Category: Hazing News

Smith and Moon and others influence bill’ passage: link

Letter from Debbie Smith follows:

Hi Matt Law Supporters

Wow what an emotional day we had yesterday as we waited for our bill to come up in the hearing.  The hearing room was filled with 35 Matt Supporters most dressed in there red and sporting their Matt Badges I paced the corridor outside the hearing room, a tab bit of a wreck hoping to just get through the morning without falling apart, reflecting on the prior days events.  We had spent the day lobbying for Matt’s Law

It seemed to go very well as we visited the offices of the Assembly Members of the Public Safety Committee trying to explain to their assistants the importance of Matt’s Law in hopes of getting a yes vote on Tuesday.  But we had one Assembly Member who actually came out and spoke to us because she wanted us to know how important she thought our bill was and that she believed in it but because it was a third strike felony she was having difficult time because she had vowed to her constituents that she would not vote for a third strike felony.

I loved the fact that she was so honest and felt so strongly about both Matt’s Law and her convictions that she came and spoke to us face to face.  She told us upon leaving that she had a lot of thinking to do that night.  As we left her office I made a vow of my own, to be positive and think positive thoughts so I hoped if we were unable to persuade her the next morning in the hearing that she would just abstain from voting all together and maybe we could come away with a 6 – 0 vote with one abstention.  Of course that was my positive thinking that we had already persuaded the rest.

We walked to the Capitol from our hotel room yesterday morning and all I could think of was please pass Matt’s Law through today, please abstain, please be able to speak, please don’t start crying, my mind was a whirlwind.  We arrived early and went up to Senator Torlakson’s office briefly and when we returned Matt’s Supporters were starting to gather outside the hearing room.  What a wonderful feeling, we had supporters ranging in age from 7 to 80.

When Matt’s Law finally got called we sat in front of the Assembly, our last chance to help them understand how important this law really is.  When we were finished speaking they ask for any of those in support and much to my amazement there was a line of representatives from the organizations that we had written to and called, had not only written their letters in support but had come to verbally give their support.  The tears were streaming down so many faces as voice after voice spoke into the mike stating whom they were representing and that they supported Matt’s Law.

When asked who was opposing there were NONE!  The vote was taken and Matt’s Law passed unanimously. LAST HIST. ACTION:  From committee:  Do pass, but first be re-referred to Com. on  APPR. (Ayes  7. Noes  0.) Re-referred to Com.on  APPR.  Next stop Assembly Appropriations this could take place between now and July 7th if not it will be in August, then the Assembly Floor in August before going to the Governor’s desk in September.

Our next letter writing campaign should be focused on the Assembly Appropriations Committee and this should start today since we are not sure when they may hear our bill.  There are 18 members in this committee and the chair of this committee is…

Judy Chu
State Capitol
PO Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0049

You can find all the committee member’s addresses on Matt’s site or by clicking this link  ACS Frameset7   here are their last names to get you started Chu (Chair), Runner (Vice Chair) Bass, Berg, Calderon, De La Torre, Emmerson, Haynes, Karnette, Klehs, Leno, Nakanishi, Nation, Oropeza, Ridley-Thomas, Saldana, Walters & Yee.

I apologize that I did not write this yesterday but as I stated in the beginning it was an emotional couple of days and by the time I returned home yesterday afternoon I was exhausted.

I wanted to thank everyone again for coming you really made a difference; your support gives me strength and is so appreciated.

If you didn’t notice the FYI above…

DATELINE has scheduled Matt’s story to air this Saturday, June 24th at 8pm provided it is not pre-empted.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone for all your wonderful support without all your hard work we would not be where we are today.  You should be so proud of yourselves this is a good thing you are doing.  Three more stops before our bill is a LAW.

“Hug your children and tell them you love them everyday.”

Love,
Debbie, MM
www.wemissyoumatt.com

Link is here:

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)

Link is here
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chicagotribune.com >> Editorials
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.

Link is here