problem and an international problem.

LAUER: And a lot of people used to think this was college, OK, and maybe every once in a while it happened in high school with football teams and things like–you’re seeing incidents of hazing now taking place in elementary school.

Mr. NUWER: Right, the sixth grade–going down as far.

LAUER: So–so why has this become such a part of academic life?

Mr. NUWER: Well, it’s–it’s always been a part of academic life where basically this need for order that the school had basically took over, and people were not encouraged to say no. And–and this idea of fitting in, and the idea of precedence became big in the educational system. So we’ve had hazing deaths up to 1838.

LAUER: W–when students are injured in hazing incidents, are the laws strong enough? Do–do the–does the law look at a hazing incident as seriously as it would look at an assault outside of a school environment?

Mr. NUWER: State by state, we have 44 states that have laws, a sexual simulation in Georgia would not be considered to be sexual, whereas a case in New Hampshire might be. So the laws are all over. Victim involvement in about 20 states makes a difference. If you start off willingly, makes a difference at the end how the law will look at you.

LAUER: You ta–you mentioned sexual assault. A lot of hazing incidents are taking a turn in that direction, aren’t they?

Mr. NUWER: Over 7–70 media incidents since about 1995, including sodomy.

LAUER: So it used to be they forced you to drink or they beat you up a little bit. And now a lot of these things have a sexual overtone to them.

Mr. NUWER: Sure and get out of hand. One–all it takes is one person in the group to take someone’s pants down and–and put an object in or so forth. It Gets way out of hand.

LAUER: And we–we’ve heard the–the statement from the University of Maryland that said we’re going to, you know, through enforcement and education, we’re going to prevent something like this from happening at a fraternity again. Why don’t universities just say if there is any kind of a rush event at a fraternity, there must be a school chaperone present?

Mr. NUWER: Right. We need to have adults present not only in fraternity houses, but also in the high school level in locker rooms and so forth. The schools have not taken a hard-line stance. We–things have been abdicated where we have deans of discipline–deans of students in charge. Faculty are not involved. And at the NCAA level, for example, we need faculty reps to take a hard-line stance.

LAUER: So what would your best advice be to parents, not only to prevent their own children from becoming victims of hazing, but to prevent them from hazing some another child?

Mr. NUWER: Well, we talk about basic civility. There should be no intimidation. There should be no harassment. And if your school has something like freshman kick day, something with a euphemism like that, which is foolish to begin with, watch out. And make sure that these traditions are stopped before someone gets hurt.

LAUER: Hank Nuwer, important subject. Thanks very much for the information.

Mr. NUWER: Thank you.

LAUER: I appreciate it.