Is hazing a serious problem in Canadian universities?
You see it portrayed in movies. You read about it happening in the States. But how often does hazing actually happen here in Canada?
As a parent of two first-year university students, the possibility of hazing definitely crossed my mind. Although it doesn't appear to happen as often in Canada as it seems to in the U.S., that doesn't mean it never happens.
It's difficult to pinpoint an exact number of injuries related to hazing rituals in Canada or the U.S. The practice is usually secretive. But we do know that many students each year are injured, and some even killed, as a result of hazing.
According to the website StopHazing.org, in addition to an enormous amount of injuries each year, hazing related deaths have occurred every year on campuses in the U.S. since 1970. Most States have now passed legislation that define hazing as a crime.
Although it's hard to find reliable statistics on how much hazing goes on in universities across Canada, according to a couple of studies, and research on hazing at Cornell University, females were more likely to be involved in alcohol-related hazing than any other form of hazing.
Football players were at the highest risk for dangerous and potentially illegal hazing.
I still remember the shocking story I read in the Globe and Mail four years ago, about a freshman on the football team at McGill who was hazed. According to the article, the 18-year-old, along with a small group of other first years, was ordered to remove his underwear and then drop to his hands and knees.
Six senior students, veteran members of the football team, jeered as the rookie was told to bite down on a dog chew toy. Then they held out a broom handle, nicknamed, "Dr. Broom."
"They were poking me on either side of my buttocks cheeks," he said.
"Then, they made contact with my rectum with it. They were kind of pushing back and forth and applying pressure."
Although he wasn't "penetrated with the broomstick," the student said it hurt, and he got up and left.
Feeling humiliated and betrayed, the student dropped out of McGill and returned home. After the incident was reported to the school, McGill cancelled the football program for the rest of the playing season.
St. Francis Xavier University had an incident of hazing which involved freshmen last fall. According to an article in The Chronicle Herald in Nova Scotia, some first-year students were blindfolded, taken to a wooded area, then told to lie down on their stomachs.
The students were hit with branches, and had their faces smeared with what they were told was human feces, though it was apparently just mud.
Some reports allege that the students were told to smear Rub A535 on their testicles.
None of the allegations were ever proven in court. The legal battle between the school and the accused students ended after eight of the disciplined students filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. They claimed the sanctions were punitive. According to news reports, the father of one of the students facing sanctions is a lawyer, and represented the students in court.
The case ended with an out-of-court settlement, which included removing the sanctions against the students accused of leading the hazing. Those sanctions had included a ban from the campus bar and participation in students clubs, along with being ordered to take bullying and harassment counseling, as well as complete 50 hours of community service. And a $50 fine.
As far as I can tell from published reports, none of the students were held at gun point and ordered to perform or forced to participate in those degrading rituals. Apparently none of the alleged victims even filed a complaint. And there was no police investigation into the matter.
But just because a victim doesn't come forward, doesn't mean they weren't victimized. There are lots of crimes, including victims of rape and domestic violence, where the victim feels shamed into silence after being bullied and coerced into accepting their abuse.
Whenever I hear about something like what happened at McGill or St. Francis Xavier University, I wonder about those silent victims, and worry whether they're just a tiny tip of the iceberg.
I have no doubt there are lots of young people, even in high school, who have lived through similar horror stories. But for a variety of reasons stay silent.
I can't help but wonder about those students who order a teenager to pull down their underwear, wanting them to fear they're about to have a broom stick rammed up their butt.
I also wonder about those students who get something out of having their victims believe they've just had feces rubbed all over their faces.
Maybe we don't have a death every year in Canada like they do in the U.S., thanks to some degrading hazing ritual gone wrong. Maybe. Or perhaps the Americans are better at tracking and documenting their more serious cases?
But as long as students continue to be put in physical danger, robbed of their dignity, and intimidated into silence, we have a serious problem.
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KATHY DOBSON 
