When members of a cheer or dance team perform, their excitement is contagious, and their skill is obvious. Every audience member can see the joy and enthusiasm each individual has for their performance, as well as their squad and teammates. Hours of rigorous practice, the synchronicity of thousands of cheer and dance moves, and a sincere commitment to their school create a sense of community between every team member. For schools with long and celebrated histories of successful cheer or dance teams, there are hallowed traditions shared across generations of dance and cheer team participants. These rites of initiation and membership can reflect the best of each individual involved.
Many colleges and universities celebrate the achievements of their dance and cheer squads with the same attention and accolades as their best athletic teams. As members of cheer and dance teams, you often entwine your sense of belonging and accomplishment with your teammates. For parents, it can be exhilarating to watch your child thrive as a member of a celebrated collegiate squad. It is comforting to know your child found their place within their university community.
It can, therefore, be profoundly upsetting to learn that a university’s cheer or dance team has been implicated in alleged hazing activities. When revered team traditions lead to accusations of hazing, student welfare must be your priority. A student disciplinary investigation into a hazing accusation should be taken extremely seriously by every member of the squad.
To best protect yourself or your student from the adverse consequences of a hazing allegation, you can partner with the LLF National Law Firm. By establishing a defense team dedicated to defending your student from inappropriate or extreme school disciplinary actions, you are protecting the future. Call the Student Defense Team at 888-535-3686 or submit a confidential consultation form to discuss your case.
What is Hazing?
Secretive initiation rituals have existed for centuries. Intended to foster community, create camaraderie, and heighten the loyalty of individuals to each other and the group, these rites range from benign and silly to dangerous and life-threatening.
Recent tragedies involving fatalities and severe injuries have focused considerable attention on the dangers of collegiate hazing and led to an increase in anti-hazing policies at colleges and universities. We now recognize the power imbalance between current, established dance or cheer squad members and prospective members. We know that an individual whose membership in an organization is in jeopardy may be willing to take extreme action, putting themselves or others at risk, to maintain their position.
While hazing definitions may vary between the codes of conduct of different universities and between state-specific and local anti-hazing laws, there are key elements in most definitions, including:
- Team, Group, or Organization Dynamics: Hazing usually occurs in a group setting and serves as a threshold experience that must be completed or endured to join or maintain membership in the organization. Although the hazing rituals of fraternities, sororities, and athletic teams have often received the most media attention, any organization or club could be implicated in a hazing incident. In recent years, high-profile hazing investigations have involved spirit teams at the University of Central Oklahoma, the University of Kentucky, and Sam Houston State University.
- Intimidation and Coercion: Members or potential members participate in hazing activities under threat of being denied entry to or losing membership in the group. Facing ostracism if they fail to comply, individuals experience implied or explicit pressure to participate in the hazing activity.
- Risk of Harm: The activities cause or have the potential to cause physical, emotional, or psychological harm. Whether the activity was planned to generate distress or a more benign challenge spiraled out of control, the students involved are placed in danger.
Despite the obvious risks inherent in hazing, 55 percent of college students involved in fraternities, sororities, teams, and other student organizations experience hazing.
What Constitutes Hazing?
Hazing can take many forms and may include physical endurance tests, isolation, sleep or food deprivation, exposure to extreme heat or cold temperatures without proper protection, and consumption of extreme amounts of alcohol, food, or other substances that may lead to physical harm. In some cases, hazing involves elaborately planned and executed rituals intended to induce stress or fear, such as mock kidnappings, psychological games, loyalty tests, or dangerous stunts.
What Are the Possible Consequences if a Student is Implicated in a Hazing Event?
Each college or university will have a code of conduct that likely includes anti-hazing provisions and sanctions for students who violate the code. For students found to have been involved in a hazing incident, possible sanctions may include a reprimand, suspension, dismissal, or expulsion.
Too often, parents and students involved in university disciplinary investigations fail to appreciate the significant consequences that can follow an adverse disciplinary decision. Disciplinary sanctions are often added to a student’s transcript and can impact graduate school acceptance, eligibility for professional licenses, and future employment opportunities.
Additionally, universities may seek to punish every team member, including individuals who were not present at the alleged hazing event. By asserting this type of guilt by association, the university makes broad and often unfair accusations without collecting specific evidence of problematic conduct. Any cheer or dance team member inaccurately implicated in an alleged event should be aggressive in extricating themselves from the disciplinary proceeding.
In some circumstances, the university may target the entire cheer or dance program for a sanction. This type of collective punishment may include the withdrawal or limiting of school funding for the program or organization, a ban on participating in upcoming competitions or games, or the possibility of being disbanded.
Importantly, university codes of conduct often apply to events involving their students regardless of location. If an alleged hazing incident occurs off campus, the school will still investigate and adjudicate the complaint.
