Can 'Animal House' Hazing Be Tamed?

New Laws Criminalize Fraternity Initiation Rites

© APBnews.com Jan. 20, 2000
By Sherry Karasik

NEW YORK (APBnews.com) -- Some college students are literally dying to join national and local Greek letter societies. Increasingly, fraternities, sororities and their members are being held accountable for hazing-related injuries and fatalities in civil and criminal courts.

"Laws are powerful deterrents and strengthen the hands of college administrators. Put something tangible on the books and ... people can't walk away from these life-threatening behaviors," said Eileen Stevens.

Stevens, who lost her son in a hazing incident in 1978, waged a largely one-woman crusade to get an anti-hazing law passed in New York state.

Through their efforts, Stevens and other anti-hazing advocates can take credit for criminalizing dangerous and abusive rites of passage in 41 states, and for public education campaigns that have spurred civil juries to award substantial compensation to victims.

Changing attitudes

Some recent high-profile cases show how far attitudes have changed since the days when college administrators and the criminal justice system viewed hazing fatalities as isolated cases of horseplay gone wrong:

• In August, a jury ordered Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. to pay just under $1 million to Shawn Blackston, who had been severely beaten while pledging the fraternity's University of Louisville chapter. The university also banished the chapter from campus for 10 years.

• In July, Joseph Snell was awarded $375,000 in damages from Omega Psi Phi after a hazing incident at its University of Maryland chapter that included being beaten with a hammer, horsehair whip, broken chair leg and hairbrush severely enough to need hospitalization. The fraternity was also banned from the College Park, Md., campus for five years.

• Last year, criminal charges were filed against the MIT chapter of Phi Gamma Delta after freshman Scott Krueger died of alcohol poisoning following a drinking marathon. The charges were dismissed because the chapter permanently disbanded, but MIT yanked the diploma of the fraternity member who had purchased the alcohol.

Anti-hazing advocates say that such deep-pocket settlements have led universities, Greek letter societies and other campus organizations to take a hard look at pledging rituals and to discourage those that are injurious and illegal or both.

"The goal of the lawsuits," said Snell's attorney, Douglas E. Fierberg, "is to not let a crime happen to someone else and [to] cause organizations to take notice."

No uniformity among state laws

Fierberg said that how states define hazing is ambiguous, with charges and penalties varying widely from state to state. Federal legislation, he said, would create consistency in determining which activities meet the legal threshold for hazing, as well as for penalties that violators are subject to.

For example, Maryland's statute loosely defines hazing as "any act or causing any situation which recklessly or intentionally subjects a student to the risk of serious bodily injury for the purpose of initiation into a student organization of a school, college or university." A misdemeanor, hazing carries a fine of up to $500, imprisonment up to six months, or both.

Texas, on the other hand, details what the state considers to be illegal hazing activity, including sleep deprivation; exposure to the elements; confinement in a small space; consumption of food, liquid or alcoholic beverage that may cause harm; and ostracism, shame and humiliation.

The state has set stiff penalties. Failure to report hazing is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 180 days in jail, or both; bodily injury can result in a fine ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, up to a year in jail, or both; and in the case of fatal injury, up to $10,000, one to two years imprisonment or both.

Even in states without anti-hazing statutes, victims may invoke laws protecting themselves against intentional, reckless or negligent conduct by others, Fierberg said. Still, charges cannot be brought against the group as a whole.

Schools have sidestepped responsibility

Although colleges and universities have been named in several lawsuits, Fierberg said that schools, for the most part, have successfully sidestepped legal responsibility. One reason for this is that schools haven't been obligated to assume a "parental" responsibility for students since the 1970s, explained Michael Shonrock, dean of students at Texas Tech University.

Still, laws in some states require universities to take an active role in discouraging hazing. Florida, for instance, requires colleges that receive financial assistance from the state to adopt a written anti-hazing policy, to develop procedures to enforce the policy and to adopt penalties for violators.

The Texas Tech student affairs handbook, for one, clearly spells out the consequences of running afoul of the school's anti-hazing policy: "Charges can be filed not only against the student organization but against the president, the adviser, other individuals associated with the incident, the inter/national affiliate if there is such, as well as the university. The adviser and president of each organization must be aware that the burden of legal liability rests with them."

Fraternities pay hefty liability premiums

"Lawsuits negatively impact fraternities with high settlement costs and damaged reputations, regardless of [the] merits of [the] allegations. But [lawsuits] also allow organizations and universities to focus [on] what to do to prevent and educate students," said Art Hoge, attorney for Sigma Nu, a national fraternity.

Sigma Nu did not carry liability insurance until 12 years ago. But the threat of lawsuits forced the fraternity to allocate $300,000 out of its annual budget for coverage.

At least that fraternity can get coverage. According to Fierberg, Omega Psi Phi is no longer insurable because of the number of successful lawsuits brought against the fraternity.

Sherry Karasik is an APBnews.com correspondent in New Jersey.

Douglas E. Fierberg is a trial lawyer and partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Bode & Grenier, L.L.P., Mr. Fierberg represents victims of hazing, personal injury and other campus crimes, and serves as counsel for certain national sororities which have committed to end hazing.