Hazing: Quotable
Quotes
Edited by Hank Nuwer -- Last update Feb. 26, 2012
Youngstown State Kappa Alpha Psi Pledge Brandon Stubs on Using Beatings As a Hazing Requirement: "He [Pledge Brother Resean Yancey]
started convulsing, breathing heavily, foaming at the mouth. I didn't
know what else to do. When I went in the hospital room, I saw him on a
breathing machine."
Indianapolis Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning:
“You’ve seen all the highlights with the rookie hazing and
haircuts,” Manning said, per John Oehser of FanHouse. “We
don’t do that around here, because we don’t treat the guys
like rookies. We expect those guys to play this year and to play
well.” Manning
says the Colts’ attitude toward rookie hazing stems from the
team’s philosophy that if a rookie is going to be on the roster,
he’s going to contribute just like everyone else.
Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter on why he told veterans to quit hazing rookie catcher Matt Wieters:
"I'm very protective of the guy who's going to be catching our pitching
staff, without that [hazing] happening. I'm not a big fan of that
stuff," Showalter said. "Make the guy's path easier, not harder. Matt's
the last guy who should have that coming to him, because Matt is almost
to a fault respectful of [veterans]."
Dean of Student Anthony Campbell said this following the death of Gary DeVercelly at the Rider Phi Tau house:
"If we find there is any violation of our social code of conduct, they
will be held fully accountable to us and to the national fraternity and
to all the laws of the state,"
Rider University spokesman Jonathan Meer said this following the death of Gary DeVercelly at the Rider Phi Tau house:
"Although the drinking occurred in the fraternity house, it was not
part of an organized fraternity activity. So, to our knowledge, hazing
was not a factor."
Mrs. Julie DeVercelly counters
First, hazing was not a "factor." His (My son's) death was a result of a fraternity hazing ritual.
Smith Hall of Fame plaque; at right, at Ball State/Hall of
Fame education program.
Hall
of Famer Ozzie
Smith on leadership and the need for high school players to step up in
the lockerroom
[Former St. Louis Cardinal] Smith said that young players today need to
learn sportsmanship and to stop other players from bullying new and
weaker players in initiations called hazing. “You have to use
a
little restraint and a little common sense too,” said Smith.
“Some guys are never going to understand how not to take
things
too far. You’re always going to have those kind of
people.
But then you also have people around that are smart enough to say,
“Hey, things are getting out of hand.” (from an interview
with Hank Nuwer)
Bishop of Hippo St. Augustine on the "eversores"
(Overturners) who bedeviled new students at Cartage in the
4th Century.
"They [the hazers or eversores] were rightly called Overturners, since
they had themselves been first overturned and perverted, tricked by
those same devils who were secretly mocking them in the very acts by
which they amused themselves in mocking and making fools of others." From
Confessions.
Religious Reformer Martin Luther, a proponent of hazing.
(Source: Smithsonian magazine, Sept. 1983), 1539, Wittenberg,
"You'll be subjected to hazing all your life."
Author Mark Twain on cadet hazing: New York Times,
January 20, 1901.
Mark Twain, in an interview today, spoke about hazing at West Point,
and denounced the practice as a brutal one and men who indulge in it as
bullies and cowards. "Why," he said, "the fourth class man who is
compelled to fight a man from the first class hasn't a show in the
world, and it is not intended that he should. I have read the rules
provided to prevent such practices, and they are wholly deficient,
because one provision is omitted. I would make
it the duty of a cadet to report to the authorities any case of hazing
which
came to his notice; make such reports a part of the vaunted West Point
'code
of honor' and the beating of young boys by upper class men will be
stopped.
"I am not opposed to fights among boys as a general thing. If they are
conducted in a spirit of fairness, I think it makes boys manly, but I
do oppose compelling a little fellow to fight some man big enough to
whip two of him. When I was a boy, going to school down in the
Mississippi Valley, we used to have our fights, and I remember one
occasion on which I got soundly trounced, but we
always matched boys as nearly of a size as possible, and there was none
of
the cowardly methods that seem to prevail at West Point."
Author Ralph Ellison on initiations, 1969, at West Point
"Many of the rites of passage, those rituals of growing up found in our
society[,] are in the form of such comic, practical joking
affairs--which
we ignore in the belief that they possess no deeper
significance. Yet
it is precisely in their being regarded as unimportant that they take
on
importance. For in them we ritualize and dramatize
attitudes
which contradict and often embarrass the sacred values which we
proclaim
through our solemn ceremonies and rituals of nationhood." (For more,
see
Hank Nuwer's Wrongs of Passage, p. 188-190).
Ralph Ellison, publisher press photo
Writer Hank Nuwer on hazing initiations.
"Unfortunately, hazing is an equal opportunity disgrace. I mean,
we've seen problems with the Latino groups, Asian groups, African
American, historically, white fraternities that have become integrated.
