Hazing is dangerous, demeaning and demands a response

It’s a privilege to wear a school jersey, earned through a combination of talent and hard work.

It’s privilege that also carries some responsibilities – to maintain your grades, to adhere to a code of conduct and to be a good teammate.

Some Mundelein athletes have temporarily lost that privilege following an investigation of misconduct in the varsity baseball program.

Few details have been released, as Mundelein High School tries to protect the confidentiality of the students disciplined, but Principal Alexandra Rios did say as the investigation began that “the expectation in all of our educational and extracurricular programs is that everyone treats each other with respect and dignity.”

Should school discipline make headlines? Is it a matter that requires an editorial response?

Unfortunately, these things have a way of escalating, physically and emotionally. What starts as teasing spirals into public humiliation. “Initiation rites” under the guise of team bonding can lead to forced binge drinking. Locker room roughhousing sometimes becomes an assault.

It’s imperative for the adults to take action if there’s even a hint of hazing.

Over the years, we’ve seen misconduct cases become quite costly for suburban school districts.

In 2017, Lake Zurich students were awarded $195,500 each in a settlement over hazing allegations against members of the varsity football team. In 2016, five former Maine West students shared a $1 million settlement in a hazing and assault case involving the boys soccer program.

Hazing isn’t simply a high school problem. A Northern Illinois University freshman from Palatine died after he was pressured to consume excessive amounts of alcohol at a fraternity party in 2012.

In 2017, five Wheaton College football players were accused of abducting a teammate from his dorm room, binding him with duct tape and leaving him in a baseball field – actions that prosecutors ultimately deemed felonies.

And just this year, Northwestern University hired attorneys to investigate allegations of hazing among football players.

Nor is hazing limited to sports settings. It happens in Scout troops, in the military and even at church camp.

In 2020, Rolling Meadows-based Harvest Bible Chapel fired two employees and suspended two others over hazing at its Camp Harvest in Michigan.

Even police officers have been victimized.

The Bartlett Police Department suspended eight members of its Specialized Police Emergency Action Response Team for hazing that occurred during a 2014 training exercise. Two officers were shot with 30 to 50 rounds of simulated ammunition, and one of those targeted later filed a lawsuit saying he suffered physical and emotional injuries that left him struggling for years with nightmares and flashbacks.

Hazing simply can’t be tolerated at any level, and certainly not in schools. A culture of ostracizing, demeaning and assaulting each other is never “all in good fun.”

Daily Herald

https://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20230418/daily-herald-opinion-hazing-is-dangerous-demeaning-and-demands-a-response