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"Hazed" redirects here. For other uses, see Hazed (disambiguation).
Hazing of French military pilot at 1,000 hours flight time


Hazing is seen in many different types of social groups, including gangs, sports teams, schools, military units, and fraternities and sororities. The initiation rites can range from relatively benign pranks, to protracted patterns of behavior that rise to the level of abuse or criminal misconduct. Hazing is often prohibited by law or prohibited by institutions such as colleges and universities because they may comprise either physical or psychological abuse. It may also include nudity and/or sexually based offences.


In Australian English, hazing is called bastardisation.

In some languages, terms with a christening theme or etymology are preferred (e.g. "baptême" in Belgian French, "doop" in Belgian Dutch) or variations on a theme of naïveté and the rite of passage such as a derivation from a term for freshman (e.g. "bizutage" in French French, "ontgroening" (de-green[horn]ing) in Netherlandic Dutch), "novatada" in Spanish, from "novato," meaning newcomer or rookie) or a combination of both, such as in the Finnish "mopokaste" (literally "moped baptism", "moped" being the nickname for newcomers, stemming from the concept that they would be forced to drive the children bicycle or tri-cycle). In Latvian, the word "iesvētības", which literally means "in-blessings," is used, also standing for religious rites of passage, especially confirmation. In Swedish, the term used is "nollning", literally "zeroing." In Portugal, the term "praxe", which literally means "practice" or "habit," is used for initiation. In Brazil, it's called "trote" and is usually practiced at universities by older students ("doutores" and "veteranos") against newcomers ("caloiros") in the first week of their first semester. In the Italian military, instead, the term used was "nonnismo", from "nonno" (literally "grandfather"), a jargon term used for the soldiers who had already served for most of their draft period. A similar equivalent term exists in the Russian military, where a hazing phenomenon knowing as Dedovshchina exists, meaning roughly "grandfather" or the slang term "gramps" (referring to the senior corps of soldiers in their final year of conscription). At education establishments in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, this practice involves existing students baiting new students and is called ragging. In Polish schools, hazing is known as "kocenie" (literally catting, coming from the noun "kot" - "cat". It often features cat-related activities, like competitive milk drinking. Other popular tasks include measuring a long distance (i.e. hallways) with matches.


In Israel, the practice is called "zubur" (an Arabic-derived Hebrew slang word roughly equivalent to 'willie') and exists primarily in Israeli Defense Force combat units and the Israel Air Force. Unlike hazing in many other places, "zubur" is typically used to mark the achievement of important milestones (in an ironic 'don't get too big for your britches' way), such as after a pilot's first solo flight.[citation needed]






The hazee may have to wear an imposed piece of clothing, outfit, item or something else worn by the victim in a way that would bring negative attention to the wearer. Examples include a uniform (e.g. toga); a leash and/or collar (also associated with bondage); infantile and other humiliating dress and attire.[4][5]





On their first crossing the equator in military and commercial navigation, each "pollywog" is subjected to a series of tests usually including running and/or crawling a gauntlet of abuse and various scenes supposedly situated at King Neptune's court. A pledge auction is a variation on the slave auction, where people bid on the paraded pledges.[citation needed]

Hazing may also include subjecting the pledge to severe sleep deprivation until physical or mental impairment or hallucinations, including cardiac, digestive or excretory disturbances, are induced, and deliberate food poisonings unbeknownst to the pledge, sometimes through food outlets that are owned or franchised by members of the group, as well as public incidents, stunt accidents and vehicle collisions directed at the pledge by other persons using false identities who are unfamiliar to the pledge, and the practice of "The Silence", which is to pretend not to know anything about the hazing or anything about the arguments being presented by the hazing, in order to force the pledge to doubt his or her sanity or self-worth. "The Silence" is exercised through covert means of infliction, at a distance, which makes it difficult for the victim to prove to law enforcement or to others. This method usually attempts to make everything that could go wrong, go wrong to the fault of the pledge, even when such errors are discreetly inflicted by the hazers. The hazers may deny the validity of the pledge's witness to events, discoveries, ideas and inventions, tangible reality, or falsify personal relationships.

