Slippery Rock Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) students honored National Hazing Prevention Week during Sept. 25-29, 2023. The week not only encouraged healthy social practices in fraternities and sororities, but served as a reminder of how far the country and school has come.
“Hazing is anything…that would embarrass somebody and make somebody uncomfortable, humiliation…anything that enforces that there’s a power dynamic,” said president of SRU’s Panhellenic council and member of Alpha Omicron Pi, Kendall Graham.
The Panhellenic Council is the organization that oversees sorority life on campus. For fraternities, there is the Interfraternity Council.
“The university has a no tolerance policy for hazing and we follow the guidelines on that,” Graham said. ”We take it very seriously.”
Part of ending and preventing hazing is raising awareness. This year, Greek life organizations joined forces to sell wristbands that read, “National Hazing Prevention Week 2023.” Each unit cost $1.
The wristband event garnered $142 in sales, and all the proceeds went to national hazing prevention programs.
The Office for Student Engagement and Leadership was involved with events as well, and hosted a Big Fish, Little Fish event.
“You came down and you got to decorate a fish and put your name on it, put your chapter on it,” Graham said, “and then that was your pledge to end hazing.” Greek life also hung a banner outside the student center with a message stating the organizations’ stance on the topic.
Organizations posted their stances on social media as well, and participated in a chalk drawing contest on the SRU Greek Life Instagram as well (@sru_greeks). In past years, has hosted speakers as part of the week’s educational festivities, but opted not to this time.
SRU FSL has been celebrating National Hazing Prevention Week for years now as part of their initiative to stop the practice. In 2018, they established an anti-hazing task force.
“In light of what happened at Penn State in 2017, I thought we needed to be a little more proactive,” task force founder and sports management professor, Brian Crow, said at the time of its inception.
This situation at Penn State sparked a statewide anti-hazing law that is still in effect today.
“We follow the law,” Graham said. “We don’t mess around with [hazing]. When somebody comes to use with a concern, It’s…investigated…and taken seriously by the Office for Student Engagement and Leadership.”
“Our biggest emphasis is on equality and that new members in chapters are not any lesser than initiated chapter members just because of where they are in their education process,” she said.
If concerns about hazing arise, please contact the Office for Student Engagement and Leadership at 724.738.2092 or leadership@sru.edu.
If there are immediate concerns involving illegal activity or threats to safety, contact campus police at 724.738.3333.
