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Responding to Victims of Hazing

Hazing involves persecution and harassment with difficult, meaningless, or humiliating tasks; it is used as a rite of passage or initiation into a campus organization.

Hazing can be psychologically damaging and present serious physical risks (including death) to students.

A student may or may not know that hazing will be a part of an initiation process.

A student may or may not know how extreme hazing might become during an initiation process.

Campus rules and regulations prohibit hazing, and some hazing activities are illegal.

For more information, see Hazing Prevention at Maryland.

  • Talk to the victimized student in private.
  • Recognize that the student may be feeling vulnerable and experiencing a range of emotions.
  • Advise the student of University hazing reporting procedures.
  • Refer the student for follow-up counseling at the Counseling Center: (301) 314-7651.
  • Minimizing the situation.
  • Agreeing to being bound to confidentiality.
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