Drexel Receives Hazing Prevention Award

Drexel representatives including Dean of Students Dave A. Ruth (left) accept the $10,000 grant from the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation

For the past three years, Drexel University has worked to form a campus-wide coalition to eliminate hazing on its campus. Those efforts were recently rewarded when Drexel received the 2012 Zeta Tau Alpha Award for Innovation in Campus Hazing Prevention during the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Conference in Phoenix, Ariz. This award includes a $10,000 grant from the ZTA Foundation to fund future anti-hazing efforts.

“This award is a testament to our professional staff’s tireless efforts to educate our students about the perils of hazing,” said Drexel University President John A. Fry. “I am truly proud to have all of those involved as part of the Drexel team and am confident that they will continue this work with the same passion and energy.”

Drexel’s progressive stance to eliminating hazing began in 2008 with a partnership between fraternity and sorority chapters and recreational sports. That collaboration now extends to all aspects of the campus: students, police, alumni, intercollegiate athletics and professional staff members in residential living, counseling and student conduct. The University sent interdisciplinary teams to HazingPrevention.Org’s Novak Institute for Hazing Prevention and afterwards adopted a clear definition of hazing, defined a reporting model and implemented an amnesty policy to encourage students to report hazing.

“Drexel has built a solid foundation to ensure success moving forward,” said Kyle A. Pendleton, ZTA’s director of harm prevention and education. “The judges were particularly impressed with the population-specific research conducted that will allow Drexel to develop a strong program that meets the unique needs of its community.”

Zeta Tau Alpha has partnered with HazingPrevention.Org for three years to present the award to promote effective hazing prevention programming on college campuses. Past recipients were University of Kentucky in 2011 and Florida State University in 2010.

Zeta Tau Alpha was founded in 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Va., and has 158 active collegiate chapters and more than 215,000 members worldwide. One of the nation’s largest Greek women’s groups, ZTA develops members’ leadership, academic and service skills, and supports breast cancer education and awareness as its national philanthropy.

HazingPrevention.Org ’s mission is to empower people to prevent hazing. Its vision is to develop programs and harness external resources to diminish society’s tolerance of hazing and inspire everyone’s belief in their own ability to prevent and stand up to hazing.

For more information, contact Tracy Maxwell, executive director of HazingPrevention.Org at Maxwell@hazingprevention.org