When the hazers are associated with a larger organization, for instance, a major university that controls the local public hospitals, a pledge may encounter abusive behaviors or neglect when seeking needed medical help when the doctors or personnel are of the fraternity. This may also occur when the pledge seeks help from public employees who are also associated. This is done in order to isolate the pledge from their personal identity, their needs and others.[citation needed]

Hazings may occur in the home against nonconsenting, involuntary pledges when the family or cohabitants are already members of an organization or group that exercises hazing as a prerequisite for membership, even when "the pledge" has refused to join the group. The pledge may not have previously been informed of his or her cohabitant's association, particularly when such associations involve a covert organization. The hazers may attempt to inflict guilt on a sleep-deprived and beleaguered pledge "for providing a home", or they may fake "family emergencies or tragedies" against any prevailing medical needs of the pledge due to neglect and abuse.[citation needed] In this instance, the subject may be branded as "Pariah" or as an "Outcast", in which case they are then subjected to neglect, abuse, violence, and/or methods such as "The Silence", and at risk of persecution if and when they speak of their hazing experiences to others outside of the group. This may be particularly true when the organization or group has violated Civil Rights, or the law. "The Silence" may include the hazers speaking in cryptic puns and double-entendre in order to either communicate their instructions to the pledge in a manner that they cannot be held accountable for, or to mislead the pledge. They may mislead the pledge due to a financial conflict-of-interest, for instance, a hazing by a family who is in charge of a guardian trust belonging to the pledge, or due to taking unlawful advantage of the pledge, their person or their property rights. This form of hazing may be unlawfully executed in order to force the pledge to release the hazers from their liabilities, as an act of Extortion.


Psychology, purpose, and effects[edit]

Hazing supposedly serves a deliberate purpose, of building solidarity. Psychologist Robert Cialdini uses the framework of consistency and commitment to explain the phenomenon of hazing, and the vigor and zeal to which practitioners of hazing persist in and defend these activities even when they are made illegal.[7] Cialdini cites a 1959 study in which the researchers observed that "persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort."[8] The 1959 study shaped the development of cognitive dissonance theory by Leon Festinger.[9]

Beyond a legal approach, eliminating or lessening the dangers of hazing requires an understanding and application of psychological and sociological factors. This is especially critical when many view hazing as an effective way to teach respect and develop discipline and loyalty within the group, and believe that hazing is a necessary component of initiation rites.[10]

Dissonance can produce feelings of group attraction or social identity among initiates after the hazing experience because they want to justify the effort used. Rewards during initiations or hazing rituals matter in that initiates who feel more rewarded express stronger group identity.[11] As well as increasing group attraction, hazing can produce conformity among new members.[12] Hazing could also increase feelings of affiliation because of the stressful nature of the hazing experience.[13]




Over 325,000 athletes at more than 1,000 National Collegiate Athletic Association schools in the US participated in intercollegiate sports during 1998-99. Of these athletes:






Police forces, especially those with a paramilitary tradition, or sub-units of police forces such as tactical teams, may also have hazing rituals.[citation needed] Rescue services, such as lifeguards[16][17] or air-sea rescue teams may have hazing rituals.[citation needed]


The "Scenes of Hazing," as portrayed in an early student yearbook of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Circa 1879.


The problem with this approach, according to opponents, is that the stress and hostility comes from inside the group, and not from outside as in actual combat situation, creating suspicion and distrust towards the superiors and comrades-in-arms.[citation needed] Willing participants may be motivated by a desire to prove to senior soldiers their stability in future combat situations, making the unit more secure, but blatantly brutal hazing can in fact produce negative results, making the units more prone to break, desert or mutiny than those without hazing traditions, as observed in the Russian army in Chechnya, where units with the strongest traditions of dedovschina were the first to break and desert under enemy fire.[18] At worst, hazing may lead into fragging incidents.[citation needed]



"Athletes most at risk for any kind of hazing for college sports were men; non-Greek members; and either swimmers, divers, soccer players, or lacrosse players. The campuses where hazing was most likely to occur were primarily in eastern or southern states with no anti-hazing laws. The campuses were rural, residential, and had Greek systems," Hoover wrote.[14] (Hoover uses the term "Greek" to refer to U.S.-style fraternities and sororities.) Non-fraternity members were most at risk of hazing, Hoover reported. Football players are most at risk of potentially dangerous or illegal hazing, the study found.[14] In the May issue of the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Michelle Finkel reported that hazing injuries are often not recognized for their true cause in emergency medical centers. The doctor said hazing victims sometimes hide the real cause of injuries out of shame or to protect those who caused the harm. In protecting their abusers, hazing victims can be compared with victims of domestic violence, Finkel wrote.[20]

Finkel cites hazing incidents including "beating or kicking to the point of traumatic injury or death, burning or branding, excessive calisthenics, being forced to eat unpleasant substances, and psychological or sexual abuse of both males and females." Reported coerced sexual activity is sometimes considered "horseplay" rather than rape, she wrote.[20] Finkel quoted from Hank Nuwer's book "Wrongs of Passage" which counted 56 hazing deaths between 1970 and 1999.[21]




