Recorded Webinars

Special thanks to our education partners for co-hosting webinars with the Hazing Prevention Network.

Empowered to prevent hazing – with Dr. Lori Hart, The Catalyst Agency, and Todd Shelton, Hazing Prevention Network

We kick off the month of September with a hazing prevention discussion and resources to get you thinking about your prevention efforts and National Hazing Prevention Week which is September 25-29. A champion of promoting health and safety on college campuses for over two decades, Dr. Lori Hart approaches difficult conversations with science and human behavior along with dignity and respect — and a whole lot of humor! (Recorded: September 5, 2023)

Prevention IS Your Job: A Fraternity/Sorority Partner Discussion – with Holmes Murphy

No matter what role you serve, everyone can understand and apply the Strategic Prevention Framework. This webinar will provide research overview with the scope of the problem, the importance of strategic planning and successful programming and introduce the free resources available to campuses and organizations do the work of prevention.  This webinar will feature two GIANTS in the prevention field.  Rich Lucey is the Senior Prevention Program Manager in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Community Outreach and Prevention Support Section.  Dr. David Anderson is Professor Emeritus for Education and Human Development from George Mason University who has a four-decade career conducting hundreds of national, state, and local projects while teaching graduate and undergraduate classes.  Please feel free to share this resource with campus partners, volunteers and anyone who interacts with your members because prevention can and should be everyone’s job! (Recorded: September 6, 2023)

Quality Hazing Prevention: A Panel of Experts Provide Insights Authors and experts will share insights about hazing and how campuses can inform quality hazing prevention. 

  • J. Patrick Biddix, Ph.D. – University of Tennessee Knoxville – Piazza Center Research Fellow
  • Rasheed Ali Cromwell, Esq. – Harbor Institute
  • Kimberly Davis, Ph.D. – Piazza Center Data Analyst Penn State
  • Emily Perlow, Ph.D. – Worcester Polytechnic Institute
  • Pietro A. Sasso , Ph.D. – Delaware State University – Piazza Center Research Fellow
  • Stevan Veldkamp, Ed.D. – Penn State – Piazza Center Executive Director
  • Christopher Zacharda, Ph.D. – Tulane University – Piazza Center Scholar

Hosted in partnership with the Piazza Center. (Recorded: September 25, 2023)

Cross-pledging, burning sands, pledge lines, crossing over, paper vs. made, running the gauntlet – how familiar are you with these terms? While more than 80% of hazing incidents involve alcohol, a bigger percentage of hazing incidents in culturally based fraternal organizations (CBFOs) do not. How do gender dynamics fit into this mix? What else might you be missing in your hazing prevention strategies? Join Attorney Rasheed Ali Cromwell, President of the Harbor Institute, as he discusses how all hazing is not the same, and effective and impactful hazing prevention efforts must also address solutions from a culturally competent lens. Rasheed blends his legal background and cultural expertise to breakdown complex difficult issues in a relatable way. He specializes in the areas of hazing prevention/intervention, cultural competency, leadership development and CBFOs and has presented at over 300 colleges and universities in 45 states. Attorney Cromwell was featured on the award-winning PBS documentary “Hazing”, is published in numerous articles and journals , and is the author of The Harbor Guide to Culturally Based Fraternal Organizations, 2nd Edition (2022). He currently serves as of counsel for the FSLG law firm and volunteers as the attorney for the Washington, D.C. National Pan-Hellenic Council (DCNPHC). Hosted in partnership with the Harbor Institute. (Recorded: September 26, 2023)

Understanding and Impacting Athletic Team Culture as it Relates to Hazing

This workshop will explore hazing in general, including legal and university definitions. It will also explore how team culture impacts hazing through a peer leadership lens. Participants will leave with strategies to implement at the individual athlete, team and university level to reduce hazing in college athletics.

