Hazing Study

Hazing in View: College Students at Risk
Initial Findings from the National Study of Student Hazing

March 11, 2008

Presented by
Elizabeth J. Allan, Ph.D., Associate Professor
&
Mary Madden, Ph.D., Associate Professor

University of Maine

College of Education and Human Development

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• Executive Summary

• Introduction

• Overview

• National Study Goals & Methods

• Findings

• Implications and Recommendations

• Summary

• Works Cited/Notes/Acknowledgements

• Appendices

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Appendix A

Project Personnel

Elizabeth Allan, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

Dr. Allan is an Associate Professor of Higher Educational Leadership at The University of Maine.  She is a former Student Affairs Staff member with experience in Student Activities, Greek Life, Judicial Affairs, Community Development, and Student Leadership Programs.  She has authored a number of articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries on the topic of hazing, and is co-founder and manager of the educational website www.StopHazing.org.

Dr. Allan has given interviews about hazing for a PBS documentary, for other television, newspapers, and radio and periodicals including Sports Illustrated, Teen People, Glamour, Rolling Stone, British Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and Congressional Quarterly.  Her research related to campus cultures and climates has been published in the Harvard Educational Review (2003), the Maine Journal of Education (2004), Innovative Higher Education (2005), The Journal of Higher Education (2006), and The Review of Higher Education (2006).

Mary Madden, Ph.D.
Project Director

Dr. Madden is an Associate Research Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at The University of Maine where she is a faculty member in the Center for Research and Evaluation.  Her fields of expertise are girls' development and education and gender equity issues.  She has extensive experience in developing and implementing program evaluations and research studies using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Her work focuses on the social and emotional development of youth and includes evaluations of youth suicide prevention programs, development and evaluation of a curriculum to build girls' coalition groups, and a study of classroom climate for undergraduate women. Her work has been published in the Journal of Higher Education (2006), and the Handbook for Achieving Gender Equity in Education (2007).

Lori Smith
Research Analyst

Ms. Smith is a Research Associate in the College of Education and Human Development Center for Research and Evaluation at the University of Maine. She brings extensive experience analyzing quantitative data and managing large databases.  During her ten years at the Center for Research and Evaluation, she has contributed to numerous research and evaluation studies related to education and human development and served as the lead analyst for the survey data for this investigation.

Interview Team

We would like to thank the following individuals who participated on the research team traveling to campuses across the U.S. to conduct interviews.

Andrea Cole, Coordinator of Academic Advising and Support, College of Education and Human Development, University of Maine

Patrick Devanney, Masters student, Student Development in Higher Education, University of Maine

Suzanne Estler, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Higher Education Leadership, University of Maine.

Dorothy Foote, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty, University of Maine College of Education and Human Development and Psychology

Susan Gardner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Higher Education Leadership Higher Education Leadership, University of Maine

Karen Hawkes, Director, Maine Center for Sport and Coaching, Doctoral student Higher Education Leadership, University of Maine

Lauren Hayden, Masters student, Student Development in Higher Education, University of Maine

Jennifer Hubbard, Doctoral student, Higher Education Administration, University of Missouri

Amy Mason, Masters student, Student Development in Higher Education, University of Maine

Jamie McCurry, Masters student, Student Development in Higher Education, University of Maine

Christy Oliveri, Masters student, Student Development in Higher Education, University of Maine

Beth Peters, Masters student, Student Development in Higher Education, University of Maine

Qualitative Analysis Team

Gustavo Burkett, Director of Campus Activities and Events, University of Maine

Karen Hawkes, Director, Maine Center for Coaching, and Doctoral student Higher Education Leadership, University of Maine

Jennifer Hubbard, Doctoral student, Higher Education Administration, University of Missouri

Christy Oliveri, Masters student, Student Development in Higher Education, University of Maine

E.J. Roach, Director First and Second Year Programs, Doctoral student, Higher Education Leadership, University of Maine

Lauri Sidelko, Director of Alcohol and Drug Education Programs, Doctoral student, Higher Education Leadership, University of Maine

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Appendix B

Project Partners

• Alpha Omicron Pi

• Alpha Phi Omega

• American College Personnel Association (ACPA)

• Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA)

• Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA)

• Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA) Foundation

• Beta Theta Pi

• Center for the Study of the College Fraternity (CSCF)

• Delta Delta Delta Foundation

• Fraternity Executives Association (FEA)

• Kappa Alpha Order Fraternity and Foundation

• MJ Insurance

• National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Foundation

• National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA)

• National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)