And we've had deaths in all of them. What seems to be in common is a
group has a certain amount of status and the members within that group
that have status are looking for power in some way, shape or form - be
it an athletic team, band or fraternity or sorority. The power in a
group think type of mentality, where everybody is willing to do
anything to keep the esprit de corps, leads to individuals acting as
they would not act ordinarily, because they're in the group. That leads
to people beating others, making them do forced drinking, taking them
on scavenger hunts while they're intoxicated, etc., that they normally
wouldn't do. What it also results in is dishonesty afterwards. That's
why it's hard for police to investigate it. The groups close ranks,
they circle the wagons, they come up with stories and they have a sort
of dysfunctional attitude that makes them step back from what they did
and not see it until years later. " Hank Nuwer interviewed by National
Public Radio's Michel Martin after death of FAMU marching band member Robert Champion.
"Hazing is an extraordinary activity that, when it occurs often enough,
becomes perversely ordinary as those who engage in it grow desensitized
to
its inhumanity." Nuwer's Wrongs of Passage, p. 31.
"Few of us go through life without taking part in some kind of rite of
passage." from The Hazing Reader, p. xiv.
"Why do so many young people literally die to belong to fraternities,
sororities, and other college social organizations? The answer is
complicated, but here is a starting point: Ever since the medieval
universities were founded, young people have done whatever it takes to
gain acceptance, to break with their past lives, to achieve a sense of
power, to carve out a society of their own
that isn't quite what their tutors and teachers had in mind. In the
United States, hazing and drinking have been endemic since colonial
days." Nuwer, Wrongs of Passage, p. 194.
"Why does hazing flourish in many high schools? It may have something
to do with the fundamental drawbacks of the U.S. educational system,
which is charged with serving the needs of a great many young people.
Some teenagers are brilliant introverts who reject the hero worship of
athletes and beautiful people rampant in high school. The students who
attack these "outsiders" sometimes act on overt cues from some teachers
and administrators. Often, these adults' words and actions teach the
students that nonconformists have two choices -- assimilation or
isolation. High school hazing of freshmen and rookies can be
particularly vicious when directed toward nonconformists struggling to
find an identity. In fact, hazing is part of a larger culture of
violence and destruction. Could it be that school shootings
are just part of a destructive,
self-fulfilling prophesy? That the Columbine High School trenchcoat
mafia shooters acted from a misguided sense of revenge when they opened
fire? If so, all the more reason to end hazing and bullying." Nuwer,
from High School Hazing
"Why don't some people who are hazed fight back? Some are too
intoxicated to make reasonable judgments about what is happening to
them. Some are sleep-deprived, and some cower after being physically
beaten...A student with low self-esteem may feel grateful for any sort
of acceptance....Then, too, an impressionable person is unlikely to
reject a group by quitting, even if he or she is forced to participate
in hazing in order to become a member. Potential new members who come
aboard because someone in the group urged them to give pledging a try
will probably not report hazing lest they lose the satisfying feeling
they are part of something large and worthwhile." -- Hank Nuwer
in Wrongs of Passage.
How can parents try to stop hazing in secondary schools? "You tell your child you deserve respect. You don't have to go through
this to get respect," said Nuwer in an interview with Channel 13, Indianapolis. "You teach your child not to run with
the crowd. You teach your child in certain situations you go the other
way."
On frtaernity and sorority hazing deaths. "Without question behind
every hazing death devastating a family and a college and an
international fraternity is a chapter with one or more delusional
rogues barking, `That could never happen to us. Sure we haze, but we
never take it that far." Hank Nuwer to student newspaper staffers, Ball State University High School Journalism Workshop, 2011.
"Every week should be Hazing Prevention Week." Hank Nuwer
From the Washington Post:
Preston Williams: How does
society play into the hazing culture with birthday spanks and other
so-called rituals, and how culpable are the media for taking a
lighthearted tone when reporting such cases as NFL players being taped
to goalposts or a big-league baseball player having to walk through an
airport dressed like a woman?
Hank Nuwer: We mock and
ridicule, whether it's reality TV or things people go through. We have
a society now that sees humiliation as extremely uproarious. We're
trying to come up with a quick-fix way to end hazing, which is a
quick-fix way to bond, and it's not working. It's going to take a
collective attempt by people of influence -- coaches, legislators,
journalists, educators -- to say that this has gone on long enough. We
need to make it as disgusting as drunk driving is right now.
From Wrongs of Passage by Nuwer (slightly modified here below from original quotation)
Hank Nuwer: Hazing is an
activity that a high-status member orders other members to engage in
(or "suggests" they engage in). That activity in some way humbles a
newcomer who lacks the power or the courage to resist, because he or
she wants to gain admission into a group or may even be a person who
welcomes the hazing for reasons of his or her own. Hazing can be
noncriminal, but it is nearly always against the rules of an
institution, team, or Greek group. It can be criminal, which means that
a state statute has been violated (Ed.: laws other than those
specifically named hazing may be invoked in place of or in addition to
a charge of hazing). This usually occurs when a pledging-related or
initiation-related activity results in physical injury, death, or
molestation, even rape.