Dr. Christopher Zacharda is a Research Scholar with the Piazza Center out of Penn State. His research areas include hazing in athletics and effective adjudication models for organizational misconduct, including hazing. He currently serves as the Director of Student Conduct at Tulane University in New Orleans. A Pennsylvania native, he started his journey as a D-1 swimmer at Bucknell University. He has also coached a club team at the University of Southern California (USC), where he received his doctorate in Educational Psychology. He brings 25+ years of experience in higher education administration. And he still swims whenever he can. (Recorded: September 26, 2023)

Disrupting the Orchestration: Getting to Facts in a Hazing Investigation

If you’ve been tasked with the investigation of reported hazing activities in a team, society, spirit group, men’s or women’s fraternity or sorority…get ready. You’ll most likely encounter orchestrated answers, situational amnesia and the ever-popular “I can’t recall” responses.

There are a number of ways to disrupt the orchestration, including tools such as a desktop calendar, poster size campus map and flip chart paper along with indirect questions, oblique approaches and applying common sense and the space-time continuum to the one-dimensional narrative used by groups attempting to conceal hazing.

We’ll discuss why the group leader or chapter president signing up for an early or late interview slot can be significant, the practical application of the 1-2-3-4 system used by coaches for hazing investigations, and who creates the false narrative in groups that are being investigated.

Please bring your questions and observations.

David Westol, J.D., served as an assistant prosecuting attorney for nine years, as CEO of his men’s national fraternity for 18 years, and has owned and operated Limberlost Consulting, Inc. in Carmel, Indiana for over 16 years. He brings experiences such as 159 membership reviews and over 100 hazing investigations to his presentations. He has conducted workshops for a number of university teams regarding hazing investigations including Tulane, Wyoming, High Point, Suwanee and William and Mary. He was among the first members of the board of directors for HazingPrevention.org, now the Hazing Prevention Network. (Recorded: September 27, 2023)

A Framework for Practice: Using Situational Strength to Challenge Hazing Cultures

Join hazing expert, Dr. Emily Perlow, Associate Dean of Students, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who will share a frame work for campus and organizational professionals in how to disrupt hazing. Hosted in partnership with the Piazza Center. (Recorded: September 27, 2023)

Making or Breaking the Team: Hazing in Sports

It is estimated that nearly 74% of collegiate student-athletes and 50% of high school student-athletes experience at least one hazing event during their athletic career. This workshop is designed to raise awareness among athletic directors about the underlying causes of hazing in sports, examine the impact of hazing on both the individual athlete and the team, and conclude with effective strategies to reduce the incidents of hazing in schools and communities.

Dr. Jennifer Waldron serves as the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate and Professional Programs at BGSU and is a professor of kinesiology. As a former high school and collegiate athlete, she is interested in the positive and negative experiences individuals have in sport. Her research on hazing in sport has led to numerous publications. She has led impactful workshops promoting productive team dynamics for high school and college athletes and coaches. Dr. Waldron is the recipient of multiple awards, including the AAHPERD Mabel Lee Award for Young Professionals, the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Regents Award for Faculty Excellence, and the UNI College of Education Faculty Award for Scholarship. (Recorded: September 28, 2023)

National Gordie Day: Alcohol & Hazing

National Gordie Day is held on the Thursday of National Hazing Prevention Week to remember Gordie Bailey and raise awareness of the dangers of hazing and alcohol. This interactive program educates students on the relationship between alcohol and hazing, demonstrates how to measure a standard drink in our “bartender school,” and teaches students to identify the signs of alcohol overdose using “PUBS.” Students will leave the program motivated to be active 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. Hosted in partnership with the Gordie Center. (Recorded: September 28, 2023)

PERFORMING ARTS

Hazing: How “Innocent Fun” Gets Out of Tune Fast, by Archie Messersmith-Bunting, Archie Cares

Participating in the arts can be both a transformative experience and a place refuge for those that might feel like they don’t fit in anywhere else. But when we allow practices of hazing to slip in, things can go flat very fast. Join Archie Messersmith-Bunting as he shares from personal experience how hazing can dampen a young flame and learn ways to support your arts groups as they seek to build community in positive ways.