All: On Tuesday, Badjocks.com will published the freedom of info report sent to Bad Reno, publisher of Badjocks.com by the University of Iowa after a baseball team incident in which five first-year players appeared nude. Following is a) my take on the investigation that Mr Reno asked for and b) the university FOIA response after that (posted Tuesday of this week):
a) Hank Nuwer comment: The term rookie hazing is one of those things that all athletes recognize when they see it–no matter what it is called. And yes, as we see below with Milledge of the Mets, some first-year players get caught up in the frivolity. And as the Daily News article shows, so did the sportswriter apparently.
There is no doubt in my mind that the issue was hazing. (There isn’t enough of an investigation to know whether any veteran players could have purchased the alcohol for the rookies that might have taken this incident to the level of criminal hazing in violation of Iowa state law.) It also was a shame that the university didn’t appoint a faculty member who has studied hazing to the two-member committee. It sounds as if all proceeded with good intentions, but we know where that paved road leads.
The team and coaches never should be interviewed TOGETHER first. Kojak would have choked on his sucker. I’ve often said that educators make great teachers but lousy cops. Of course everyone had a story straight by that time. And certainly none of the five was going to go against the group that time after the solidarity in that room was clear and evident and directed against the two university-appointed investigators. WHO BOUGHT THE ALCOHOL? WHEN DID THE COACH KNOW SUCH ANTICS OCCURRED?
Yes, hazing can occur even if only one new baseball player was hazed. Yes, hazing can occur in a party atmosphere. A soccer player at the University of North Carolina had to be rescued and taken to a hospital with alcohol intoxication while his head was shaved in a closet where he’d curled up (nearly) dead drunk to hide. Women and non-team members were there cheering as the first-year men stripped down and guzzled.
Conclusion? The university–with apparent all good intentions– contributed to the ignorance associated with hazing. As far as investigations go, this one should be considered fatally flawed.
I repeat: who bought the alcohol? Was any similar “rookie” initiation held in years past–especially at an annual party such as this one?
Thanks for sharing, Bob. Hank Nuwer
b) FOIA follows at Badjocks.com on Tuesday
c) My original column on the IOWA decision is here.
PS: wht wasn’t an Iowa campus police officer present at the two-member investigation with and without the team?
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“There’s been 20 years of water night,” he said.
Hazing can be hazing — only NON-CRIMINAL –if it technically does not fit the law. That’s at a judicial level where an organization might receive school sanctions only (perhaps suspension from social activities for a brief time).
But at the University of Albany, President Kermit Hall ruled hazing did not occur categorically for the following reason reprinted from the Times Union:
Albany president Kermit Hall said the team’s actions did not fit the school’s definition of hazing because there was no malice and no one was endangered physically or emotionally or stepped forward to press criminal charges.
Here is why he is partially wrong in my opinion: 1) The minute alcohol entered the equation, especially to an advanced level of impairment for first-year players, hazing was precisely what happened. The vast majority (more than 80 percent) of all hazing deaths involved alcohol, and I assure you–no malice was intended in nearly all (maybe even all) of these cases. 2) First-year players can enter “willingly” into an initiation and still have hazing occur. The unstated premise that the first-year players realize is that they won’t be accepted SOCIALLY on the team unless they go through the initiation with apparent good humor and some submissiveness.
It may be that the Albany initiation falls under the NON-CRIMINAL hazing category (although giving alcohol to minors males me question that also–though proving it without first-year player cooperation is another matter).
We know have had Iowa and U-Albany presidents make a decision that runs counter to what Greek advisers have been enforcing for years. When it comes to hazing, there are two tiers of justice at some schools–one for athletic teams and one for fraternities and sororities.
That is not only unfair, it’s educationally unsound.