The Hazing Prevention Network is excited to announce that on December 24, 2024, President Joe Biden signed the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act (S.2901, H.R. 5646) into law.
“We applaud the passage of the Stop Campus Hazing Act in both chambers of Congress and President Biden signing it into law. The Act will bring more transparency to the issue of hazing allowing students and parents to make educated decisions when choosing to join a group,” said Todd Shelton, Executive Director of Hazing Prevention Network.
“We appreciate the efforts of our champions in Congress including Senator Bill Cassidy (LA), Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN), Representative Lucy McBath (GA), and Representative Jeff Duncan (SC) who were the lead sponsors of the Act in their respective chambers,” Shelton continued. “Our Anti-Hazing Coalition with the North American Interfraternity Conference, National Panhellenic Conference and parents of hazing victims along with other organizations have been instrumental in advocating for the bill.”
Hazing is a critical issue facing campuses across all sports and student organizations. Hazing behavior can cause mental or physical harm and often occurs when there is a differing power dynamic between people inside a group and those trying to join. Hazing activities are counter to the mission of clubs and teams.
The Stop Campus Hazing Act requires each institution of higher education that receives federal student aid to maintain and update biannually a website page that discloses student organization violations of the institution’s code of conduct that threaten the safety of students. The report would detail the corrective measures imposed by the school on the student organization. This would allow students and parents to make more informed decisions about which student organizations are safe to join.
The legislation also requires colleges to include hazing incidents in their Annual Security Report (“Clery Report”) and requires campus-wide, research-based hazing education and prevention programs.
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(Original post December 10, 2024. Edited January 3, 2025.)
