After years of failed attempts, the first-ever federal anti-hazing legislation is on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.
The Stop Campus Hazing Act cleared the U.S. House back in September, and on Wednesday the Senate passed it as well. The bipartisan bill was supported by families of numerous hazing victims and by Greek life organizations including the National Panhellenic Conference and the North American Interfraternity Conference.
The law requires higher education institutions to publish both their hazing prevention policies and the names of organizations that have violated those policies on their websites. The law will also require every college and university to develop a campuswide, research-based hazing education and prevention program.
“When parents send their kids away to college, they expect they will get a good education and make new friends,” Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who co-sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said in a news release. “They don’t expect them to be harassed and hazed. Unfortunately, hazing is a dangerous—and at times deadly—reality, and we must work to end it.”
Between 1959 and 2021, at least one hazing death took place on a U.S. college campus per year, according to an up-to-date hazing tracker maintained by Hank Nuwer, a noted hazing researcher and professor.
In 2007, Gary L. DeVercelly Jr. became one of those victims when he died of acute alcohol poisoning during a fraternity hazing incident at Rider University. His death pushed his parents to advocate for federal anti-hazing legislation.
“We set out to make sure what happened to our son never happened again,” Julie and Gary DeVercelly said in a news release from the Clery Center, a campus safety advocacy organization that supported the bill. “This bill will save lives and make a real difference in the fight against hazing.”
