Hazing Should be Illegal in all 50 States Essays - Education

Hazing Should be Illegal in all 50 States Abstract Page In this paper you are going to take a look into different forms of hazing and the effect that they can hold on some individuals. You will find why I feel it is important to make hazing illegal in all 50 states. I feel it is important to protect our children, young adults, and even elderly by holding those accountable for hazing and the effect it may hold on the individuals they are hazing. Kala Baker Professor Morley English 111 1 May, 2017 Hazing should be Illegal in all 50 States Should hazing be illegal in all 50 states? Yes, it should. According to Will Keim a member of the Fraternal Information Programming Group (FIPG) hazing is defined as "any activity expected of someone joining a group (or to maintain full status in a group) that humiliates, degrades or risks emotional and/or physical harm, regardless of the person's willingness to participate. In years past, hazing practices were typically considered harmless pranks or comical antics associated with young men in college fraternities" (Keim). Hazing has been going on for decades but is slowly beginning to get worse. According to James P. Barber in the online article "EVER AFTER STRICTLY AND RIGIDLY OBEYED WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS": ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSES TO HAZING IN THE 1870s," "The first documented American student implicated in hazing was Joseph Webb, a member of the class of 1684 at Harvard College. Webb was expelled for physically abusing new students and requiring them to commit acts of pers onal servitude" (Barber). Some kinds of hazing even result in death. According to the University of Maine, "hazing occurs in, but extends beyond, varsity athletics, Greek- letter organizations and includes behaviors that are abusive, dangerous, and potentially illegal" (Hazing). Even with laws hazing is not going to be stopped completely, but if more people are aware of what is going on the prevention strategies to eliminate it will mean more and people will hear what is being said instead of ignoring everything. There are many articles about people who have been seriously injured mentally or physically, and have also died resulting from hazing. Hazing should be illegal in all 50 states for these reasons. There are many types of hazing such as military hazing, gang hazing, sport team hazing, workplace hazing and fraternity/ sorority hazing. Most of the time when you hear the word hazing it is associated with some type of Greek- letter organization. According to Auburn University all of these types of hazing are categorized into three sections: subtle hazing, harassment hazing, and violent hazing. Subtle hazing is behavior that emphasizes a power imbalance between new members/rookies and other members of the group or team. Examples of subtle hazing are silence periods with implied threats for violation, requiring new member/ rookies to refer to other members with titles like Mr. Miss while they are identified with demeaning terms, and expecting certain items to always be in one's possession. In the article by David Hosansky there was an incident with a drum major (Robert Champion) in the Florida AM marching band who died after being brutally beaten during a hazing ritual on th e band bus in November of 2011, in result of subtle hazing. Harassment hazing is behavior that causes emotional anguish or physical discomfort to feel like part of the group. Examples of harassment hazing are expecting new members to wear embarrassing or humiliating attire, expecting new members/ rookies to perform personal service to other members such as carrying books, doing errands, cooking, cleaning, etc. and expecting new members/ rookies to be deprived of maintaining a normal schedule of bodily cleanliness. In the same article there is a second incident, which was a United States Army man who committed suicide after he was harassed by fellow soldiers; this is an example of harassment hazing. Violent hazing is behavior that has the potential to cause physical, and/or emotional, or psychological harm. Examples of violent hazing are exposure to cold weather or extreme heat without appropriate protection, forced or coerced ingestion of vile substances or concoctions, forced or coerced alcohol or other drug consumption, beating, paddling, or other forms of assault and expecting