Greetings, fraternity & sorority members:
It’s National Hazing Prevention Week (NHPW), and we’re sending this special message to each member of our community because the conversation around hazing prevention is important. It’s important for all college students in all types of student organizations, and it’s important in the fraternity and sorority community.
While our need to consider the role hazing plays in the lives of students is important all the time, NHPW is an opportunity to pause for a moment to specifically consider hazing and its impacts. Did you know, for example, that more than half of incoming first-year students indicate they’ve experienced hazing before coming to college (in a nationwide survey of thousands of incoming college students)? Hazing is sometimes so common we don’t even recognize it as hazing or haven’t thought about the negative impacts it could have over time to diverse people.
This week we need for each of you to think about hazing prevention, think about your own beliefs that might be informed by experiences and socialization. Be willing to be challenged and challenge others. Talk about this in your chapter – even if you feel your chapter doesn’t have any issues with hazing. Ask questions and read our social media posts. Review hazing policies and think critically about the purpose of your chapter’s intake or new member education process. Make this an intentional part of your life this week.
As part of hazing prevention week, we’ll host officer workshops and will engage on social media. We expect each chapter to have discussion over the next couple of weeks about your own chapter culture, the ways you talk about and make meaning of hazing prevention, or the ways your chapter contributes to the overall culture of the CSU fraternity and sorority community.
Most of all: engage. We can’t undo the sometimes dangerous or harmful role that hazing plays in the lives of college students and in fraternities and sororities in particular unless we talk about it and get uncomfortable.
If we can be helpful in those conversations or in supporting your chapter as you engage, please let us know. We look forward to sharing more throughout this week and year about hazing prevention.
-Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life
To learn more about hazing policies, hazing prevention resources, and to report hazing behavior, visit: https://endhazing.colostate.edu/