• National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA)

• National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)

• NASPA Foundation

• National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

• National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS)

• National Orientation Directors Association (NODA)

• North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC)

• North American Interfraternal Foundation (NIF)

• National Panhellenic Conference (NPC)

• Professional Fraternity Association (PFA)

• Professional Fraternity Executives Association (PFEA)

• Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority

• Pi Beta Phi Sorority and Foundation

• Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity

• Sigma Chi Fraternity

• Sigma Nu Fraternity

• Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity

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Appendix C

Current Advisory Group Members

Ms. Jessica Bartter, Assistant Director for Marketing and Communications of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS)

Dr. Ron Binder, Associate Director of Residence Life for Greek Affairs, Bowling Green State University; President, Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA)

Dr. Kent Blumenthal, Executive Director, National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA)

Ms. Martha Brown, Past Chairman, National Panhellenic Conference (NPC)

Mr. Mike Cleary, Executive Director, National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA)

Mr. David Coyne, Chairman, North-American Interfraternal Foundation

Mr. Gary Dickstein, Assistant Vice President/Director Student Judicial Affairs, Wright State University; representing Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA)

Dr. Gwen Dungy, Executive Director, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)

Dr. Danell Haines, Director, National Research Institute for College Recreational Sports & Wellness, The Ohio State University

Dr. Debbie E. Heida, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment and Dean of Students, Berry College

Mr. Tom Helmbock, Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity

Dr. Terrence Hogan, Vice President for Educational and Student Services, University of Northern Iowa, Past Chair of NASPA Knowledge Community on Fraternity/Sorority Life

Ms. Andrene Kaiwi-Lenting, Assistant Director, Student Life and Leadership Coordinator, Orientation Programs at CalPoly; representing the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA)

Mr. Bob London, National Executive Director, Professional Fraternity Executives Association

Ms. Mary Beth Mackin, Assistant Dean of Student Life, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Representing the Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA)

Dr. Richard McKaig, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs & faculty member in Student Affairs & Higher Education, Indiana University

Mr. Hank Nuwer, Professor of Journalism, Franklin College

Mr. John Ogle, Director of Education and Research, National Association for Campus Activities (NACA)

Dr. Laura Osteen, Director of Leadership Programs, Florida State University; representing the American College Personnel Association (ACPA)

Dr. Norm Pollard, Vice President for Student Affairs, Alfred University

Dr. Judith Ramaley, President, Winona State University

Dr. John Schuh, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Iowa State University; representating the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)

Dr. William Smedick, Special Assistant to the Dean of Student Life, Johns Hopkins University, representing the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA)

Dr. Stephen Sweet, Professor of Sociology, Ithaca College

Ms. Cindy Stellhorn, President, North-American Interfraternal Foundation

Ms. Mary Wilfert, Assistant Director of Education and Outreach, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

Ms. Louise Kier Zirretta, past President of the North American Interfraternal Foundation (NIF)

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Appendix D

Pilot Study Methods

The Survey

Full-time undergraduate students under the age of 25 were invited to respond to the web-based survey.  Each institution generated the student sample for the study.  The two smaller institutions were asked to include all the students that fit the sample criteria for the study while the two larger institutions were asked to produce a random sample of students who fit the criteria.  An invitation to participate in the survey was sent to students via email.  This email invitation provided a code and a hyperlink to access the web-based survey.  Students who completed the survey were entered into a drawing for one of fifty $10 iTunes gift certificates.  The survey consisted of 70 questions and was designed so participants could respond to these questions relative to three different membership groups.  For example, a student belonging to a varsity team, a fraternity, and an academic club would respond to the set of questions for each of these activities separately. 

Ninety-percent of the students who accessed the web-based survey completed it.  In all, 1,789 full-time undergraduate students under the age of 26 who belonged to a student activity responded to the survey.  Two-thirds of the respondents were female and one-third male.  Eighty-six percent of the respondents identified their race /ethnicity as White.   Sixty-nine percent of the students lived on-campus. 

The Interviews

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 90 individuals at the four campuses.  Participants included student leaders, student affairs and athletics staff, and senior student affairs officers.  At each campus, project staff worked with a student affairs staff member to select interviewees and schedule the interviews.  The staff members were given a list of staff positions and student organizations from which to recruit individuals for the interviews.  Interviews were  30-60 minutes in duration and were audiotaped and later transcribed for analysis.

This study provided the opportunity for researchers to test sampling strategies and data collection instruments.  It also provided insights into hazing that will be further investigated in the national study.

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