Hazing is defined as any intentional or reckless act by one student, acting alone or with others, that is directed against any other students and results in one or all of the following:
- endangering the mental or physical health or safety of those being hazed
- inducing or coercing students to endanger their mental or physical health or safety,
- treating students in a violent, abusive, shameful, insulting or humiliating nature.
In compliance with the Stop Campus Hazing Act, enacted in December 2024, hazing is banned as an activity in which Southern students may engage on or off campus. This policy applies to all students, student organizations, and individuals related to the organization. An individual related to the organization or organization violates this policy if they:
- Engage in any behavior commonly known as hazing or defined as hazing in this policy;
- Solicit, encourage, direct, aid, or attempt to assist another person in behaviors commonly known as or defined as hazing in this policy;
- Condone, negligently allow, or recklessly allow hazing to take place; or
- Do not promptly report information about the presence or practice of hazing to Student Conduct or local law enforcement.
Hazing may include, but is not limited to, the following activities and examples:
Activities that endanger the physical health of any person:
- Beating, whipping, restraining, paddling, or other physical abuse;
- Branding, piercing, or tattooing
- Requiring the consumption of food, alcohol, drugs, or any other substance, regardless of legality
- Requiring excessive calisthenics or physical activity, including, but not limited to, wall-sits, squats, bows and toes
- Placing an undesirable substance on or in the body
- Depriving of food or water
- Kidnapping or abandoning an individual
- Exposing individuals to weather unreasonably
Activities that endanger the mental health of any person
- Creating unnecessary fatigue
- Scaring, shocking, or frightening
- Berating, yelling, or threatening
- Depriving sleep
- Testing or quizzing on meaningless information for no constructive or educational purpose
- Creating distressing situations by means of the temperature, noise, room size, or air quality
- Isolating individuals socially
Activities that demean, disgrace, humiliate, or degrade a person
- Requiring the wearing of apparel that is conspicuous and/or inappropriate
- Requiring lewd conduct or partial or complete nudity
- Requiring subservient behavior, e.g., not permitting eye contact with an active member or hosting a Slave Day as a fund raiser
Activities that interfere substantially with a student’s ability to succeed academically
- Depriving individuals of class, tutoring, or group study hall attendance
- Interrupting studying
- Requiring participation in organization activities for excessive time
Activities that prohibit freedoms afforded to all other university students
- Prohibiting the use of personal vehicles, bicycles, or university transportation
- Prohibiting the use of meal plans, including university and organization meal plans
- Requiring the use of cell phone tracking systems
- Preventing interaction with active members, officers, or any other member or potential member of a student organization
- Restricting privileges entitled to active members or students unless the activity is sanctioned as an initiation ritual by the national organization
- Restricting daily personal hygiene practices (showering, brushing teeth)
- Requiring personal servitude (driving, driving programs, cleaning individual rooms, serving meals, picking up laundry, washing cars, purchasing items on another’s behalf, requiring payments, or gifts to active members)
- Giving tasks, projects, or responsibilities unequally to a subset of the organization based solely on their academic year in school
- Requiring the carrying of items for others for no constructive purpose (backpacks, books, lighters, cigarettes, pocketknives, bricks)