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An 18-year-old from El Paso starts at a state university in August. By September, the club soccer team she wants to join tells new players they have to come to a late-night 'tradition' at an off-campus house. Before she goes, she can look up something that did not exist a few years ago: a public page listing student groups her college has found responsible for hazing.
What the law is and who it covers
The Stop Campus Hazing Act became federal law on December 23, 2024 (Public Law 118-173). It amends the Clery Act, the federal law that requires colleges to publish campus crime numbers, and it renamed that law the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act. It applies to colleges and universities that take part in federal student aid programs, which is almost all of them.
It does not cover middle or high schools. Hazing on a high school team is handled by state anti-hazing laws and school district rules, which we explain in our article on hazing and initiation.
How the law defines hazing
For the federal count, hazing is an intentional, knowing, or reckless act against another person, connected to joining or staying in a student organization, that creates a risk of physical or psychological injury beyond the normal risk of that activity. The law lists examples: beating or striking, sleep deprivation, extreme exercise, forcing someone to drink alcohol or eat or take drugs, forcing sexual acts, and threats that make someone fear being hurt.
Two details matter. The definition applies 'regardless of the willingness' of the person hazed, so saying yes does not take it out of the count. And a 'student organization' includes clubs, sports teams, club sports, fraternities, sororities, bands, and student government, even groups the college does not officially recognize.
What colleges now have to publish
Colleges had to start collecting hazing statistics by January 1, 2025. Their annual security report must count hazing incidents reported to campus security authorities (college officials the college names as people who receive reports) or to local police, and it must explain the college's hazing policy, how to report, how investigations work, and the state and local hazing laws that apply.
The law also created the Campus Hazing Transparency Report. Once a college finds a recognized student group responsible for hazing, it must post that group's name, a general description of what happened, whether alcohol or drugs were involved, and the sanctions. The report is updated at least twice a year, stays online for five years, and covers off-campus incidents too. It cannot name individual students, because of the federal student privacy law known as FERPA.
Before you join, and if something happens
Search your college's website for 'hazing transparency report' before you pledge, try out, or accept an invitation. The same page must link to the college's hazing policy and explain how to report. If someone is hurt or in danger, call 911 first.
You can report to any campus security authority, the dean of students, or local police. If the hazing is sexual, the college also has duties under Title IX. In Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a school receiving federal money can be held liable when it knows about serious student-on-student sexual harassment and is deliberately indifferent, meaning it ignores it or responds in a clearly unreasonable way. Write down what you told the college and when.
記住這些
- The Stop Campus Hazing Act (December 23, 2024) covers colleges in federal student aid programs, not high schools.
- Agreeing to take part does not stop an act from counting as hazing under the federal definition.
- Colleges must post a Campus Hazing Transparency Report naming groups found responsible, updated at least twice a year.
- Check that report before you join, and report hazing to a campus security authority, the dean of students, or police.
資料來源
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