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University of Maine students representing more than 25 campus organizations signed a pledge Friday recognizing the school’s policies against hazing. Dean of Students Robert Dana gave a brief statement denouncing hazing as a problem that still haunts the university.
“You know it goes on,” Dana told the roughly 70 students in attendance. “There’s got to be a better way to establish membership in any organization,” Dana said. “There’s got to be a reasonable way to be a part of your circle of influence.”
UMaine’s hazing policy defines hazing as a ‘situation that recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health of a student.’ Groups found engaging in hazing can lose their right to conduct activities as university organizations.
Chief of Public Safety Noel March said he deals with complaints of hazing every year. Hazing rituals that have happened at UMaine in the recent past include “a new pledge being thrown into the Stillwater River in January, or having urine or fecal matter dumped on them, being bound up or restrained in some manner, being deprived of sleep, being forced to drink alcohol to the point of a dangerous or excessive level,” March said. He said the complaints usually come from hazing victims or their parents.
March said that hazing has diminished in severity and frequency in recent years, but warned that it still occurs. March called activities that “help bring an organization together, particularly new members ‘earning their way in’ were understandable and acceptable, so long as they don’t go to the point of putting anyone’s physical or mental well-being in danger.”
Early in 2006, researchers including UMaine assistant research professor Mary Madden finished the first phase of a study regarding hazing at universities in the Northeast. Of those who responded to the survey one in 20 said they had been hazed in college. The study also found that one in five reported being involved in behavior that met the criteria for hazing, but didn’t consider themselves hazed because they thought it was all in good fun.
But March said hazing’s time of being an acceptable behavior is coming to an end, comparing it to behavior like smoking in restaurants and driving after drinking, which he said were once socially acceptable.
Today, those behaviors are unacceptable, March said. “Injurious or reckless behaviors that come under the category of hazing in groups and organizations . is a timely topic for change.”
Dana said Friday’s signing was a step in the right direction for UMaine. “You’re saying that Greek Life and student athletics, you’re saying that any organized entity at this institution will welcome you with open arms,” Dana said to the students participating. “Not with criteria that forces you to fit in in a way that’s demeaning or dehumanizing; you’re saying that we’ll do this with our arms outstretched.”
“We don’t want to have to go out and police this matter,” Dana said in closing. “We don’t want to go and find someone who’s hazing. We would prefer that you would stop it before it ever begins.”
Hazing Prevention Week is a nationwide event that lasted from Sept. 25 to 29. The signing of the pledge was the week’s finale, and it can be found in a display case by the Wade Center in Memorial Union.
