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If you attend college in Wisconsin, you may already know that your school prohibits hazing. Colleges and universities across the state regularly publicize that fact, especially if they have fraternities or sororities that are affiliated with the school. Anti-hazing policies are typically part of the school’s code of conduct (which can go by a number of different names depending on the school). They tie into the school’s disciplinary policies and procedures so that if you’re accused of hazing by your school, you’ll be treated as though you’ve committed any other kind of misconduct.
If you’ve been accused of hazing by your college or university in Wisconsin, the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team can help. Our experienced attorneys understand the disciplinary rules and procedures that various schools across the state use and know how to defend our student clients against misconduct allegations. Call us today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation to learn how we can help protect your education and your future.
How do Colleges and Universities in Wisconsin Define Hazing?
Hazing may be defined differently depending on your school. The University of Wisconsin system – which includes 13 universities located in various cities across the state – uses the same definition as the Wisconsin law that makes hazing a crime. For those “UW” schools, hazing means:
- Acts which endanger the physical health or safety of a student
- For the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with any organization operating in connection with a school, college, or university
Examples of “prohibited acts” set forth in the statute (and adopted by the UW schools) include “any brutality of a physical nature,” such as:
- Whipping
- Beating
- Branding
- Forced consumption of any food, liquor, drug, or other substance
- Forced confinement
- Any other forced activity which endangers the physical health or safety of the student
These examples come from Wisconsin’s anti-hazing law and are incorporated into the anti-hazing policy that applies to each of the University of Wisconsin System’s campuses.
Marquette University, Wisconsin’s largest private university, uses a different hazing definition. Its “Standards of Conduct” include descriptions of various types of misconduct that can result in disciplinary action. Hazing is one of them, which, according to Marquette, “includes actions or situations that do or could result in mental, emotional or physical discomfort, embarrassment, ridicule or endangerment, whether intentionally, for fun or by consent.”
Beloit College, with about 1000 students and a campus in southern Wisconsin close to the Illinois border, defines hazing to mean “any activity (on or off campus) in which an individual(s) is persecuted and harassed with humiliating, meaningless, or difficult tasks either to attain membership status to an in-group or to perform a favor for those of perceived authority.” The college’s student handbook notes that “Beloit College and Wisconsin state law . . . prohibit hazing in all forms” and “Acts that cause physical, mental, or emotional harm are against College policy and will not be tolerated.” It then goes on to list 13 different examples of specific types of hazing that the school prohibits.
Wisconsin boasts more than 60 different colleges and universities all over the state. There are many different ways that these schools explain what hazing means. If you’re not certain what your school considers hazing, your first resource should be the school’s code of conduct or student handbook. Your school may also have a webpage devoted to hazing, as the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse does.
In addition, the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team is always ready to help with your questions about your school’s anti-hazing policy and what kinds of acts would likely violate it. And if you’ve been accused of hazing at your school, don’t try to defend yourself against what can be very serious charges; reach out to us and set up a consultation with one of our experienced student defense attorneys to learn specifically how we can help you protect your college career and your future.
Where Does Hazing Typically Happen on College Campuses?
You might think that hazing is something that’s limited to fraternities and sororities, and of course, it’s undeniable that many have a history of hazing. It’s that history that arguably prompted current anti-hazing laws and school policies. But hazing can happen in other areas of collegiate life as well. Almost any time there is an organized group of students that other students want to become a part of, there is a risk that hazing will occur. Examples of these types of groups include:
- Varsity and club athletic teams
- Music groups, such as chorus, orchestra, and the school marching band
- Cheer squads
- ROTC
- Dining and social clubs, including so-called “secret societies”
- Drama, speech, debate, and other student clubs and organizations
If any school-related group has an “initiation” or “rite of passage” for its new members, the group and its members are at risk of being accused of violating the school’s anti-hazing policies. These policies apply even in situations where existing group members take part in the same “activity” as new or prospective members do. So, it’s typically not a workaround to say that everybody in your group participated in an activity if that activity otherwise violates your college’s anti-hazing policy.
Taking the initiation off-campus won’t help either. School disciplinary policies typically apply at off-campus events that have a connection to the school. Moving your group’s 25-mile all-night hike for new recruits, for example, off campus, and into a nearby state park won’t protect you and your group’s members from hazing accusations. In addition, almost all anti-hazing policies ignore whether the victims of hazing consented to the activity. The general view is that because the victims wanted to join the group that hazed them, they are likely to say that they consented to whatever hazing took place.
School Disciplinary Processes Do Not Protect the Accused Student
When it comes to disciplining for hazing, school policies will dictate how the hazing accusation will be investigated and what procedures the school will use to determine whether hazing took place. As a general rule, school disciplinary policies do not protect the rights of the accused student. Schools will argue otherwise, but they can’t deny that accused criminals typically have more rights than a student accused of hazing or other forms of misconduct at school.
There are actually two possible paths that a hazing investigation and disciplinary proceeding might take at any school in Wisconsin. The path depends on whether the hazing activity the student is accused of can be treated as a Title IX violation.
Title IX Discipline
Title IX is a federal law and a set of detailed rules that protect the rights of students who attend schools that accept federal funding. Title IX, in particular, prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and other characteristics related to a student’s sex or gender that can vary depending on the rules in effect at any given time.
If the hazing accusations involve any conduct that can be construed as relating to the sex or sexual characteristics of the person who was hazed – for example, if the accusations are that the hazing took the form of sexual assault or even verbal abuse directed to the sexuality of the student who believes they were hazed – then the allegations and disciplinary process will follow the requirements of Title IX. Because these requirements are set by federal law, some schools have different disciplinary policies and procedures for Title IX cases than they do for other forms of misconduct.
