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Senator wants school officials held accountable for hazing

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MANILA, Philippines – Senator Panfilo Lacson on Thursday backed the proposal of his colleagues in the Senate to amend the Anti-Hazing Law to include among those criminally liable officials of universities and colleges which accredited fraternities and student organizations that are still engaging in hazing activities.

 

“Prospectively, school heads should be held liable for the death of their students in fraternity hazing rituals,” Lacson told reporters in a weekly forum at the Senate.

 

Lacson said that the existing Anti-hazing Law or Republic Act 8049 needs improvement since the law provides that universities and colleges should be informed at least seven days prior to the initiation rites for them to be able to send representatives who will supervise the activity.

 

However, this provision has not been followed by schools and organizations.

 

“Everytime we hear news about deaths in hazing rituals obviously no school representatives were present there…,” he said.

 

He added that institutions like the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are also covered by the law.

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, 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 Warsaw, Poland and 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 and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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