Abstract
The list grows ever longer: Names like Harry Lew, Chucky Stenzel, Chad Saucier, Gabe Higgins, Donna Bedinger, J. B. Joynt…and now Robert Champion. Its the list of people killed by hazing. Champion died of “blunt force trauma” that occurred during the FAMU marching band’s “Crossing Bus C” ritual, when his classmates punched and slapped him as he walked down the aisle of the band bus. He suffered so many injuries, inflicted by so many hands, that prosecutors charged 11 members of the band with felony hazing.
Hazing should never happen, but it does. Hank Nuwer’s Wrongs of Passage documents in excruciating detail the way fraternity pledges at some universities are ritually beaten, ridiculed, harassed, and coerced into abusing alcohol and drugs. New members of sports teams are subjected to physical, psychological, and sexual abuse. The recent suicide of Marine Lance Corporal Harry Lew has been linked to hazing. Marching bands, clubs, schools, businesses, even churches: they psychologically and physically harm their newest members.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-7-2012
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2012 Society of Personality and Social Psychology. This article first appeared in Society of Personality and Social Psychology Connections (2012).
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Recommended Citation
Forsyth, Donelson R. "The List: The Death of Robert Champion." Society of Personality and Social Psychology Connections (blog), May 7, 2012. https://spsptalks.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/why-do-groups-haze-new-members/.