Posts tagged with hazing.

Hazing: Is High School Safe?

Kathy Dobson, October 7, 2009 at 11:08 AM

 

A couple of years ago, halfway through Grade 12, my two oldest switched high schools. Thanks to a family move which took us out of their former high school area, they went from a school with less than 800 students to one with over 1,800.

 

Although it was a bit of a culture shock, within a few days at the new school, they quickly adapted and adjusted. They both learned which hallways and staircases to avoid, which washrooms were safe, and which cafeteria tables they should sit at. And which one's they shouldn't.

 

But sometimes, as some students in a Burlington high school learned last month, there is no way to avoid a confrontation or being targeted at school. It doesn't matter which hallway or staircase you take, or which cafeteria table you sit at. Sometimes you can find yourself in a situation that is completely beyond your control.

 

It's every parent's nightmare.

 

Last month, five Burlington teenagers, on their first day of Grade 9, were subjected to a hazing ritual known as "getting gummered." They were on their way home from school when two cars pulled up, filled with Grade 11 and 12 students. After ordering the Grade 9s into an isolated area, the older students beat them with wooden paddles. And then, using markers, they drew nines on their faces.

 

The article from the Globe and Mail reports that the Grade 9 students weren't hospitalized, but that they were beaten hard enough to produce bruises. Two of the older students were in police custody the next day, facing charges of assault with a weapon.

 

In the article, a Grade 11 student who attends the school said that it happens every year. He also claimed it's "not a big deal" to the student body.

 

Hmmm. Maybe not a big deal to those students whom, like him apparently, have never been the target of one of those bullying scenarios at public school. But perhaps a bigger deal to those Grade 9 students who were forced, against their will, to participate in a degrading and physically painful 'ritual.'

 

My two oldest are now in their second year of university. Last September, when they were starting their first year, I was concerned about the possibility of hazing. But since I associate university hazing mainly with sports teams and out-of-control drinking games, I assumed it was something that could mostly be avoided.

 

In other words, I considered it within my kids' control whether or not to participate.

 

But those Grade 9 students were just walking home from school. They certainly didn't choose to participate in what happened next. They had no control.

 

I've been thinking about those Grade 9 kids lately, wondering if they - and their parents - can ever feel that high school is a safe place again after what happened to them. Something like this can ruin an entire school year.

 

How do we prevent something like this from occurring again in the future? Is it even realistic to hope that we can?

 

By coming forward and involving the police, those Grade 9 students and their parents have already taken the first step. They refused to pretend or to go along with the idea that what happened to them is just part of some 'harmless school tradition.' Or rite of passage.

 

For those who might try to kid themselves by thinking that what happened to those students in Burlington last month was a rare event, unlikely to happen again, don't. It already has.

 

A story from the CBC reports 25 students were suspended from a high school in Manitoba last month. Another story reports 17 students in Edmonton expelled for hazing some younger students in Grade 10. I'm sure there will be more.

 

Is hazing now spreading from the university environment to high school? Or was it there all along and we're just now seeing more students coming forward to report on their attackers?

 

Although only a small percentage of those who get involved in these kinds of attacks ever get charged, fortunately, this might soon change.

 

"This is something that can't be tolerated," said Detective Jeff Hill of Halton Regional Police to the Globe and Mail in an earlier interview.

 

"We have to send a message. Parents want to know that their kids are safe."

 

Officers investigating the Burlington case made it clear that they will treat future incidents harshly: "Hazing is socially unacceptable," Det. Hill said. "Criminal charges are the right response. Students need to feel secure."

 

I can't help but wonder and worry about those victims who don't come forward. Those kids who keep silent about the abuse and humiliation they felt at the hands of their fellow (and usually older) students. They need to feel secure, too.

 

All of our kids do.

Tagged with high, school, hazing, students, charges, assault, bullying, safety, criminal | Comments (21) |

Is hazing a serious problem in Canadian universities?

Kathy Dobson, March 6, 2009 at 10:00 AM

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.

Tagged with canadian, hazing, campus, canada, united, st., states, mcgill, xavier, francis, university | Comments (16) |