Hank Nuwer, Author; Hazing Deaths Database

Here is a link to all grants and contests sponsored by Zeta Tau Alpha and/or HazingPrevention.org

Happy Spring! Budding trees, blooming flowers and melting snow mean summer is just around the corner, and fall can’t be far behind. That means it’s not too early to begin plannning for National Hazing Prevention Week. Read on for information about new resources, trainings and webinars to help with your hazing prevention education efforts, in addition to a huge new award for campuses! –Tracy Maxwell

My Experience Pledging a Black Sorority
Alpha Phi’s at ASU
By Stacey Pratt, Univ. of Michigan

Before college, I never concerned myself with joining a Greek organization. I grew up with three older sisters, in addition to gaining a strong support network of friends through my extracurricular pursuits as a high school student – I thought I had all I needed. However from my first week at my new university community, I received pamphlets of information emphasizing the more than 20% of the 40,000 University students who joined Greek organizations in order to better serve the community. During the overexposure period to campus student groups, I began to reframe my standing in the sea of 40,000 I’d just entered: I graduated from a Detroit Public High School – one of the worst academically prepared school districts in Michigan. Arriving at a predominately white university nearly an hour away from home further drove a wedge between my high school friends and family who remained in Detroit unaware of the social struggles I now faced. I became one member of an incoming class of 5,000 students with no friends, no knowledge of the campus, no academic support, and no family nearby. That is when the Greek community began to look appealing to me.

Read the full article
NEW Award for Innovation in Hazing Prevention
Zeta Tau AlphaHazingPrevention.Org is thrilled to partner with Zeta Tau Alpha and the ZTA Foundation to  recognize campuses with innovative, comprehensive, year-round, research-based, hazing prevention programming. One campus annually will receive a $10,000 cash prize to further their efforts, and the canon of effective prevention practice as it relates to hazing will be broadened in the process.

Deadline to apply Nov. 15, 2009     First prize awarded March 2010

Attending this summer’s Interdisciplinary Institute for Hazing Intervention will help your campus plan the type of programming that will make you eligible for this recognition.
September 21-25, 2009
NHPW Blue LogoNational Hazing Prevention Week, observed the last week in September or whenever is most convenient for you, is a great time to raise awareness about hazing policies, state laws, and prevention efforts. It should not be the only time during the year that you talk about hazing, however. Comprehensive, year-round programming is needed to truly make a dent in this problem.

HazingPrevention.Org is developing new resources to help. In the coming months, watch for the following:

* 2009 NHPW Resource Guide – available to sponsoring organizations and campuses (May)
* NHPW Planning Guide – one copy provided to sponsors, and available for purchase (June)
* Crucial Conversations Guide – how to talk to students about hazing, available for purchase (May)
* Hazing Free Zone door signs and door knob hangers (May)
* Poster series based on Bystander Responsibility (August)

We will host a webinar to help you plan for NHPW in June or July, and a series of webinars – one each day of NHPW – on some of the following topics: Crucial Conversations, Hidden Harm, Response-Ability, Understanding Hazing and Changing Campus Culture.

The work that we do wouldn’t be possible without your hard work and support. Thank you for all that you do to prevent hazing!
Sincerely,
Signature
Tracy Maxwell
HazingPrevention.Org

Link to the Statesman article:

March 26, 2009

Bill would crack down on hazing

Hazing would be barred at schools and universities, and student participants and organizations subject to fines, under a bill proposed by Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, and heard Wednesday by the Senate Education Committee.

Senate Bill 444 was introduced, Courtney said, because state law exempts college athletic teams from the anti-hazing law even though state university rules ban hazing. A revised version would change the law, extend the ban to public schools, and update definitions.

Hazing covers physical brutality, activity adversely affecting physical health or safety, compelled consumption and inducement of illegal activity.

“I realize the importance of both discipline and team building,” said Courtney, a sports fan and former coach. “Hazing is not an appropriate way to encourage either.”

A student organization would be subject to a maximum fine of $720; a participant, $360. The committee took no action.

— Peter Wong

A former Robertson High School football player on Tuesday pleaded no contest to the charges against him stemming from hazing incidents at a football camp last summer.In exchange for Santiago Armijo’s pleas to two counts of attempted criminal sexual penetration, prosecutors agreed not to charge him as an adult.

Armijo was one of six teammates accused of sodomizing younger players with a broomstick during the football camp.

“The bottom line for Santiago is that he wanted to put this behind him as best he could, accept responsibility for his involvement, even though it was more limited than other people, and try to move forward,” said Stephen Aarons, Armijo’s attorney.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Armijo could be incarcerated until he’s 21 during sentencing on April 24. He could also be called to testify against his former teammates.

“In terms of what his value will be, I think there are only certain things that the participant can testify to,” said prosecutor Henry Valdez. “That’s something I would be interested in getting before a jury.”

Until sentencing, Armijo is free but is required to wear an ankle monitor.