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The NCAA News -- September 13, 1999

Alfred study sparks debate

Alfred University's study, "Initiation Rites and Athletics: A National Survey of NCAA Sports Teams," followed an incident last fall in which several Alfred freshman football players were hospitalized for alcohol poisoning.

The study, commissioned by Alfred University and released August 30, found that 79 percent of student-athletes have participated in initiations that crossed the line into hazing.

"As a university president, I find the results of our study on hazing to join athletics teams horrifying," said Alfred President Edward G. Coll Jr. "It's pervasive, it's dangerous and it is behavior that is forced upon student-athletes as the price of admission to a team."

The activities in which the 79 percent of respondents claimed to have participated were categorized by researchers as either "questionable" (humiliating or degrading but not dangerous or potentially illegal), "alcohol-related" or "unacceptable" (activities that carry a high probability of danger or injury or that are illegal).

The national study -- funded by an insurance company and conducted with the cooperation of the NCAA -- was launched after an Alfred President's Commission conducted an investigation of the incident at Alfred.

"We brought in athletics directors from a number of schools in the (Alfred University) area, and it turned out that this was a much more widespread issue than we ever imagined," said Frank Elliott, retired president of Rider University and chair of the commission.

"The study is a wake-up call that alcohol and hazing are not entirely the problem of fraternities and sororities," said Hank Nuwer, a journalism professor at Anderson University and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and author of several books on hazing in fraternities, sororities and in high schools.

"I was surprised to see that recruits were given alcohol before they ever enrolled. I shouldn't have been surprised by that, since there's something similar to recruiting -- called 'rush' -- in fraternities and sororities."

Another surprise in the study was the number of student-athletes who found that they were expected to do something illegal as part of the initiation.

"One in five student-athletes said they were expected by their teammates to engage in potentially illegal activity as the 'price' of acceptance on the team," Coll said.

More than half of the student-athletes reported consuming alcohol on recruitment visits or participating in a drinking contest as part of initiation onto a team.

Nuwer said the survey is a good first step for intercollegiate athletics.

"The great thing about this survey is that it doesn't point the blame," Nuwer said. "The anonymity of the survey lets you get information to address the problem. It can serve as a benchmark without pointing the blame. The study shows us where we have to go. All of us have to be educated."

Nuwer points to incidents in professional athletics as an indication of just how much education is needed.

"The Cleveland Browns' new coach announced that hazing wouldn't be allowed, and then he stood by while three of the players were taped to the goal posts. He said that didn't meet his definition of hazing," Nuwer said. "Sportswriters downplay or even poke fun at initiations. A few years ago, ESPN hired a new person and used their mock initiation as a commercial. As long as we're condoning it in sports, it's going to happen."

For more information on the study, seewww.alfred.edu/news/html/hazing_study.html.

Distribution of athletes by the severity of collegiate athletics initiation

  • Activities Percent Estimated Number

    Acceptable initiation activities only 19 61,888 athletes nationally

    Questionable initiation rites, no unacceptable activities 19 61,342 athletes nationally

    Alcohol-related initiation; no other unacceptable activities 39 126,254 athletes nationally

    Unacceptable initiation activities, other than alcohol-related 21 68,041 athletes nationally

    Hazed (total of questionable, alcohol and other unacceptable) 79 255,637 nationally

  • Data compiled from Alfred University study.

    Hazing by division

  • Division Percent Percent

    hazed popu-

    lation

    Division I 41 42

    Division II 22 21

    Division III 37 37

    NCAA Division had no effect on the degree to which hazing was present. The breakdown by division of those who reported involvement in any form of hazing behavior was nearly identical to the breakdown of the general population of NCAA athletes.

  • Data compiled from Alfred University study.

    Student-athletes on initiation and hazing

    For the most part, student-athletes were willing to discuss the topic with The NCAA News only if their identities were not disclosed. Many were fearful of harming their team, being ostracized by their team or harming their school's reputation. Initially, most dismissed the topic and said it didn't happen. On further questioning, nearly all admitted to participating -- many in numerous activities -- either as freshmen, upperclassmen or both.

  • "I would never rat on one of my teammates, because you'd just be in hell -- in hell. If someone gets sick, you're not going to take them to the hospital. At our school, if you're under 21 and you go to the hospital drunk, they investigate it and ask a lot of questions. And if I'm the freshman, I'm hoping she's not taking me .... What do you mean what if I died? I wouldn't die, I was just drinking. I wasn't driving or anything."

  • "There are some coaches who are totally aware of what's going on. I think it would be really difficult for a Division I coach to deny knowing what's going on, and if they don't, then they don't know their team very well."

  • "No, I don't think the administration knows what's going on (with initiations on campus), and I think the coaches know only what they choose to know -- like a parent who doesn't want to know what their kid does."

