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Alfred University Finds 80 Percent of Student Athletes are Being Hazed
Alfred, NY -- Alfred University today issued a report on the results of its National Initiation Rites and Athletics Survey, the first-ever attempt to determine the prevalence of hazing among members of collegiate athletic teams.
"We found that 80 percent of the student athletes -- a figure that translates to more than a quarter of a million students -- participated in behavior that could be defined as hazing," said President Edward G. Coll, Jr.
"Not surprisingly, we found a major discrepancy between what students call hazing, and what others might define as hazing," said Coll, who called for the national study after a hazing incident involving freshman football players hit the AU campus last fall.
With the assistance of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Alfred University surveyed 10,000 student-athletes from NCAA institutions, along with 3,000 coaches and more than 1,000 athletic directors and senior student affairs officers.
Students were asked if they were hazed, or knew of hazing among the athletic teams on their campuses. They were also asked to indicate whether they had been involved in a list of 24 behaviors as a requirement to belong to an athletic team.
"Only 12 percent actually reported that they had been hazed," said Coll. "Yet, when we looked at behaviors themselves, our researchers found a far different story:
* one of every five athletes said they were expected by their teammates to engage in potentially illegal activity as the 'price' of acceptance on the team. Students reported that they had been beaten, kidnapped, or tied up and transported, or that they had been forced to harass others or to vandalize others' property as part of their initiations onto a team.
* two of every five athletes reported that they were expected by their teammates to consume alcohol as part of their initiation activities, but not to engage in other illegal acts. Alcohol-related initiation rites include drinking contests, or consuming alcohol on recruitment visits. Thus, for many of our athletes, hazing to join a college team begins while they are still in high school.
* one of every five said they were expected to participate in what we called questionable acts, those designed to humiliate or degrade the rookies. We also found that those who participated in apparently innocuous activities, such as wearing embarrassing clothing or being asked to act as a personal servant to an upperclassman, were very likely to be involved in unacceptable activities, those that are dangerous or potentially illegal.
* only one in five participated exclusively in acceptable team-building activities, although 100 percent of the respondents were given the opportunity to do so. This finding indicates that the positive activities we provide to our student athletes simply are not challenging enough to meet their needs for initiation rites.
"While men appear more likely to participate in dangerous behaviors, women are not exempt," said Coll. "The survey results indicate that women are also involved, and their initiation rites tend to involve alcohol."
Those who are most at-risk, according to the survey results, are men who are involved in swimming and diving, lacrosse, football or hockey.
"What these results are saying to all of us in university administration is that hazing for collegiate athletics may be as prevalent as hazing for Greek organizations and all other college organizations," said Coll. "As administrators, we can no longer treat hazing as strictly a fraternity/sorority problem. We must acknowledge that it pervades intercollegiate athletics to an astounding and dangerous degree."
Equally disturbing, Coll said, is that while fraternities and sororities are independent corporations, many of which own their own houses, and are under little or no control by universities, "Athletic hazing is different. These are our teams, supported by our money, supervised by our coaches and whose activities -- sometimes including hazing -- are conducted on our playing fields, and in our gyms and locker rooms. If members of athletic teams are hazing the rookies, then it is our problem, and our liability as well."
Coll asked his colleagues at colleges and universities throughout the country to "join with Alfred University in establishing a zero-tolerance policy toward hazing to join athletic teams."
The survey found that athletes, coaches, athletic directors and student affairs administrators agreed on three strategies to prevent hazing. They said colleges and universities need to:
* Send a clear anti-hazing message in educational programs and policies, and in the enforcement of those policies.
* Expect responsibility, integrity and civility on the part of athletes, team captains, coaches and administrators. Offer positive team-building initiation rites, overseen by trained coaches or other adults.
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