The Northwestern football program occupies a good share of the press attention about hazing in college sports, but that doesn’t mean hazing is restricted to football or men’s sports. It’s a widespread problem, and women’s sports aren’t immune to what is a national problem.
The evidentiary base is growing about how hazing is a serious problem in women’s intercollegiate sports. Here are five examples.
–At Northwestern, a former women’s volleyball player filed a lawsuit against the school, alleging that the university did not thoroughly investigate an incident of hazing, bullying, harassment, and retaliation.
–In 2021, Humboldt State University (CA) investigated hazing on the women’s softball team.
–In 2022, at Norwich University (VT), women hazing other women occurred on the women’s rugby team, including heating a brass collar and using it for branding. A video also surfaced showing three women students engaging in what police described as waterboarding. Several Norwich students were issued civil hazing tickets under Vermont law, which resulted in fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.
–In 2023, Harvard’s women’s ice hockey program was investigated for hazing and other abusive practices. Among the practices cited was a “naked skate” that left some players with ice burns and other physical injuries. Several players left the team, as did an assistant coach. Harvard’s athletic director, Erin McDermott, said the investigation found no hazing culture; however, she added that several traditions in recent decades were deemed uncomfortable and will end. That said, several former players disagreed with McDermott’s interpretation of “no culture of hazing,” adding that they were forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and perform sexualized skits. In June, Katey Stone, the team’s coach of 29 years who built the program into a national power and also coached the 1996 U.S. Women’s National Olympic team, resigned.
https://youtu.be/Mol01pKoQxA?si=fknryVZds38xPvPC
–In September 2023, Boston College suspended the swim teams due to hazing and questionable rituals. These allegations included first-year students being forced to binge drink until they became violently sick or passed out. These incidents were severe enough that a judge denied a request to reinstate the team, saying that upper-level students were repeatedly warned that team and athletic department rules, as well as a Massachusetts state law, prohibit hazing.
What do experts say about these incidents and the widespread nature of hazing? Elizabeth Allen, a University of Maine professor who studies hazing, found that many students have already experienced hazing in high school sports, so these athletes are conditioned to continue the bad behavior. The underlying dynamic seems to be about power–who has it and how exercising it humiliates others and makes them feel inadequate and powerless. The most common hazing practices involve drinking games that may also include a sexual element.
Why do women athletes allow themselves to be abused and treated in a degrading manner? According to Dr. Pietro Sasso, who researches hazing behavior, the quest for group affiliation and a sense of belonging may be the primary reasons why women are more likely to participate.
Gerry DiNardo, former head football coach at Vanderbilt, LSU, and Indiana and an analyst for the Big Ten Network, said he never experienced hazing as a player at Notre Dame in the early 1970s. He also never wanted it in the football programs he led. These days, he can’t imagine high-level recruits putting up with hazing and playing for a program that hazes because “it’s, you know, toxic culture.”
Like Mr. DiNardo, I participated as a college athlete during that era, and I neither experienced hazing nor can I imagine myself or my teammates engaging in hazing. So, is hazing a new issue? According to an ESPN study, abuse of athletes by other athletes first began receiving public attention in the 1980s.
That means we are into our fourth decade of documented hazing, and the problem is still with us. Consider this. Recently, the mother of a women’s basketball player at Canisius University, a Jesuit school located in Buffalo, NY, sued the school, saying her daughter’s suicide was a result of hazing, bullying, and harassment.
What can be done to curb and end hazing? Alcohol consumption/abuse contributes to hazing, as does a culture that views hazing as a rite of passage. The perplexing aspect of the problem is the role played (or not played) by coaches and other athletic department officials. Are they so distant from the circumstances that they do not know what is happening? Might some even condone hazing behavior?
Even though women’s sports have come a long way over the decades, what should never change is the value of decency, the importance of self-esteem, and the need to respect every teammate.