It can be heartbreaking to witness a once esteemed cheer or dance squad dismantled after a hazing incident. That said, individual team members have the most to lose. A student found to have violated their school’s code of conduct for hazing could face devastating individual consequences. The LLF National Law Firm guides parents and students through the disciplinary processes at colleges and universities across the country. We know that a comprehensive strategy is the best defense against hazing accusations.
How Do Colleges and Universities Investigate Hazing Accusations?
Institutions of higher education often address hazing allegations as violations of the college or university’s anti-hazing policies within the student code of conduct. Additionally, hazing incidents may include additional problematic conduct that is also prohibited by student conduct codes, such as sexual assault, physical assault, or discriminatory behavior.
Schools have significant leeway in how student disciplinary investigations and hearings are conducted. In most cases, the school will administer the investigation and hearing. Unfortunately, in terms of student discipline, schools often rush to judgment. The university or college may be motivated by a commitment to protecting alleged victims. Less altruistically, the school may want to minimize its culpability by casting swift blame on individual students or an isolated activity, club, or team.
What is the Student Disciplinary Process?
Every college or university establishes its own set of protocols for examining and addressing allegations of misconduct, such as hazing. Generally speaking, however, the process follows a similar basic path among most schools, including:
- Complaint: The student disciplinary process almost always begins with a student, faculty member, school employee, or other involved individual submitting a complaint against a student. In a hazing incident, the alleged victim or the alleged victim’s family members may file the complaint.
- Notice: After the complaint is verified, the university then notifies the accused student of the complaint and the student disciplinary process.
- Investigation: Next, the school will investigate the allegations. This phase entails the collection of evidence and may involve interviewing witnesses to substantiate the claims made. You or your student may also be called upon to tell your side of the story in an informal hearing.
- Hearing: After gathering sufficient evidence to support the allegations, the school will convene a formal hearing before its disciplinary board or committee. At the hearing, there will be an opportunity to present evidence and arguments to defend against the allegations and show cause why you should not face disciplinary action.
- Determination and Penalties: The university’s disciplinary board or committee deliberates and determines if the student code of conduct has been violated. If a student is found to have violated the code of conduct, the board decides what penalties will be imposed and notifies the student of the decision.
- Appeal: If the school issues a decision unfavorable to a student, there is usually a short window in which the implicated student may appeal.
Although the student disciplinary process can be explained as an objective process, considerable subjectivity is inherent in hazing investigations, adjudications, and discipline determinations. Much of the process rests on the university’s investigator. No investigator is perfect. Even the best investigators make mistakes. Additionally, many investigators have personal prejudices that could unwittingly color their collection and analysis of evidence.
Importantly, the investigator is unlikely to be an impartial third party. The investigator works for the university, not the cheer or dance team, and certainly not for you or your student. The same holds for the decision-makers at any student disciplinary hearing. Both investigators and decision-makers depend on the university for their livelihood, and it’s not hard to see how that entanglement could unfairly focus investigations and hearings on protecting the school.
It is stressful and overwhelming to navigate the student discipline process. Your first instinct may be to do whatever is necessary to end the investigation and proceedings as soon as possible. It can be dangerous to your student and their future to make quick decisions without fully understanding the consequences.
Because of the potential for long-term adverse consequences, parents and students involved with an investigation should be hesitant to accept the school’s version of events. Similarly, it is unwise to agree to the school’s sanctions without careful consideration.
As a parent, this is your chance to be your student’s best advocate by assembling the team they need to have the best chance at success. Similarly, any student facing a disciplinary hearing should be careful about agreeing to the university’s account or disciplinary conclusions too quickly and without proper review. The LLF National Law Firm can work with you to fight for a fair investigatory and adjudication process.
We understand that a hazing accusation can be terrifying. It may seem that everything has been destroyed. The best way to defend yourself or your child is to develop a comprehensive defense strategy by partnering with the LLF National Law Firm. Our Student Defense Team can help you understand the short- and long-term implications of the university’s proceedings so that you can make well-informed decisions.
When Does Hazing Lead to a Criminal Investigation?
If an alleged hazing incident warrants the involvement of local or state law enforcement agencies, your student may need to navigate a separate criminal investigation. Because of the harm that hazing causes its victims, many states have criminal codes that include hazing as either a felony or a misdemeanor. Additionally, individuals accused of hazing may face arrest and prosecution for additional criminal charges such as sexual assault or battery.
Due process and evidentiary standards are considerably higher in criminal proceedings than in a university’s misconduct hearing. A criminal charge of hazing may be dropped or pled down to a less serious crime. Although the resolution of a criminal charge may be a huge relief, it does not mean that the school will be as accommodating as law enforcement. A student without any legal culpability in the criminal context could still face harsh discipline from their university.
The student disciplinary process can lead to severe and long-term consequences if a student is held responsible for violating a school’s anti-hazing policies. The LLF National Law Firm and our experienced student defense attorneys can help you or your student navigate any university’s process, regardless of the alleged violation.
