If you are enrolled in one of the more than 125 four-year colleges and universities in Pennsylvania, you may have already been notified by your school that it prohibits hazing. Every school has an anti-hazing policy in some form, and at schools that have fraternities or sororities, stories may still circulate about past hazing rituals – as well as injuries and deaths that took place during hazing. Schools have embedded their anti-hazing policies as part of their disciplinary codes, and students found to have committed hazing can face serious discipline.
If you've been accused of hazing by your school, you need to take it seriously. One way to do that and to make sure you protect your rights and strongly defend yourself is to retain one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team. Call us today at 888.535.3686 or schedule a confidential consultation online to learn more about how we can help.
How do Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania Define Hazing?
As you might expect, each school has its own definition of hazing that it has incorporated into its code of conduct (or similar policy that defines what the school considers to be misconduct). Many but not all of these policies reference Pennsylvania's anti-hazing law, which makes hazing a crime and also requires schools to have and enforce a hazing policy.
Some examples of hazing policies in force in schools across Pennsylvania include the following:
Temple University
Temple provides a detailed description of what it considers to be hazing. At Temple, a student commits hazing when they:
- Intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly
- For the purpose of initiating, admitting, or affiliating a minor or a student
- Into or with an organization (or enhancing their position in the organization)
- Cause, coerce, or force the person to engage in certain activities
The types of activities that can define hazing include, but are not limited to: “consuming any food, liquid, alcoholic liquid, drug, or other substance; brutality of a physical nature, including whipping, beating, branding, calisthenics, forced exercise or exposure to the elements; brutality of a mental nature, including activity adversely affecting the mental health or dignity of the individual, sleep deprivation, exclusion from social contact or conduct that could result in extreme embarrassment; or brutality of a sexual nature.”
The school also declares that “Temple University has zero tolerance for hazing.”
Penn State
Penn State University defines hazing differently; this definition applies across the school's two dozen campuses. It notes that its anti-hazing policy applies to students, minors participating in school-sponsored youth programs, and any organization that is sanctioned or recognized by the university, including the organization's employees and members.
Penn State defines hazing to mean: “when a person intentionally, knowingly or recklessly, for the purpose of initiating, admitting or affiliating a minor or student into or with an organization, or for the purpose of continuing or enhancing a minor or student's membership or status in an organization, causes, coerces or forces a minor or student” to do any of the following types of acts:
- Commit a crime or violate a school policy
- Consume “food, liquid, alcoholic liquid, drug or other substance” that risks physical or emotional harm
- Endure physical brutality
- Endure mental brutality
- Endure sexual brutality
- Endure any activity that “creates a reasonably likelihood of injury”
Penn State has a second category of hazing, which mirrors the Pennsylvania anti-hazing law. This is called “aggravated hazing” and applies when hazing results in “serious bodily injury or death” to the victim and the person who committed the hazing
- Acted with “reckless indifference to the health and safety” of the victim or
- Caused, coerced, or forced the victim to consume alcohol or drugs
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore has its own definition of hazing, which includes but isn't limited to “behavior and/or acts of servitude” that is “designed or intended to humiliate, degrade, embarrass, harass, or ridicule an individual.” At Swarthmore, hazing can include acts “that which a reasonable person would deem harmful or potentially harmful to an individual's physical, emotional, or psychological well being.” The acts must also be “an actual or perceived condition of new or continued affiliation with any organization and/or team.”
The school then goes on to list 29 different types of conduct as examples of hazing behavior. They include physical brutality, depriving students of privileges that are granted to others, forced consumption of any food or drink, asking students to wear “embarrassing or humiliating attire,” name calling, sexual simulations, public nudity, “tests on meaningless information” and others.
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania defines hazing to be “any action taken or any situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment or ridicule and risks emotional and/or physical harm to members of a group or team, whether new or not, regardless of the person's willingness to participate.” That's from its anti-hazing webpage (which many schools have), and is a summary of what is a far more detailed description found in the school's antihazing regulations.
In its regulations, U Penn defines hazing as follows: “any action or situation
(1) which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student or
(2) which willfully destroys or removes public or private property
for the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in, an organization operating under the sanction of, or recognized, registered, or identified by the University including, without limitation, fraternities and sororities.”