  • "I think now I would call what we did hazing. Society has put a negative connotation on that (word). We didn't call it that then. We said we need to have an initiation. We honestly thought that what we were doing was harmless. Our goal was just to embarrass them."

  • "There was one person one year who didn't drink (at all). Sad to say, mentally and emotionally, we put a lot of pressure on her. She didn't do it and she was never really a part of the team."

  • "I don't think initiation is wrong. I think it's hard to figure out where the line between initiation and hazing is supposed to be."

  • "I had no idea you could die from just drinking (until a friend got alcohol poisoning). I had no idea drinking was life-threatening. I always thought you threw up everything and then you were fine. That's not how it works. If I had it to do over I wouldn't have (participated as an upperclassman)."

  • "I can't talk to you about that, man. We don't talk about that. See this (tattoo), this means it's a secret, it's all just between us (teammates). Maybe I'll look you up someday and tell you what all we did. Yeah, the coach knows. He also knows better than to interfere -- this is the team's deal. And we all promise not to tell anybody -- ever."

  • "Who cares (if there's initiation with drinking)? It's all in good fun. No one ever gets hurt."

  • "I think it's important for a team to have some form of initiation. It's a rite of passage. It's our team's own special secret. That was really the most important part to us. If the (athletics) department knew or created it, it wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be enough. We'd still want to do more."

  • "The freshmen are just as excited about (the party) as everybody else. They want to drink and get drunk, and they want to be accepted. It's a big honor to get to go to the captain's house for a party, and they want to do it."

  • "Honestly, I think (the results of the Alfred study) are way low. Every group on campus and everyone on any of the campuses I know has some form of initiation. I just assumed drinking was involved in every initiation."

  • "The point is to humiliate the freshmen. It doesn't matter what you do. They need to be knocked off their pedestal when they come in."

  • "The point is to show you're the dominant person. There are a lot of ways to do that -- use your imagination."

  • "The public stuff (like parading in funny clothes) is good because if you're doing that, people know you made the team."

  • "I think you start out with a harmless activity and then every year it escalates as people try to make it bigger and badder than what they had to do. Eventually, it gets really stupid and dangerous, but you don't realize that until later."

  • "The seniors aren't just going to stop initiation because somebody tells them to."

  • "It never happened to me, but I dated a guy who was beaten to join a team. I think they did worse things, too. He wouldn't talk about it, and I stopped asking. Then when somebody on our team said they wanted to start an initiation, I said, 'No. We don't want to go there. You have no idea where we could all end up.' "

  • "Underage drinking on campus is automatic; it's expected. Dry campuses are the biggest joke I've ever heard. It only makes sense that we drink as part of our 'Rookie Week.' Drinking and initiation are the same. On our campus, the administration doesn't involve the students in decision making, so the solutions they're coming up with (for drinking) don't work. Do you think they will suddenly decide to involve the students to prevent hazing? It's unlikely."

  • "For some teams, it's all about sexual things. We don't do that. We drink and make people wear silly clothes. Compared to some of the other stuff, I'd just as soon do that."

  • "I was pretty confident when I went to bed that night that everyone made it home safe. In retrospect, I should not have been confident at all. I didn't know what their alcohol tolerances were. How could I have known what would make them sick vs. what would kill them? They trusted me, they respected me and they drank when I told them to. Had it been a sophomore who said, 'Drink up,' they probably would have just laughed."

  • "I do believe hazing occurs at each and every college campus. It is not exclusive to certain sports, to gender or to skill level. Does this mean it is OK? Do we accept it as the norm based on the fact that virtually every student-athlete has experienced it in some form? Is there any possible way to regulate such behavior? These are the questions I often ask myself when presented with this topic... I honestly don't see any possible or realistic method in which to limit, let alone eliminate, this type of behavior."

  • "To try to solve the issue of hazing without solving the issue of drinking I think is impossible. It's all together."

    Athletics administrators on initiation and hazing

    A number of athletics administrators questioned by The NCAA News over the past five months declined to discuss the issue publicly. At their requests, their comments contain no identification.

  • "Why on earth would you be doing an article on hazing? That's not a problem anywhere. What did you do, run out of other article ideas?"

  • "Hazing? We don't have very many Greeks on our teams."

  • "I can't talk about that. I'd lose my job."

  • "If (the president) had any idea what went on here, his hair would fall out. No, I don't think the AD knows. I don't think he wants to know. That's all I can say."

  • "I firmly believe coaches know this is happening. And if they don't know it, they're out of touch with their student-athletes."

  • "We have a strict policy against that here, and we've never had an incident. That doesn't mean I think it doesn't happen. Based on my experiences as an athlete myself and as a former coach, I'm positive that it still happens. Students can be very careful when they need to."

  • "I have a really good relationship with our coaches, and we all know it's going on -- at least the drinking part still is. What we don't know is how to stop it. All we've really succeeded in doing so far is driving it underground. Now instead of meeting at (the captains') houses, they meet somewhere else."

