American University students are part of more than 10 million college students who experience hazing, according to a national survey from Hazing Prevention Network.Some experiences of hazing can include alcohol consumption, sleep- deprivation and sex acts according to page two in the study.
Under the University's policy, hazing misconduct can be defined, but is not limited to, 15 examples that include physical and mental abuse.
In an attempt to continue to spread awareness, the University annually participates in National Hazing Prevention Week, held this year from Sept. 22 to 26. This is part of a larger effort to educate students on hazing recognition and prevention.
The Center for Student Involvement created a new Student Engagement Impact Fund, which is made up of previously unused student activity funds. Assistant Vice President for Student Engagement & Success Dayne Hutchinson said the fund provides more resources for National Hazing Prevention Week in 2025.
This year, the week included community activities, sessions covering the University's Hazing Policy, jeopardy night and social media advocacy sessions. Senior Associate Director of Training & Development Matthew Galewski ran some of the training this year and worked with students directly to discuss hazing prevention.
On Sept. 23, Associate Executive Director of Enablement for the National Chapter of Tri Sigma, Lorin Phillips, spoke to students.
She discussed actions in groups that aren’t physical violence but still leave students feeling embarrassed and isolated, such as excluding first years from bonding dinners.
She shared her personal stories of hazing and being hazed in her sorority at James Madison University, which she admits she thought could never happen to her.
“I would never allow someone to haze me, I am a strong, independent individual … I got defensive of that relationship,” Phillips said during the event. “I forgot those negative feelings.”
Her experience follows the trend of many others, as only one in ten students ever recognizes that they have been hazed, according to findings from the National Study of Student Hazing.
After reflecting, Phillips said she was able to recognize that she was a victim of hazing. Despite that, Phillips chose to continue in the sorority, in hopes of creating change. However, once she became the leader, she found herself continuing patterns of hazing as a way to build belonging in her organization, without realizing it.
Now, as a leader in prevention, Phillips urges groups to focus on identifying the intention of actions within the group, along with challenging the mindset that new members have to prove themselves.
Elizabeth Allan, a professor at the University of Maine and founder of the research group StopHazing.org, expanded on why hazing is so common in campus environments in an interview with The Eagle.
“When you combine the strong desire to belong, alongside the peer pressure, even if no one is violently pushing someone into doing something… You have an increased likelihood for a coercive environment,” Allan said.
Allan is leading some of the only nationwide research on hazing and wanted to emphasize the goal of the community to students. She also wanted to focus on positive group behaviors.
In recent years, there have been increasing calls for change to address hazing, sexual assault and racism within campus organizations.
Alleged victims of misconduct by Greek organizations at AU called out the behavior through social media to encourage accountability in 2020.
In 2021, fraternity chapters ended group activity permanently, under the pressures of campus-wide movements to end Greek life. Despite the disaffiliation, the following semester, many organizations continued to recruit.
As of September 2025, Sigma Chi and Beta Theta Pi are under disciplinary probation for hazing misconduct according to the Student Affairs Conduct Status.
To build an anti-hazing culture, for the past two years, all AU freshmen have been required to take a Canvas online training module, which included a hazing lesson this year. The training included an interactive presentation to prepare students for different hazing situations.
Alana Williams, a freshman in the Kogod School of Business, finished the training and continued to consider joining Greek life. However, once she got on campus, she wanted to wait before getting involved.
She was interested in historically Black organizations like the “Divine Nine” that provide community to Black students.
“Divine Nine had a lot more life-long community…I feel like, especially with PWIs, there’s so much divide between races even when it’s not meant to be,” Williams said. “So when the options was there for something more close to my heart, I leaned toward that way.”
AU’s delayed recruitment policy gave her reassurance to do more research and be informed before joining any group. The policy prohibits first-year students from joining fraternities and sororities until their second semester.
For the future of hazing prevention at AU, Hutchinson wants to look at the number of students who signed the Anti-Hazing Pledge to see if the awareness and recognition efforts have reached students consistently over the next couple of years.
“It's better that we wait only because even if you move five minutes down the street, adjusting to college is huge,” Williams said. “Sororities take a lot of time, a lot of financial things that go around with it, and also I wanted to be able to take a year or two to discover what school I'm at, what the organizations are about, before I even consider it.”
Phillips continues to urge groups to focus on identifying intention, along with defocusing the mindset of new members having to prove themselves.
“Too often I hear people say it’s not a big deal, it’s a tradition. But we have to take personal responsibility to do something… It’s everyone’s responsibility to stop hazing,” Phillips said.
This article was edited by Cara Halford, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Emma Brown, Avery Grossman, Ariana Kavoossi and Ava Stuzin.
