Categories
Hazing News

Oregon proposes hazing legislation

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

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank 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. 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 new book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer, former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird, finished a stint as managing editor of the Celina Daily Standard to accept a new position as 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.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.