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Harvard will require students to attend hazing prevention trainings and compile a report on student groups involved in hazing incidents in response to a federal anti-hazing law passed last year.

The Stop Campus Hazing Act, which passed Congress with bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law by former President Joe Biden in December, requires universities that receive federal financial aid to implement “research-informed” prevention programs and publish reports on student organizations’ violation of anti-hazing policies.

The new law, which amends a section of the Clery Act, also requires universities to adopt policies that outline how to report hazing incidents and describe how incidents will be investigated.

Harvard College associate dean of student engagement Jason R. Meier said in an interview that the University has been working to create consistent policies and programs across all twelve of its schools, including hosting mandatory hazing prevention training for all student group leaders. Student leaders in the College were required to attend training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In line with the new law, Harvard will now publish a report that names all student organizations found to have violated hazing policies between July 2025 and December 2025. The report will include the date and nature of hazing incidents, as well as the findings of Harvard’s subsequent investigations. Meier said it will be publicly available in January 2026.

Harvard’s policies previously included a procedure for reporting hazing incidents in compliance with Massachusetts hazing law, but in response to the federal law, the University created a new hazing prevention website in June with educational resources and an anonymous hazing reporting form.

Meier said that students have multiple avenues to report hazing incidents, including through the new hazing website, the Office of Academic Integrity and Student Conduct, the Office of Student Engagement, and through resident deans and proctors.

Many Harvard student groups, from athletics to pre-professional clubs, have long-held initiation traditions. But many would not qualify as hazing, a higher legal threshold that considers whether an activity is likely to cause unreasonable risk of physical or psychological injury.

The University shares all reports of hazing with the Harvard University Police Department to determine if the incident meets the definition of hazing, according to Meier.

“Not all hazing activities are going to be in violation of the law, and if someone reports something that is creating a really dangerous atmosphere but doesn’t rise to that level, our hope is to work with the org and to maybe help them adapt their own processes so that the process is safer,” Meier said. “The hope is to adjust the process and to solve the problem, as opposed to punish.”

If the threshold for hazing is met and found to be in violation of the law, Massachusetts state law sets a fine of up to 3,000 dollars, imprisonment for up to one year, or both. The Stop Campus Hazing Act did not codify additional criminal penalties for hazing.

Kyra E. Richardson ’28, who attended an anti-hazing training as a social chair for the Harvard Outing Club and a member of several other student groups, said that she did not expect her clubs would reconsider any of their traditions, but they might revisit how traditions are presented to emphasize that new members do not have to participate.

“The training will cause my clubs to have conversations about how we frame initiation processes for our new members so that they are completely aware of their autonomy to make whichever decision feels best for them,” Richardson wrote in a text message. She added later that she was not speaking on behalf of HOC or any other organization.

“I am interested to see how the new policies will actually affect student teams and clubs and whether anything will change regarding what faculty see and report,” Richardson wrote.

Ben U. Davis ’27, vice president of the Harvard Half-Asian People’s Association, wrote in a text that he felt the training did not fully clarify the “distinction between traditions and hazing.”

Davis, who is a resident of Kirkland House, also wrote that he worried one House tradition — in which members march around while a band plays at the start of the semester — could be classified as hazing.

“The training, to me, made it seem like even things like this could be seen as hazing and that’s not necessarily something I subscribe to,” Davis wrote.

While Harvard’s hazing policies impact all undergraduate and graduate student activities, some groups remain outside their scopes. Harvard cannot directly regulate or punish final clubs — which have historically been implicated in hazing incidents — because they are not recognized by the University.

However, Meier said that students in final clubs can be found responsible on an individual basis if they are implicated in reports of hazing.

“If we get a report that ‘an individual in a final club is hazing someone and here are the activities,’ you can bring them to the Administrative Board as an individual,” Meier said. “So we may not be able to hold a final club accountable, but all students, regardless of affiliation, abide by the rules in the College handbook.”

Sanjana Jain ’27, vice president of professional development for Harvard Undergraduate Global Research and Consulting Group, wrote that while GRC did not have an “intense” initiation process, the training influenced her thoughts on how to plan club events in a “safer, more organized way.”

“At the time, I don’t know of any situations where I need to use the hazing reporting resources, but it is helpful to know what’s available just in case,” Jain said.

Davis wrote that, despite some lasting confusion surrounding Harvard’s hazing policies, he thought the mandatory anti-hazing training session he attended “at least brought the concept into the limelight for Harvard students.”

“The fact that this training brought attention to hazing as a whole at Harvard is a good thing, just to have it in our collective minds and discourse,” Davis added.

—Staff writer Annabel M. Yu can be reached at annabel.yu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @annabelmyu.

—Staff writer Sheerea X. Yu can be reached at sheerea.yu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @_shuhree_.