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Scholarship: Journal of College and Character Volume 18, 2017 – Issue 1

Journal of College and Character

Volume 18, 2017; 1

Peer Reviewed Articles

It Happens, Just Not to Me: Hazing on a Canadian University Campus

Kyle D. Massey & Jennifer Massey
Pages 46-63 | Published online: 16 Feb 2017
Kyle Massey () is a doctoral candidate in higher education leadership at the University of Texas at Austin and a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Jennifer Massey () is the director of student life at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Abstract

Research on hazing in higher education has primarily focused on Greek-letter organizations and athletes, with little research beyond these two subsets of college students. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the attitudes of students from the general student population at a Canadian university with regard to hazing and identify how students justify and legitimate hazing activities. The theories of groupthink and cognitive dissonance are used to interpret the results which are presented in three themes: (a) It isn’t hazing or it doesn’t count as hazing, (b) It is hazing, but it’s okay, and (c) It happens, just not to me.

By 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 and Best Humorist, second place.

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. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former 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

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