Hazing or Bullying?

In November, a wrestler at Provo High School was charged with three counts of aggravated kidnapping – a first-degree felony – two counts of forcible sexual abuse – a second-degree felony – attempted forcible sexual abuse – a third-degree felony – three counts of hazing – and a class B misdemeanor after he was caught hazing two of his teammates. He even did it twice to one of the kids. To the convict, it was supposed to be just friendly hazing and team tradition but according to the law he crossed the line and will suffer for it. Hazing has been around ever since there were exclusive teams, clubs and groups. Some say that is does more harm than good and should be eliminated in all forms. Others argue that it builds team commodity and strengthens the team.

Today, there is plenty of bullying and hazing that goes on in high school. Hazing and bullying are two different things. Bullying is considered an act of aggression by someone with intent to harm this person. Hazing is any action or situation created by a group to intentionally produce mental or physical discomfort. The amount of bullying has decreased significantly but the type of bullying has changed. There are rarely sucker punches in the hallway or anything physical at all. The technology age is among us and it has caused for kids to take their problems to the computer and social media. Kids especially like to hide anonymously behind a screen and attack other students with words.

Hazing originated in fraternities when the older leaders of the fraternity would put on an initiation program to welcome the new members. The ones that could go through the initiation process and passed all qualifications were welcomed in. As soon as they finished this initiation, they were a part of the fraternity and felt like they belonged.

About ten years ago at Highland it was a tradition for the seniors to be to find the incoming freshmen and “paddle” them in the summer. This was considered an act of hazing. The students would grab ping pong paddles and other items and would smack the behind of the incoming freshmen. The victims would never suffer any serious injury or harm. Some considered this to be bullying and not hazing and the tradition came to halt. Five years later the line was drawn and there were anti-bullying campaigns that were practiced around the state. Assistant principal Katie Eskelson-Ieremia has noticed a large decrease in bullying ever since it became a real concern. These trainings were implemented into the middle schools as well.

“About five years ago when we expressed concern there was a large spike in reporting bullying and now it’s getting much better because of the anti-bullying campaigns that began in middle school. So when students get to Highland they know the bullying policy,” Eskelson-Ieremia said.

Before there was a real concern of the effects of bullying it was excusable among students and faculty. There was always the excuse that “kids will be kids” but now we know of the real dangers of what bullying can do. These campaigns have been effective as the amount of bullying has decreased significantly.

Hazing is an issue that is common in sports like the Provo wrestling case. When a story like that comes out it gives a bad name to the sport and the school. When a reader sees the story they automatically assume that this goes on at other high schools, but this is certainly not the case. Assistant wrestling coach Swede Robinson was disappointed to read about the Provo student because now people in the community may assume this is common among other wrestling teams.

“It puts a bad tone on the sport, cases like these come up in the media and they get blown out of proportion,” Robinson said.

There will always be the typical seniors picking on the freshmen because they can but serious hazing within sports is uncommon now a days. But, students need to consider whether or not the act is a tradition or it is something that could seriously harm the victim.

Wrestling coach Ted Sierer remembers when he was in high school his school had a specific assembly designed to embarrass the “cocky” sophomores.

“At this assembly they would call down these sophomores like they won something and we would jump out and duct tape them in front of the school,” Sierer said.

At Highland, when underclassmen football team members are called up to dress varsity they are forced to perform a lip sync or a skit in front of the coaches and other teammates. This can be considered hazing even though it doesn’t necessarily inflict pain on the victim. The madrigals program has a tradition of kidnapping the new members from their house (with parental consent) and then taking them to breakfast. These are harmless traditions but not all hazing is victimless.

During spirit week it is common for the seniors to “mob” the freshmen. The seniors will gang up and take a freshmen in the bathroom or an empty hallway and “mob” them. There is no specific reasoning for this hazing but it has been a tradition here at Highland. Senior Talo Latu will never forget when he was a freshmen and had to be the victim.

“I was nervous all spirit week my freshmen year and I felt like I had to always check my back. I escaped the first few days but the morning before the spirit bowl I was in an empty hallway and I was surrounded by upperclassmen. I just had to take the beating because there was no way I was getting out of it,” Latu said.

There are never many serious injuries suffered from this “mobbing” maybe just a few bruises or bloody noses. Latu also said that after he went through this he felt like he was a part of those people instead of being inferior to them.

“Usually it’s the older poly boys that do it to the younger ones so I was expecting it when I was a freshmen. I also knew they weren’t trying to hurt me too bad” Latu said.

This tradition has been going on for many years at Highland and will likely continue to happen because when the freshmen become seniors they want to get revenge for the pain they received when they were a freshmen. The administration is familiar with what goes on during spirit week but it is hard to take action because it never gets reported. If it got reported and they would consequences for the offender and the victim would most likely face a more serious punishment if he reported what happened.

Most teams, clubs, or groups have an initiation process that typically involves some type of hazing but all people that go through the hazing come out of it feeling a part of the group rather than being inferior.

The traditions like the ones that the football team and madrigals have are with coaches’ consent. When students get in trouble and “cross the line” it is typically without the coach knowing.

“The line is crossed is when anyone feels unsafe and that’s why they have such strict policies now because you don’t know what makes someone feel unsafe, also when it has any sexual reference to it,” Sierer said.

Opinions will vary on this controversial topic, but like Sierer said, there is a line that is drawn.