In 2007, the Faculty Council voted to hold student organization leaders accountable for hazing and alcohol-related incidents that occurred at events hosted by the organization.

Peter F. Lake ’81, a professor at Stetson University College of Law who specializes in higher education law, said that as long as alleged hazers are students, the University can hold them responsible for their actions.

This semester, the OSL relaunched a page on the hazing section of its website that allows students to confidentially report hazing. The reporting site, however, has received fewer responses than the traditional reporting mediums of email or in-person conversations, three administrators in the OSL wrote in an emailed statement.

Student group leaders of both recognized and unrecognized organizations are required to submit a non-hazing attestation form to the OSL by the end of September each year declaring that they have informed members about hazing law. The OSL also offers annual hazing prevention workshops to help student leaders design initiation events that do not violate hazing law.

In determining whether to discipline a student leader for a hazing incident at his or her organization, the OSL will consider the student’s participation in these workshops and other anti-hazing initiatives as “mitigating factors” that might reduce punishment, according to the statement by OSL administrators.

When Dean of Student Life Suzy M. Nelson receives a report that an organization has violated hazing laws, she calls student leaders into her office to discuss the incident. Sometimes the conversation ends there, but it can lead to sanctions against the organization. If the report of hazing appears to be a violation, the case is passed to the Administrative Board to investigate.

According to Secretary of the Ad Board John “Jay” L. Ellison, reports of hazing are “very rare.” If the Ad Board determines that hazing did occur, it reports the case to the Harvard University Police Department. HUPD in turn chooses whether or not to report the violation to the District Attorney’s Office, which may or may not prosecute the case. According to Lake, only serious instances of hazing—ordinarily only those that result in death or significant bodily harm—make their way to prosecutors.

Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris said he would like to see the conversation directed toward helping students develop a strong sense of self-respect that would empower them to walk away from hazing.

“I know in my own day, if somebody had said, ‘You have to do this, that, or the other thing to be a member of this group,’ forgive me, I would have said, ‘Go screw yourself,’” Harris said. “That’s what I would have done and that’s what I expect students to do—you can’t be hazed unless you’re willing to be hazed.”

Harris said that hazing is not an issue that can be resolved by “threatening and disciplining” unless students stand up for themselves.

“The University has been doing this for a hundred years, and hazing has stayed here,” he said.

CLOSED DOORS

Chris, now a senior, said he has actively participated in initiating subsequent generations of neos. He has asked them to do his laundry several times, in addition to continuing the traditions from when he was a neo.

“This is the way things have been going on for so many years. It’s a tradition that we have, and it’s probably not something that’s going to change in the near future either,” Chris said.

Though Dingman said he thinks the College has made “huge headway” in educating students during Nelson’s tenure, he said that students often “aren’t particularly forthcoming” about hazing.