Week to Focus on Hazing Prevention for All Campus Groups, Organizations

SUNY Plattsburgh is recognizing National Hazing Prevention Week Sept. 21-24 on campus with a full slate of activities and educational events under the overarching theme of “Respect, Inclusion and Accountability.”

According to Allison Swick-Duttine, director of fraternity and sorority life, student leadership and volunteerism, National Hazing Prevention Week at SUNY Plattsburgh “is being coordinated by the Campus Hazing Prevention Work Group, which includes representatives from athletics, community living, fraternity and sorority life, the Student Association and Title IX/VI,” she said.

“We wanted to make sure that hazing isn't interpreted as a fraternity or sorority problem because it occurs across many different facets of the college student experience.”

Beginning today, Sept. 21, student organization members had the opportunity to participate in “Chalking the Plaza,” where they could stop by through 2 p.m. to create a representation of the Hazing Prevention Week theme and why hazing doesn’t belong in their organization or at SUNY Plattsburgh. The most creative chalk drawing will win $250.

Other activities today include a “Find Burghy Scavenger Hunt” from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Nationwide,  scavenger hunts have been problematic on campuses, often used to embarrass, humiliate and endanger students trying to join groups.

“As a higher education institution, we have a new student population every year, and we know that some students come to college having experienced hazing at the high school level,” Swick-Duttine said. “We want to make sure to convey that SUNY Plattsburgh is not a place where abusive and humiliating acts like hazing are welcome. In fact, student groups that haze are ones where members are not connected to the true organizational mission, purpose and values.”

Students doing the Burghy scavenger hunt can check out @saplattsburgh on Instagram for clues about where to find Burghy for a chance to win Bose headphones, a signed Burghy jersey and other Plattsburgh swag.

Later Monday night in the Amite Plaza, students, faculty, staff and community members can gather for the annual Vigil for Victims of Violence beginning at 7:30.

As a form of violence, hazing can have many similarities with interpersonal and domestic violence, including physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The vigil is held in memory of all those who have been impacted by violence.

Given the dangers, abusive and humiliating acts that are often associated with hazing, the question remains as to why anyone would want to participate. Swick-Duttine said it’s a matter of wanting to fit in.

“Unfortunately, many of them are willing to subject themselves to dangerous and humiliating experiences in the interest of belonging. Joining a student organization and getting involved outside the classroom are exceptional ways for students to grow personally and to be career ready when they graduate.

“However, groups that haze rarely offer positive and meaningful developmental opportunities for students,” Swick-Duttine said. “We hope that the opportunities we provide during Hazing Prevention Week and throughout the rest of the year help students understand that worthwhile organizations are not those that will demean or harm them in the interest of friendship and belonging.”

Other activities on campus during Hazing Prevention Week include:

• Decorate Your Own Burghy Sugar Cookie, Tuesday, Sept. 22 from noon to 1 p.m., in the Angell College Center lobby
• Athletes Against Hazing, Tuesday, Sept. 22 at the soccer field, Plattsburgh State Field House, where the Cardinal men’s soccer team will play RPI at 4 p.m. and Cardinal women’s soccer will play Skidmore at 7 p.m.
• Purple Ribbons and Prizes, Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Clinton Dining Hall. Hosted by the Interfraternity Council and Inter-Sorority Association, participants can pick up a purple ribbon to wear in recognition of hazing prevention and grab some giveaways and hazing prevention resources
• Spin the Prize Wheel, Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 11 a.m. to noon, and BurghSquad Sign Making from noon to 2 p.m. in the ACC lobby. Join the Student Association Activities Coordination Board in these events to build your Cardinal spirit

In addition, on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. in the ACC Alumni Conference Room, join Campus Hazing Prevention Work Group reps for observation of National Gordie Day, which is held on the Thursday of National Hazing Prevention Week in remembrance of Gordie Bailey, who died from alcohol overdose hazing.

On Sept. 17, 2004, Bailey was found dead at the Chi Psi fraternity house at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was 18 and had been at the university for three weeks. The night before, he and 26 other pledges were blindfolded, taken to a forest, and given four 1.75 liber bottles of whisky and six 1.5 liter bottles of wine to drink in 30 minutes. He was left to sleep it off on a couch in the frat house and was found the next morning.

This interactive web-based program’s purpose is to educate students on the relationship between alcohol and hazing, demonstrate how to measure a standard drink, and teach students to identify the signs of alcohol overdose. Students will leave the program motivated to be engaged bystanders by monitoring impaired peers for signs of overdose, never leaving anyone alone to sleep it off, and intervening when they are concerned about hazing.

Thursday night at 6 in the Warren Ballrooms, SUNY Plattsburgh alum Greg Halloran will discuss the trajectory of his career, from being a college leader as an undergrad to being a corporate trainer for Fortune 500 companies. Participants will learn how their extracurricular and applied learning experiences over four years of college can help build skills that will prepare them for a career and how negative student organization experiences such as hazing can detract from long-term success.

Wrapping up Hazing Prevention Week is Coffeehouse Karaoke: A Celebration of Community Thursday from 9 to 11 p.m. in the Flynt Commons. Student Association Activities Coordination Board members will help celebrate the community created when individuals share a respectful and inclusive student experience. This event kicks off Homecoming/Family Weekend.

Swick-Duttine said that the week-long observation was created with students in mind.

“We surveyed student group members last spring to determine what they perceived to be the most important values across all student experiences,” Swick-Duttine said. “The most popular responses by far were respect, inclusion and accountability. The Committee developed the entire Hazing Prevention Week experience with these values in mind.”

— By Associate Director of Communications Gerianne Downs with Staff File Photos