News Story
Caught in a haze
Recently discovered photos of alleged hazing bring a national issue to Ithaca College
This and other photos allegedly containing Ithaca College student-
athletes hazing were posted on NCAAHazing.com last week. Members of four varsity athletics teams are under investigation by the college.
When photographs of student-athletes engaging in alleged team initiations at more than a dozen colleges and universities were posted on BadJocks.com in May, the issue of hazing once again came to the forefront in the world of collegiate athletics.
Now, the issue has arrived on South Hill.
Members of four Ithaca College varsity teams — the men’s wrestling, women’s gymnastics and men’s and women’s basketball squads — are under investigation for possible hazing activities after pictures of student-athletes were posted on public photo album Web sites.
To be eligible to compete, all student-athletes are required to attend a workshop prior to the start of their seasons. The workshops are run by Mike Lindberg, associate director of intercollegiate athletics, who is also the college’s NCAA compliance officer. There, athletes sign the college’s Athletic Code of Ethics as well as the NCAA Student-Athlete Statement.
In the workshop, Lindberg said he tells athletes that voluntary participation in hazing activities is not a viable defense and defines hazing according to the conduct code as: “
subjecting a person to treatment intended to put him/her in a humiliating or disconcerting position
”
“We talk about alternatives to those types of activities that would be more in line with team building as opposed to initiations or traditions or any other type of rite of passage they may be considering,” Lindberg said.
Lindberg also warns student-athletes about the dangers of posting personal information on the Internet, especially on social-networking Web sites like Facebook or MySpace, to protect the individuals, teams and college from harm.
Jim Mullins, the men’s basketball coach, said students often view social-networking sites as an innocent way to reach out and contact peers but don’t consider the negative ramifications.
“Some of the stuff that gets put out on some of these Web sites is downright inflammatory, things that are going to hurt them in the future,” Mullins said. “What a lot of the kids don’t understand today is that what might seem perfectly innocent today in their freshman year in college, somewhere down the road employers are going online and checking these things out. It can be very damaging to a kid’s reputation.”
A member of the men’s soccer team, who asked to remain anonymous, said two years ago his team had a party that involved drinking games. Upperclassmen on the team purchased cases of 30 12-ounce cans of beer. Rookies were split into teams of two and each team was given a case to drink as fast as possible.
“It wasn’t anything embarrassing or disgusting or gross,” the soccer player said. “It was more of like a whole team thing that there was just extra stuff for the freshmen to do.”
The player said no initiations were conducted this season.
Andy Byrne, the men’s soccer coach, said he was unaware of any possible hazing activities involving his team or past teams. He said he informs his team that hazing is not only against college rules, but also against state laws.
“I deal mainly with the upperclassmen and try to make them aware of what things are illegal, because a lot of times they might not realize the extent of the law and what hazing is,” Byrne said. “I try to make it clear, especially to the kids that are over 21, that they would be responsible legally for anything along those lines.”
Among the varsity coaches contacted by The Ithacan, many said they were unaware of possible hazing activities involving their current teams.
They include: George Valesente, baseball; Becky Robinson, women’s crew; Jim Nichols, men’s cross country; Bill Ware, women’s cross country; Tracey Houk, field hockey; Mike Welch, football; Karen Hollands, women’s lacrosse; Andy Byrne, men’s soccer; and Jennifer Potter, women’s track and field. Others could not be reached for comment.
On Tuesday, Tim Marchell, director of mental health initiatives at Cornell University, spoke to Ithaca College recreational sport team officers and many varsity athletes and coaches about the dangers of hazing.
Marchell said hazing takes many forms, ranging from something as simple as being forced to buy things for others, to something as major as being forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol.
He said while hazing as defined by organizations may not be taking place all the time, many teams still have understood hierarchies in which freshmen carry the upperclassmen’s bags. However, these can lead to coercion, in the form of tradition-based rituals. Ultimately, this type of hierarchical coercion can lead to hazing.
During the presentation, Marchell mentioned a number of famous hazing cases, including that of former Ithaca College student Joseph Parella. Parella died during a fraternity hazing in 1980, prompting the college to disassociate itself from non-professional fraternities.
Stephen Sweet, associate professor of sociology and author of an article in “The Hazing Reader,” said subjects of hazing-like pledges in fraternities and rookies on athletic teams are often looking for approval from a very specific social group.
“When a person is being hazed and they’re submitting to it, they’re not thinking of their mother, they’re not thinking of their teachers, they’re not thinking of their minister or their rabbi. They’re thinking of a very restricted core of people and they’ve been told and structured to think in only that group’s evaluation of them,” Sweet said.
Sweet said senior members of fraternities or teams who haze copy techniques that have been used on them and have proven effective.
He said one problem with hazing is that it is commonly considered a prank, but in most situations, it is actually a crime. There are striking parallels between fraternities and gangs, but gangs are considered illegitimate and have problems whereas fraternities are considered legitimate and have traditions.
Sweet said it is difficult for coaches to influence actions involving hazing by their players because they are not part of the team’s social group and that the change has to come from within the team.
Lindberg said he views coaches as educators to prepare their athletes to be contributing citizens after they graduate.
“There are rules and regulations that we as a team have agreed to,” he said. “It’s the coach’s responsibility to teach those rules and regulations and keep students on their team accountable and to hold themselves accountable as well.”
Online Sports Editor Andrew Lovell contributed to this story.