Notable examples[edit]

  • 1684: Cambridge, MA, a Harvard Student, Joseph Webb, was expelled for hazing.[26]
  • 1873: a New York Times headline read: "West Point. "Hazing" at the Academy – An Evil That Should be Entirely Rooted Out"[27]
  • 1959: USC pledge Richard Swanson choked to death during a hazing stunt for Kappa Sigma fraternity. Pledges were told to swallow a quarter pound piece of raw liver soaked in oil without chewing. The liver lodged in his throat and he began choking. The fraternity brothers omitted the cause of his trouble breathing, telling police and ambulance workers instead that he was suffering from a "nervous spasm". He died 2 hours later.[35] The incident inspired the 1977 film Fraternity Row as well as an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation called Pledging Mr. Johnson.[36]
  • 1967: Delta Kappa Epsilon, Yale University. Future president George W. Bush was implicated in a scandal where members of the DKE fraternity were accused of branding triangles onto the lower back of pledges. Mr. Bush is quoted as dismissing the injuries as "only a cigarette burn." The fraternity received a fine for their behavior.[37]
  • 1974: Pledge William Flowers, along with other pledges, were digging a deep hole in the sand (said to be a symbolic grave), when the walls collapsed and Flowers was buried, causing his death. His death spurred an anti-hazing statute in New York.[38] Flowers would have been the first black member of ZBT at Monmouth had he survived.[39]
  • 1975: Rupa Rathnaseeli, a 22-year-old student of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka became paralyzed as a result of jumping from the second floor of the hostel "Ramanathan Hall" to escape the physical ragging carried out by older students. It was reported that she was about to have a candle inserted in her vagina just before she had jumped out of the hostel building.[40] She committed suicide in 2002.[41]
  • 1997: Selvanayagam Varapragash – a first-year engineering student at University of Peradeniya was murdered on the campus due to hazing. He was subjected to sadistic ragging and in the post-mortem a large quantity of tooth paste was found in his rectum.[44]
  • 2004: In Sandwich, MA nine high school football players faced felony charges after a freshman teammate lost his spleen in a hazing ritual.[45][46]
  • 2005: Matthew Carrington was killed at Chico State University during a hazing activity on February 2, 2005.[48] Matt's Law, named in Carrington's memory, was passed by the California legislature into law to eliminate hazing in California.[49]
  • 2005: The victim of a high-profile hazing attack in Russia, Andrei Sychyov, required the amputation of his legs and genitalia after he was forced to squat for four hours whilst being beaten and tortured by a military group on New Year's Eve, 2005. President Vladimir Putin spoke out about the incident and ordered Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov "to submit proposals on legal and organizational matters to improve educational work in the army and navy."[50]
  • 2007: At Rider University, one fraternity pledge died and another was hospitalized with alcohol poisoning, during what a judge called, "knowingly or recklessly organized, promoted, facilitated or engaged in conduct which resulted in serious bodily injury." Five people were charged, including two university administrators.[51]
  • 2011: Two Andover High School basketball players were expelled and five were suspended for pressuring underclassmen to play "wet biscuit," where the loser was forced to eat a semen-soaked cookie."[53]
  • 2015: James Taylor (Auckland, New Zealand) was forced into riding his motorbike naked from Auckland North Shore to Eden Park in order to join an elite gang. 2 km into the ride he was arrested and charged with public indecency.

See also[edit]


  10. ^ Hollmann, B. B. (2002). "Hazing: Hidden campus crime". New Directions for Student Services: 11–24. doi:10.1002/ss.57. 
  30. ^ Ambrose, Stephen (1966). Duty, Honor, Country. A History of West Point. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 277. ISBN 0-8018-6293-0. 
  37. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/07/opinion/liberties-president-frat-boy.html
  40. ^ Senewiratne, Brian. "Ragging – My Experience". The Sunday Leader. Ratmalana, Sri Lanka. Retrieved December 17, 2013. 
  42. ^ "Hazed and Accused". Crime Library. Retrieved 7 August 2014. 
  45. ^ Ebbert, Stephanie, Globe Staff. "Nine players suspended in football hazing injury". The Boston Globe\date= September 17, 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2013. 
  47. ^ Schuermann, Pete (October 11, 2013). "Haze". 
  56. ^ "Fraternity Pledge Loses Testicle In Hazing Ritual". The Smoking Gun. 

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