The U Penn regulations then provide examples, which the school notes “are merely illustrative of specific forbidden practices” and which “are not intended to be all inclusive.” Example include:
- Physical brutality “such as whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics or exposure to the elements”
- “Forced consumption of any food, liquor, drug, or other substance”
- Any “forced physical activity” that could harm the person involved
- Any activity that subjects the individual to “extreme mental stress,” including “sleep deprivation, forced exclusion from social conduct,” embarrassing displays, or other activity that “could adversely affect the mental health or dignity” of the person
- Placing the person “in actual or simulated peril or jeopardy”
- “Undignified stunts” or “any ordeal” that is “indecent or shocking to moral or religious scruples or sensibilities.”
- “Kidnapping and paddling”
As with other anti-hazing regulations, U Penn students who are found to have committed hazing can be punished according to the school's student disciplinary policies.
With hundreds of colleges and universities all across Pennsylvania, it's safe to say that there are many, many different ways that schools explain what hazing is and how students found to have engaged in hazing are disciplined. If you find yourself unsure of whether an activity you're involved in at school may be considered hazing, you should carefully check your school's definition and determine whether what you are doing or planning to do could be considered a hazing violation. (And if you're unsure, that's a very good reason to be extra careful.)
The LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team can help answer your questions about whether your organization's new member activities might be considered hazing by your school. And if you've been accused of hazing, our student defense attorneys are here to help you defend yourself during the school's investigation of the allegations and any disciplinary proceedings that may follow. Contact us to learn more about how we can help protect your college career and your future.
Where Does Hazing Typically Happen on College Campuses?
Of course, we've all heard of hazing taking place in fraternities and sororities, but those are by no means the only places where hazing can happen. While they may get most of the attention from movies and the media, hazing can happen in many other contexts. In any situation where there is an organized group of students that other students may want to join, there is a chance that hazing can take place. Some of these organized groups at colleges and universities include:
- Athletic teams, both at the varsity and club levels
- Cheer squads
- Dining and social clubs (including so-called “secret societies”)
- ROTC
- Music groups, including marching band, chorus, and student orchestra
- Other student clubs and organizations, such as drama, speech, and debate
Any of these or other school-related clubs or organizations that hold “initiations” or “rites of passage” for their new members are at risk of being accused of hazing. This can happen even if existing members participate in the same experiences that new members are expected to. For example, if both existing and new members take a nude walk across campus at midnight as part of an initiation ceremony, that is likely to violate anti-hazing rules at most schools. You can't get around anti-hazing policies by having the entire group participate.
It also won't matter if the hazing occurs off-campus. The vast majority of school disciplinary policies specifically state that they apply in on-campus and off-campus settings, particularly when there is a connection to the school. If a school group, such as a club rugby team or a drama group, holds an initiation event off-campus, any hazing (or other misconduct) that occurs during that event is misconduct that the school will be able to discipline for.
Finally, the fact that the students who were hazed consented to the hazing won't help either. The question of consent isn't one that most anti-hazing policies will even consider. That's because, in almost every case, the students who were hazed wanted to become part of the group that was doing the hazing, and many times, they did consent to the hazing – because they wanted to join the group and viewed going through the ordeal of hazing as necessary if they were to be able to do so.
School Disciplinary Policies Do Not Protect the Accused Student
At the LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team, we regularly defend students accused of misconduct by their schools. We know the school disciplinary rules and procedures and have participated in disciplinary hearings at schools all across Pennsylvania. We can tell you without a doubt that an accused student has fewer rights during the school disciplinary process than an accused criminal has when they're being prosecuted for a crime.
There are a number of reasons for this. One big one is the standard of proof that schools say they need to meet before a student is found to be responsible for misconduct (or “guilty,” if you want to use a word from criminal law). When a defendant in a criminal case is on trial, they must be found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” – we've all heard that from the cop shows. That's a high standard – if there is any reasonable doubt, the defendant walks.
But for a student to be found liable for misconduct, including hazing misconduct, the school only needs to prove their guilt “by a preponderance of the evidence.” Another way of looking at that is if it's 51% more likely that the accused student committed the misconduct than they didn't, the school will rule against them. That's a pretty low standard of proof.