  • "Student-athletes set up elaborate systems to try and make sure nobody gets hurt. The thought here is 'let's be sure we don't get caught and nobody gets hurt.' They know the administration doesn't agree with it and they would get into trouble. They know it's wrong."

  • "Everybody wants to believe that 'their' kids aren't doing it. The numbers don't lie. It's not the problem of the people across town or across the state, it's everybody's problem. And anyone who tells you differently is in denial."

  • "Why are you wasting your time on hazing? Why not focus on a real problem, like binge drinking? None of the student-athletes have ever identified hazing as a problem."

  • "No hazing happens here. Never has, never will. We don't have time for that."

  • "There has never been a hazing incident reported here in the years I've been here. If anybody was hazing, I would know about it."

    A losing strategy

    One defense of initiations and hazing is that they are said to create team chemistry and, thus, winning teams.

    Ronald J. Stratten, NCAA vice-president for education services and a former Division I football coach, says there is no evidence that humiliating hazing produces winners.

    "Hazing does not have to do with building teams," he said. "It has to do with power and control and abuse. The traditions of the abuse are what perpetuate it.

    "We have to provide alternatives to this behavior because it does not build teams. Any team that is high- performing and successful does other things to build team unity. They may also haze, but that's not what makes them successful."

    "What scares me are the coaches who know about sexual touching or putting something in somebody's body," said author and journalism professor Hank Nuwer. "That doesn't win games. (Coaches) need to forget the myths that they grew up with and step back. What they really need are positive initiations, rites of passage, to bring teams together.

    "Coaches' players look to them as role models. If they don't stop hazing, this will get passed on to another generation. Coaches always talk about a gut check; I'm asking them for a brain check."

    Nuwer said coaches who permit hazing in an effort to build team unity are setting themselves up for disaster.

    "What they don't understand is that things get out of hand in a group very quickly. Two or three people may get empowered -- I call them renegades or sadists -- and even minor things can escalate," he said.

    Mick Miyamoto, assistant dean of students at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, said teams that haze are engaging in behavior that builds gangs, not teams.

    "I just came from a gang symposium, and it strikes me how similar it is," Miyamoto said of the initiation rites. "The thing that disturbs me the most is that we're institutions of higher education and these are gang behaviors."

    Miyamoto also noted that whatever good may come from a hazing initiation is not worth it and those who argue that it builds teams may one day greatly regret their position.

    "I just hope those kinds of people don't find themselves attending a kid's funeral," he said. "Is it worth one of your student-athlete's lives to have more team chemistry?"

    Hazing in athletics setting provides unique legal challenges

    Hazing in athletics presents legal issues that are a bit different than those presented with hazing in the Greek system.

    To begin with, there are laws against hazing in 41 states. While those laws are discussed in Greek houses, they are rarely pointed out to student-athletes who often are unaware that the activities associated with their initiation rites are against the law.

    Many student-athletes assume that because the rookies are willing to participate, the initiation can't be illegal. On the contrary, many of the states' hazing laws are written so that consent is irrelevant.

    "Many of these laws say that consent is not a defense," said Janet Judge, a sports law attorney with the law firm Verrill and Dana.

    "That makes hazing laws very different from other laws. Also, the language is very broad and the laws may carry with them both civil and criminal penalties, meaning you could be sued for damages and go to prison as well.

    "The repercussions for violating a hazing law are significant, and that's not an issue that's received a lot of press."

    Kathy Brawn, women's soccer coach at Colgate University, says pointing out the law and having a clear policy against hazing -- including an explanation of the athletics department's understanding of hazing and the consequences of violating the policy -- would help older student-athletes stop some hazing before it starts.

    "It makes it easier for the older players to bow out of it," she said. "It takes the decision and the unpopularity of the decision out of their hands. It's kind of like when you were young and you didn't want to do something and you blamed it on your parents. It gives them a place to put that blame."

    Judge points out that activities that seem harmless can result in injuries, deaths and million-dollar lawsuits. "A student at Kent who was pledging (a fraternity) was told to jump in a mud puddle. He broke his back, ended up a quadriplegic and sued the university, winning $1.75 million. It seemed harmless at the time, but it wasn't -- for anyone involved."

    Another element that is different in athletics hazing is that university facilities or equipment may be used, something that is not often an issue in Greek hazing.

    "If the hazing is occurring in athletics buildings, especially after hours, the courts are going to want to know who provided access," Judge said. "Also, coaches have a personal liability with hazing that they don't have with other types of harassment. In addition to having a suit filed against the university, coaches can be sued personally."

    Edward G. Coll, president of Alfred University, agreed that the liability issue surrounding hazing is troubling from many angles.

    "Fraternities and sororities are independent corporations, and most own their own houses. To our frustration, college and universities have limited control over what they do," Coll said. "But athletics 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 athletics teams are hazing the rookies, then it is our problem and our liability as well."