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.
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.