Hank Nuwer: Groupthink is
linked to fraternal groups or sports teams or occupations that indulge
in reckless behaviors and pre-initiation rituals, display
near-delusional feelings of invincibility, fail to heed another
member’s (or their national executive’s) moral qualms in
the interest of group unanimity, put a newcomer in harm’s way
with seeming disregard for his or her stress (note the suicides
associated with hazing and ragging [India]) and safety, and demonstrate
post-incident debial in the face of clear-cut evidence that they have
erred. Janis found that the more “esprit de corps” a group
has, the less likely it is to engage in critical thinking. Instead, the
group’s loyalty prompts a need for “agreement” (or
silent assent) and inhibits problem solving.
Writer Tracy
Kidder on prep school hazing
"Andover was like a monastery back
then. We worked all the time. The hazing was ferocious-I still hate to
think about it."
Writer Richard Davis on
his school experiences
"I...thought hazing
silly, and as I never intended to haze myself, I didn't intend any one
to haze me."
Dr. James Garbarino, a Cornell
University professor and author of a book on bullying and youth
violence, commends the individual interviews and suggests an additional
investigative strategy: from Athletic Management magazine
“When students are undergoing hazing, one response is to quit the
team. So as an athletic director, you want to know the name of every
kid who drops off of your teams,” he says. “An adult who
the kids trust should be conducting confidential exit interviews with
them. They need to ask, ‘I see you left the soccer team—can
I ask you why?’ Their responses can give you another source of
information about whether hazing is going undetected.”
Mother Adrian Heideman on
the hazing death of her son at Chico State (from a
column by editor David Little)
"Adrian was my only son and he was the
light of my
life. ... When he was diagnosed with cancer, I vowed to give up
everything so that my child could live. And he grew up to be tall and
strong and handsome and brilliant. And then he died. Living without him
is painful, every day. ... It aches and aches and aches, and the hurt
never goes away."
Adrian & Edie Heideman
Auburn University
fraternity
pledge Chad Saucier's last answering machine message to his mother
before his death in a Big Brother-Little Brother bottle exchange.
(Last message from Chad Saucier, December 9, 1993,
7:30 p.m.)
“Hi Mom, We are dressed like elves and going to
the Christmas party. We are getting up early tomorrow and coming home.
Bye. I love you! "
Chad and his beloved sisters, last photo of him before his death by hazing, Auburn University
Mother Rita Saucier on
her last communication from Chad:
"Chad never made it home for Christmas. The message he left on my
answering machine [was] the last words I would ever hear him speak.
That
night my son made a seemingly insignificant decision to attend his
fraternity Christmas party. This decision cost him his life and left
his family with only precious memories and a void in our lives that we
will never fill. You see, along with the celebration of completing
exams and coming home for the holidays, hazing was also a part of this
“traditional” Christmas party. In his 19 years of
life, Chad touched the lives of many people. It is my hope that even
now that his story will influence others to make smart choices. Hazing
has no place in our college life and Greek organizations. HAZING KILLS."
Eileen Stevens
Eileen Stevens, mother of Chuck Stenzel, killed in a Klan Alpine
Tapping Night at Alfred University on her organization C.H.U.C.K., the
Committee to Halt Useless College Killings:
"I've learned that if we believe enough in something and care enough
about something, we really can move mountains...I've seen positive
things come out of something so dreadful and tragic...When I see the
[concern] in the faces of those students [I address],
when I see their response, and I read that what I had to say made a
difference, that what I say gave them the courage to try to go back and
implement change, then each and every one of them has a special place
in my heart. They have given me the courage to do what I do." From Broken
Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing by Hank Nuwer
“Realize
that education, training and discipline make the person, not
hazing.”
--Alice Haben, mother of Western
Illinois lacrosse club rookie killed in initiation
Why hazing is so hard to eradicate with old school mentality like Vince's:
"It's good for them. It embarrasses a little, but relieves them a lot. Makes them part of the group." — the late Vince Lombardi on rookie hazing.
"I did what I did out of a
misguided sense of building brotherhood, and instead I lost a brother
[Matt Carrington, son of Debbie Smith]. I will live with the consequences of hazing for the
rest of my life," [Gabriel] Maestretti told the court.
"My actions killed a good person, and I will be a felon for the rest of
my life, and I'll have to live with that disability, but I'm alive and
Matt's not." NPR Link
"It's everyone's responsibility to report hazing.
It's not going to be tolerated, those days are over, and any and all
incidences should be reported by coaches, staff, parents, athletes. But
there's human nature at work, you have to understand some are afraid to
come forward." --Eddie Bonine, head of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities
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