Other Forms of Discipline
For other types of misconduct that don’t relate to Title IX matters, the college or university may have a separate set of policies and procedures that cover the investigation and resolution of these allegations. In many ways, these might resemble the school’s Title IX procedures, but they may also differ – it really depends on the school. In any case, here is what you can expect if you’ve been accused of hazing misconduct by your Wisconsin college or university.
The Investigation
The allegations will be reviewed to determine whether the investigation and disciplinary process should follow your school’s Title IX path or its regular disciplinary path. Once that determination is made, the matter will be assigned to an investigator whose job it will be to look into the allegations. This may include interviews with you, the person who made the complaint, and witnesses who may have been present when the alleged hazing took place.
The LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team has been helping students across the country, including in Wisconsin, with school disciplinary matters for many years. One thing we’ve seen over and over is that investigations at the college level are rarely as complete as they could be and, in many cases, show what appears to be bias on the part of the investigator against the accused student. Investigators will often look for evidence that supports the allegations against the student instead of looking for all of the evidence – including information that might help the student defend against the allegations.
This is why we will sometimes conduct our own investigation on behalf of our student clients. In many cases, getting the “rest of the story” that the school investigator “missed” can make the difference between the school imposing little or no discipline on our clients and the school trying to suspend or expel them.
You will probably be allowed to have an attorney present when you’re questioned by the school investigator and during other parts of the disciplinary proceedings. How involved your attorney can get will depend again on the school’s policies. Title IX rules and school policies may, for example, allow schools to limit the participation of attorneys provided those limits are applied equally to the accused student’s attorney and the attorney for the student who filed the complaint. This is where an experienced student defense attorney can help –they will know exactly how involved they are allowed to be at every stage of your case.
Settlement Negotiations
Your school may decide to approach you with an offer to resolve your disciplinary proceeding. That offer will typically require you to admit that certain things happened and to accept the penalty that the school is proposing. The offer may seem like a good idea when you first review it. After all, it will bring things to an end, and you’ll at least know what your penalty will be.
One thing to keep in mind is that offers like this are often negotiable. One of the benefits of working with one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team is that we have seen many of these cases in many different schools, and we can use that experience to help negotiate a better deal for you – for example, one where you are not admitting to certain facts, or one where you are accepting a lesser penalty. In other words, don’t jump at the first offer you get from the school until you’ve reviewed it with your attorney.
Disciplinary Hearings
School hearing procedures can vary considerably, depending on the school and whether your case is considered a Title IX case or a regular disciplinary matter. One thing that is certain, however, is that you don’t have the same rights you would have if you were being prosecuted for a crime. That’s because most schools only require that the allegations against you be proven to a “more likely than not” level for you to be held responsible. That’s essentially a 51% standard; if after all of the evidence has been considered, the school’s disciplinary committee or decisionmaker (sometimes it’s only one person) believes that it’s 51% likely you committed the misconduct, you’ll be found liable for it.
That “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard you hear about all the time in the cop shows on TV? That’s a much higher level of proof that applies in criminal cases. It doesn’t apply in college disciplinary proceedings.
If your case goes to a hearing, you will want to be represented by an experienced student defense attorney. With all of the ways that these types of proceedings are tilted against the accused student and in favor of the school, you need all the help you can get when it comes to defending yourself.
Disciplinary Consequences Can be Severe
Schools have a lot of flexibility when it comes to deciding how to discipline a student found to have committed hazing misconduct. Unlike criminal charges, there aren’t set penalties for different forms of school misconduct. If you’re found to have committed hazing, your school could impose anything from a verbal warning to an expulsion or any of a number of penalties in between.
Your goal, if you’ve been accused of hazing or any other type of misconduct, is to emerge from the proceeding with as little harm to your college transcript as possible, and ideally with you being able to continue your college career at that school with a minimum amount of interruption. Your best chance of achieving the best result in your case is to retain an experienced student defense attorney, someone who knows how these types of cases work and who has helped other students in similar situations. At the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team, that’s what our attorneys do, day in and day out – help students facing disciplinary proceedings at colleges and universities across Wisconsin and across the country.
Why You Need an Experienced Student Defense Attorney if You’ve Been Accused of Hazing
When you’re facing serious misconduct allegations brought by your Wisconsin college or university, your collegiate career is at risk. Schools have so much discretion when it comes to penalizing students found to have committed misconduct that you can’t rely on luck to get through this on your own and still remain enrolled at that school. You need someone on your team who can help level the playing field, who can counter the built-in advantages that your school has and will use against you.
As hard as this may be to accept, you can’t rely on your school to protect you. Your school’s primary focus is on protecting itself from allegations that it didn’t take the hazing accusations seriously enough. And don’t make the mistake of thinking you can defend yourself against these allegations. You want the help of someone who does this day in and day out, who understands how the school procedures work, and who knows how to put together a strong defense against hazing allegations. This is what you get when you retain an attorney from the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team.
The LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team Can Help
It can be a devastating and nerve-wracking experience to be accused of hazing misconduct by your school. The investigation and disciplinary process can sometimes drag on for months and leave you distracted, nervous, and unable to properly function as a student and as a person. But when you work with one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team, you’ll be able to rest easier knowing that you have someone on your side with the experience and fortitude to deliver the best defense possible.
The best thing you can do the minute you learn you’ve been accused of hazing misconduct by your college or university in Wisconsin is to call the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or to schedule a confidential consultation with us using our online form. The sooner we get involved in your case, the sooner we can begin preparing your defense and protecting your college career and your future.