Recent Hazing Facts

Should hazing in school groups be banned or not? Why hazing is hazardous and needs to be fully banned. As a college student there are many things you experience that are different from you previous years of schooling. You are finally living on your own, making your own decisions. So far in my college experience I have heard many stories about groups around campus participating in hazing, many of which that are extremely disturbing. My topic of my paper is why hazing should be banned in all schools, college or high school.

There are many hazards that come along with hazing, including health problems or psychological problems. Students should not have to be put through humiliating activities just to become a stronger member of a team. Team bonding is built through spending quality time together, not pressuring a new member drinking until they pass out. Hazing is cruel and unnecessary and needs to be put to an end. College should be the time of your life; there is no need for students to have to worry about hazing when accepted into a group, team, or fraternity.

• Britton W. Brewer, et al. “The relationship Between Hazing and Team Cohesion. ” Journal of Sport Behavior 30. 4 (2007): 491-507. SPORTDiscus with Full text. EBSCO. Web. 23 Oct. 2011

This journal entry explains the connection that hazing has with the bonding of a group, or sports team. There are multiple reasons why hazing is considered to be a decent way to become close, one of which is you see that victim of hazing closer then you would with any normal bonding activities. Also there are reasons given why hazing is a bad way for groups to welcome someone in, such as the victim of hazing grows a fear or barrier to the group members. They are pretty much scarred for the time being. This source is a compare and contrast for the positive and negative aspects of hazing which is very helpful for my topic. No bias was found when I read this piece. I do wish there was more written about the negative aspects since that is more on my side of the spectrum.

• Hosick, Michelle Brutlag. “The Hidden Hazards of Hazing. ” NCAA News 42. 20 (2005): A1-A4. SPORTDiscus with Full Test. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

Multiple studies have been done to show the impact of college hazing and how often it occurs. Susan Limpkins, a New York psychologist stated, “many believe that proving oneself through hazing rituals increases the bond between group members and solidifies an “us” versus them mentality already prevalent in athletics, “implicating the topic that hazing happens on almost every school team to create stronger bonds. These studies brought the attention to school officials the danger that was taking place and many stories were told that caused people to be punished. This source is reliable, as it was a newspaper article in 2005 and was published. The intended audience is clearly to students, really any one who may be experiencing or know of any hazing taking place. There is no bias to this source. All the information used was taken directly from student’s statements. For my topic this source laid out many negatives to hazing which can help me more clearly analyze my argument for or against hazing.

• JMU – Hazing Policies. ” James Madison University-Home. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. http://www. jmu. edu/multicultural/icgs/resources/hazing_policies. shtml>.

This website tells the rules and regulations for hazing at James Madison University. This website is based for multicultural groups around campus. It explains in full detail the consequences one will face in such groups if broken or misused. This source is credible, since coming from a college website and contains no bias. I did not find it helpful though since it was only related towards multicultural groups and not all groups at James Madison University. If it has included all the groups, this source would have been perfect since I attend JMU.

• Nuwer, Hank. Broken Pledges: The deadly Rite of Hazing. 1990. ERIC. Web. 31 Oct. 2011.

This book is written to solve the question as to why men and women haze and the different things people can do to prevent hazing from happening. Many stories of victims of hazing are told, one of which is the main topic of the book. Chuck Stenzel, a student at Alfred University in New York was killed because of hazing in his fraternity and after such an event his mother became “Americas leading anti-hazing advocate. ” With my topic being the hazing should be banned, this book will be one of the top sources with such a personal event-taking place. I don’t see any bias in this source and found it to be very reliable.

• “Hazing: Arguments for and against. ” hazing. cornell. edu. Cornell University, nd. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://www. gannett. cornell. edu/hazing/issues/arguments. fm>.

This informative web page gives straightforward reasons why hazing is a good thing and straightforward reasons why hazing is a problematic thing. Unlike the other sources, this article is not very detailed but still gives you the knowledge I needed to know. The reasons for and against hazing are from the college student point of view and reveals the rules and regulations if such things are misused. Since this article was from such a prestigious school, Cornell University, it is quite reliable, although I wish it had more detailed reasons. This source is not one of my most helpful. I will most likely use this source still but not as much as some others.

• Nuwer, Hank. “Hazing Prevention. ” Hank Nuwer. WordPress, n. d. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www. hanknuwer. com/blog/>.

Hank Nuwer consistently blogs about many things related to hazing. He blogs about preventions, stories, people being charged with such crimes and so on. He allows people to post their opinion on what he is saying and he also posts resources he has used to say what he posts which gives this blog credibility. There are numerous blog entries that I found extremely helpful for my research. The fact that Nuwer updates his blog on a daily basis was very helpful and gave me more recent hazing facts. I will be using this source. It was one of the most helpful ones I found.

• Skorton, David. “A Pledge to End Fraternity Hazing. ” nytimes. com. The New York Times,01,Sep,2011. Web. 31 Oct 2011. http://www. nytimes. com/2011/08/24/opinion/a-pledge-to-end-fraternity-hazing. html.

Hazing that took place in a fraternity at Cornell University, caused the life of a sophomore to be taken. This tragic event led to another student to finally step up realizing how wrong hazing is and the fact that it should be banned. This source was an article written about the pledge this boy proposed in memory of the sophomore. Once again I found this article extremely helpful for having such a personal aspect to it. This article was extremely reliable and contained no bias what so ever. Its audience is students, to show them that it is ok to step up to make what the believe it true right. I would mark this source more reliable than some of the others