How Can You Protect Yourself or Your Student?
A student accused of participating in a hazing incident cannot depend on their college or university to prioritize their welfare. As a parent, it can be extremely disappointing when school administrators and investigators prioritize their own reputations or the reputation of the school over your child and the truth. As a student, it may seem confusing and distressing to find yourself at odds with the university you once celebrated in cheer or dance routines. Whatever the circumstance, you want the LLF National Law Firm in your corner, fighting for a fair adjudication and a reasonable decision.
In higher education, all investigations for misconduct, including for hazing-related incidents, are complex. The rights and safety of all members of the school community must be protected. The school’s investigative procedures and any subsequent disciplinary process should conform with school policy and state and federal education laws and regulations. Unfortunately, disciplinary investigations and processes often fail to be impartial, and due process may be sacrificed in favor of a swift resolution.
A student’s reputation, higher education goals, and long-term future plans should not be sacrificed by a school desperate to save its reputation. Dance and cheer teams are not homogenous groups; they always act as one. A student should not face adverse consequences for the poor decisions of others on the team. The LLF National Law Firm can help ensure that no student is held responsible for the improper actions of a few members of a cheer or dance team.
How the LLF National Law Firm Can Help Navigate the Student Disciplinary Process
When you or your student selected a college, their school made a great effort to recruit and welcome them into the school’s community. You may be surprised to experience how quickly a school abandons any student suspected of hazing. Universities faced with hazing incidents pivot quickly to protect their reputation and funding.
Federal law requires schools to be accountable for policing, punishing, and reporting campus crime, including hazing, and the failure to do so can jeopardize federal funding.
Additionally, colleges and universities frequently prioritize public relations after a hazing incident. From the school’s perspective, it may seem critical that they assure other students, parents, and alumni that anyone implicated in a hazing incident will be swiftly investigated and disciplined.
Neither of these university priorities centers on your child and their education. The LLF National Law Firm can partner with you and share your dedication to protecting your child and their future.
Throughout a hazing investigation and hearing, the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team attorneys can help by:
- Performing our own investigation, including identifying witnesses and collecting evidence.
- Evaluating the school’s written notice of the disciplinary charges and other correspondence and developing a comprehensive defense strategy focused solely on meeting the needs of the student.
- Negotiating, managing, and complying with your student’s timelines, deadlines, and required submissions in response to their school’s investigation or hearing.
- Reviewing and analyzing the school’s evidence against your student.
- Providing supplemental and exonerating evidence to the school.
- Contesting hazing or other discipline charges.
- Reviewing and monitoring the actions of the school and law enforcement, if involved, to offer strategic guidance targeted to minimize the impact of an isolated incident on the student’s future.
- Attending informal and formal conferences and hearings, advocating for dismissal of charges against a student, and presenting mitigating witnesses and evidence.
- Appealing adverse decisions.
During an investigation or hearing on hazing, there are opportunities for the LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team to play a critical role in the student’s defense. We can help collect evidence that the alleged misconduct was not part of an initiation rite or demonstrate that the alleged victim suffered no mental or physical harm. We can search for, identify, and present witnesses that testify the accused student was not at the hazing event. The LLF National Law Firm will fight on your behalf through the entire school disciplinary process.
Be Aware of Potential Conflicts of Interests
The student disciplinary process at universities and colleges is adversarial. You may be surprised at how quickly the institution that emphatically recruited your student will distance itself when a hazing investigation begins. Public relations and a commitment to protecting the university’s reputation can drive a disciplinary hearing or decision. In these cases, the needs of students are often forgotten.
Additionally, not all members of the cheer or dance team may have the same objectives or culpability. Your best interests may not be shared by others on the team. It can be stressful to realize that your interests no longer align. The fact remains that your student’s future should not be aligned or dependent on the outcome of other students’ disciplinary processes.
Most importantly, by retaining the LLF National Law Firm to protect your student or yourself, you ensure there is an experienced attorney dedicated to your best interests. You deserve an advocate committed to you and no one else. Our experienced Student Defense Team will be single-minded in our representation.
It’s Time to Partner with the LLF National Law Firm
It is terrifying to learn your college student has been implicated in a hazing incident or to realize that a game you participated in could be considered hazing. Hazing investigations move quickly. It is reasonable to be overwhelmed when navigating this new, high-stakes, and adversarial situation. The LLF National Law Firm understands your fears, and we also know how student disciplinary procedures work. Let us fight on your side during a hazing investigation.
You do not have to face a hazing investigation or adjudication alone. It is never too late to create a dedicated team to help navigate the process and protect the future. The LLF National Law Firm Student Defense Team can help. To partner with the LLF National Law Firm and our experienced student defense attorneys, call our offices at 888-535-3686 or submit an online consultation form.