Other issues relate to the way the disciplinary investigation and proceedings operate. It is too easy for schools to tilt both the investigation and the disciplinary hearing in favor of the school (and the person who filed the complaint) and against the accused student. For example:
- Investigations may be conducted by relatively untrained school personnel, who are so focused on finding “evidence” to support the hazing complaint that they ignore or discount evidence that could be used to defend the accused student. (The LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team will often conduct our own investigation for this very reason – to uncover “the rest of the story” that the school's investigator “missed.”)
- If the hazing allegation involves any kind of sexual abuse or even verbal abuse that focuses on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and the like, it is likely to be investigated and resolved as a “Title IX” case. Title IX is a federal anti-discrimination law that all schools that accept federal funds must follow. There are special procedures for handling Title IX complaints, and many of them offer far less protection for the accused student than the regular procedures schools use to resolve other types of misconduct allegations. The LLF Law Firm has defended students charged with Title IX misconduct and knows what it takes to protect your rights if you find yourself defending a Title IX charge.
- Disciplinary hearings aren't always conducted fairly. Your attorney may or may not be allowed to participate directly in the hearing by questioning and cross-examining witnesses directly; in some cases, the panel or a single “decisionmaker” may do the questioning based on suggestions from your attorney. The rules of evidence that apply in criminal and civil cases typically don't apply in school disciplinary proceedings, meaning that decisions about your future can be based on unreliable or inflammatory evidence.
Your best chance of protecting your rights and defending yourself against hazing or other types of misconduct allegations is to be working with one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team. We know what you're up against when you've been accused of misconduct by your school because we've represented so many other students in similar situations all across Pennsylvania and the US. We will put all of that knowledge and experience to work for you to help you protect your college career and your future.
Disciplinary Consequences Can Be Severe
Schools don't have set penalties for hazing. Unlike crimes, which typically come with a range of possible sentences, schools give themselves the ability to apply any penalty to any disciplinary situation.
These can range from fairly minor penalties, such as a verbal or written warning; to more serious ones such as probation or loss of certain privileges for a period of time, plus sometimes a requirement that the student take an informational course that focuses on the misconduct. But the student may also be suspended and forced to leave school for a period of time, during which they may also be required to take a course. Finally, in the most severe cases, the student can be expelled.
With the amount of leeway that schools give themselves to impose penalties on students found to have committed hazing, you need the help of an experienced student defense attorney who will do everything possible to defend you and, if you are found responsible for the misconduct, protect your collegiate career.
Why You Need an Experienced Student Defense Attorney If You've Been Accused of Hazing in Pennsylvania
An allegation that you've committed hazing at your school in Pennsylvania is a serious one. Schools are required by Pennsylvania law to enforce their anti-hazing policies, and they are much more interested in proving that they are vigorously doing so than they are in protecting your rights. You need someone in your corner who understands what you're up against, knows the laws, school policies, and misconduct resolution procedures that will apply in your case, and who will fight for your rights from start to finish.
One other thing that an attorney from the LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team can do for you is help explore whether there is any way to resolve your disciplinary case without a hearing. With our years of experience defending students from across Pennsylvania and the US against disciplinary charges of all types, our attorneys are in a unique position to be able to propose ways to settle your case so that the school is satisfied that it's met its legal obligation to enforce its anti-hazing policies, and your college career remains intact. While not all school disciplinary matters settle, many do, and it helps tremendously to have an attorney on your side who understands how to make effective settlements happen.
The LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team Can Help
Learning that you've been accused of hazing misconduct by your Pennsylvania school can be extraordinarily stressful. You'll find yourself involved in an investigation and a process that could bring your college career to a screeching halt and completely upset your plans for your future. Retaining an experienced attorney from the LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team can make a tremendous difference, not only in how you manage the situation but in how it turns out. Our attorneys have helped students in similar situations all across the state and across the US. There simply is no substitute for that kind of experience, and having that on your side can help save your collegiate career and your plans for your future.
If you've been accused of hazing misconduct in Pennsylvania, call the LLF Law Firm Student Defense Team today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation. We know how difficult this is for you, and we are ready to listen and to help!
