Five days after moving to Asbury for the first time, the RA of Third Glide kidnapped me along with the rest of the freshmen.
Technically, ‘kidnapped’ may be a stretch. After bringing our pillow cases to a mandatory all-freshmen hall meeting, the others and I were promptly blindfolded, guided into one of the many awaiting cars and driven to a gazebo on the other side of campus to be knighted as members of our new hall, Third Herd. To me, that experience was more than just a goofy tradition. It was the feeling of being truly welcomed into a community and tradition in a time when there was nothing I was more afraid of than being alone.
This year, that welcome went away forever.
On Dec. 23, 2024, then-President Joe Biden signed into law the Stop Campus Hazing Act. This is the first federal law to truly set a precedent against hazing in all 50 States, making it mandatory for universities to report any hazing incidents that take place in organizations, either official or unofficial, involving two or more of their students.
“The federal government has defined hazing [as] essentially any activity that could be viewed as denigrating or humiliating or causing additional hazards to either physical or emotional health beyond what would be incorporated,” said Director of Campus Safety Eric Walsh. “So, with that law, we will have to report hazing as part of our crime log.”
Without a doubt, this law carries a lot of value. There is a reason why so many tragedies tied to hazing have made it into the news, and it is incredibly important to change the cultural norms that have led to victims of such abuse. That being said, there are other side effects that come with this new legislation.
Because the definition of hazing encompasses such a broad spectrum, there is almost no way to police part of the possible offences without putting a stop to the whole. In training this year, Asbury student leaders were trained on this change in policy, putting an end to more than one student tradition across campus – including ones that have always offered students a choice in whether or not to participate.
“The law is very particular that it does not matter if [the hazing] is voluntary or involuntary,” said Walsh. “The justification behind that is when you get groups together and you are wanting to be part of that group, there is peer pressure… so the government decided they would [count it as hazing] even if it’s a voluntary act if it is unnecessary and putting the person at unnecessary risk.”
This blanket attack on hazing has left me personally conflicted. On one hand, I fully appreciate the protection that this new legislation will offer and the hazing atrocities that it will help stop. Still, I can not help but feel like something about this method is taking a step backward. Yes, outlawing cards would help decrease gambling, but what about the game Kings on the Corners? Or Go Fish? Or Third Herd’s initiation ceremony?
The first Sunday of this school year, Third Herd’s current RA Tori Brown led a new initiation ceremony. After having the freshmen run around the building in a quick scavenger hunt, she brought them back to the third-floor bathroom where they were knighted into the hall in the flickering light of battery-operated candles.
Without a doubt, her solution to the new law helped to continue making memories similar to my own, but those new freshmen will never have the same sense of tradition that I felt so heavily upon joining the hall. They will never have the wonder of walking in the footsteps of people who were just as scared and uncertain as they were and the comfort of knowing that, if those earlier students could survive college, maybe they could too.
When all is said and done, I have to admit that the Stop Campus Hazing Act is a net positive. Stacking the safety of many against my own sentimentality is a silly, pointless battle, and I am grateful that our leaders value the well-being of our generation. Still, there is no denying that we have lost something in this change. We have lost the joy of not knowing better, and that, in its own right, may be something worth grieving.
Photo courtesy of USA Today.
