SUNY Oneonta has a zero-tolerance policy regarding hazing, consistent with New York State law. Hazing includes any activity that subjects members to harassment, ridicule, intimidation, physical exhaustion, abuse or mental distress. Hazing is contrary to the purpose of the Greek community and SUNY Oneonta. If you suspect you are being hazed, please seek assistance as soon as possible from the Office of Student Affairs, your residence hall director, University Police or another SUNY Oneonta official. Here are some commonly asked questions about hazing:
National research indicates that many students are experiencing hazing in junior high and high school when they participate in athletic teams, social groups, marching bands, and other types of organizations. When they arrive on college campuses, they may expect to be hazed and regard it as a normal part of group membership.
Members of groups often regard hazing as a way of building loyalty to the organization and see themselves as carrying on group traditions. In fact, there are other more effective ways of creating loyalty to a group and the so-called traditions are often very recently created by a few group members.
NO! There are hazing activities that have very low risk of injury. Examples include requiring new members to: show up at a specified place and time on campus each day and participate in a lineup; memorize facts about members of the organization; run errands or perform favors for members (cleaning their apartments, serving at parties); doing craft projects at a member’s apartment; being required to sleep in uncomfortable conditions with other new members off campus and not being allowed to sleep in their residence hall rooms.
These low-risk activities may be used early in the new member process and are reassuring to new members that nothing really bad is going to be asked of them. Higher-risk activities may be added later after the new member is fully committed to finishing the new member process. The low-risk activities can become high risk when they take more and more of the new members’ time and cause sleep deprivation and interfere with class attendance.
Although the members of groups who are hazing are usually nice people who do not intend to hurt anyone, there are risks of physical and emotional injury. One source of risk comes from the involvement of alcohol in hazing activities, which increases the risk of injury to all participants.
New members who are drinking lose the coordination, balance, and perceptual abilities to perform physical activities that they could normally accomplish. Their judgment is impaired such that they may overestimate their ability to complete the required activities. Examples include swimming in rivers or ponds, performing excessive numbers of knuckle pushups, wall-sits, and other calisthenics, and drinking large amounts of alcohol or other liquids in a short amount of time.
Alcohol use by the members who are hazing impairs their judgment such that they may not recognize or underestimate the risk of the activities. An example is requiring new members to stand outside in freezing temperatures while wet and/or underdressed. Those in charge of the activity cannot accurately assess the length of time in which hypothermia may develop or may lose track of the time that has passed. Paddling can create injuries that are not apparent until sometime after the activity.
Not everyone who is hazed experiences emotional distress but it can occur because of individual personality and personal history. Some hazing is designed to humiliate new members and it is impossible to predict who might experience lasting effects. Emotional distress as well as the time spent in hazing activities can have a negative effect on academic performance.
There are a number of reasons for not quitting. One is that students are told that the hazing will soon end and they believe they can tolerate it for that period of time. Another is that new members may be told that the remaining new members will be punished if anyone drops out. Some groups threaten physical assault and/or social ostracism to those who drop out. Above all, however, the group recruited the student, there are clear benefits to group membership, and the student wants to be a member of the group.
Signs that a student might be involved in hazing:
1. The student appears exhausted or unwell.
2. The student wears clothes or has a haircut that they would not normally consider and don’t like (e.g., shaved head, wearing filthy, unwashed clothing).
3. Unplanned and unexplained expenses/need for money (new members’ dining cards may be taken from them, they may be required to pay for parties or other social activities).
4. Strange injuries (e.g., scratches to hands and forearms, injuries from falls) or explanations that don‘t make sense (a broken rib that was supposedly sustained while shopping).
5. The student is very hard to reach and spends little time in their residence hall room, even at times that they would normally sleep.