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University of Virginia student editorial examines hazing in teams and clubs

Here is the link to the editorial.  It was prompted by a lawsuit filed by a swim team member.

Excerpt:

….The former student, Anthony Marcantonio, alleges he and other first-year swimmers were subjected to numerous forms of hazing, including being forced to drink beer, liquor, milk and prune juice and suffering verbal abuse and forced sexual contact. Marcantonio’s allegations serve as a necessary reminder of the pervasive nature of hazing — that it is not just confined to Greek life.

The tendency to link hazing and Greek life does not exist without reason. But sometimes this association can make us forget about the prevalence of hazing in any hierarchically or competitively organized student group, including those at our University. Contractually independent organizations face similar risks to fraternities and sororities; hushed anecdotes of what club sports teams, a capella groups and even debating societies make their new members do could certainly qualify as hazing….

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. 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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