National Hazing Prevention Awareness Week at Drexel

Drexel will host its fourth annual Hazing Prevention Awareness Week (HPAW) from September 26 to October 2. HPAW is part of a national initiative held at numerous universities across the country. The national focus for the past few years has been bystander responsibility and giving students the skills to stand up when they see hazing around them. Various events will be taking place on the Drexel University campus during the week to raise awareness of the issue, educate students, faculty, and staff about hazing alternatives, empower students to stand up against hazing, and show a united University community against hazing.

The week will include various workshops on topics related to positive teambuilding, hazing intervention, and the psychological causes of hazing as well as awareness events targeting student organizations, athletic teams, fraternities and sororities, and the general campus community. Community service will also be included in the week as a healthy teambuilding alternative to hazing. For full event details, please see the attached schedule of events.

Hazing Prevention Awareness Week is just a part of the year-round hazing education initiatives planned collaboratively with Drexel’s Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Office of Campus Activities, Recreational Sports, Athletics, the Center for Civic Engagement, the Counseling Center, Student Conduct & Community Standards, Residential Living, Drexel Public Safety, and various student organizations and academic departments.

A 2008 national study sponsored by the National Center for Hazing Research and Prevention, in which Drexel University participated, has found that about half of college students have experienced hazing during their high school years and many continue to experience it when they join a variety of groups on college campuses. The highest rates of hazing nationwide were found in varsity athletics, fraternities/sororities, club/intramural sports, and performing arts organizations. More information about this study can be found at http://www.hazingstudy.org. Drexel University as well as the state of Pennsylvania have a strict policy against hazing and actively enforce those policies.

For more information on the event, visit http://www.drexel.edu/studentlife/programs_events/events/DragonsAgainstHazingInitiative/ or contact Natalie Shaak at (215) 571-3575 or nds37@drexel.edu .  

News media contact:
Niki Gianakaris, director, media relations, Office of University Communications
215-895-6741 or ngianakaris@drexel.edu