arizona legislature considers bill to combat hazing

A new bill under consideration by the Arizona House of Representatives would criminalize any potentially harmful activities "for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into . . . or maintaining membership in any organization." Such criminal penalties would attach regardless of whether any injury was actually caused, whether the purported victim actually feels victimized, or whether the brother freely consents to the activity. The injuries contemplated range from the physical to the psychological and in extremis to enunciated instances such as overconsumption of food and drink. In theory, a group of brothers participating in a competetive eating contest for the chapter could be considered "hazed" by the chapter. So broad is the ambit of the law that the ASU Web Devil's reporter feels obligated to clarify that "victims of hazing would not be prosecuted under the law in hazing cases."

The law apparently follows Michigan's attempt to achieve the same goal, and there can be no doubt that providing clear legal guidelines to greeks can only help them stay away from the dangerous behavior and protect collegians. But vaguely worded and broadly drafted laws sweeping vast swathes of innocent tomfoolery under their ambit can only obfuscate what ought to a clear line in the sand: foreseeable injury to unwilling subjects is intolerable. But where there is no injury, or the risk of injury was freely undertaken (as in a pick-up basketball game), or the injury was an unforseeable accident, subjecting fraternities to a higher legal standard reeks of political grandstanding.

The assistant director of greek life at the University of Michigan, where the archetypal law has been in effect five years now, agrees that laws "have been too often a political response to a situation and don’t really address how to [prevent] hazing from a public policy approach." Indeed, the sponsor of the new Arizona bill freely admits that "this bill is aimed at the fraternities. . . . This way, victims and their families can sue organizations [suspected of hazing] in civil cases." Such cavalier attitudes only derogate the true victims of hazing by diluting the term into nonexistence.

ASU Web Devil