Garden City Telegram, Garden City, Kansas, 3 September 2002

Officials: Hazing different these days

By Sara Kincaid

Dighton High School Principal Roger Timken remembers when freshman initiation, known as hazing, involved making freshmen wear similar clothes or participating in a contest in which they pushed a penny down a hallway with their noses.

He's come to realize hazing also can include physical abuse, which has come into the spotlight recently with allegations some Hugoton High School upperclassmen used wooden paddles to swat freshmen.

Although Timken doesn't think happens as much as it once did, he said it has become more mean-spirited. It is more physically and emotionally harming, such as drinking contests, he said.

"I think of my own initiation, and it was not mean-spirited," he said. "It included a lot of work, but not physical harm - at least not at my fraternity."

Garden City High School Principal Kevin Burr agrees that hazing these days is more mean-spirited. As a result, he said, people's perceptions of hazing have changed.

"Traditionally, it was a rite of passage," Burr said. "And now, many times it is an act of dominance."

Hugoton police and school officials are investigating allegations of a hazing incident in their town.

Aug. 15, a possible hazing incident occurred with some HHS upperclassman and an HHS graduate, who allegedly swatted five freshmen students with a wooden paddle. The incident happened off school grounds and after school hours.

Hugoton Police Chief Fred Hagman has declined to comment on the status of the investigation.

There are questions about whether the school district's hazing policy applies to incidents away from school grounds and while school is not in session. The school district has not taken any action against the students involved, said HHS principal Ray Harvey.

"There is a difference of opinion, even at the state level," about where a school has jurisdiction, he said.

The school administration followed the district reporting policy by going to the police, county attorney and school board, Harvey said.

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Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington State, 12 September 2002

Seven students suspended in high school hazings

Up to 30 freshmen were padded in Mill Creek

By La Monica Everett-Haynes
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter

MILL CREEK -- Seven students accused of paddling up to 30 freshmen as part of an initiation rite have been suspended from a high school here.

The students, who attend Henry M. Jackson High School, targeted freshmen boys to spank with a wooden paddle, police and school officials said.

The boys had welts, bruises and redness, but none was seriously injured.

The seven teenagers were suspended for up to 10 days before school began, and the suspension became effective the first day of school. The students -- juniors and seniors -- have not been charged with a crime, and the district and police continue to investigate.

The Mill Creek Police Department is seeking an assault charge against three youths -- a 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds -- believed to have paddled two freshmen, spokeswoman Becky Erk said.

She said police found a paddle with one of the teens.

Investigators will send their case to juvenile prosecutors for review, Erk said.

Erk said the 14-year-old victims told police they were assaulted Aug. 28 and 29. The boys said they were assaulted by the same group, but not on campus, Erk said.

Some of the students who allegedly took part in the incident watched; others spanked the victims, she said. Campbell said it appears the seven students know one another, but they were not acting together.

The district has found 30 boys who said they were victimized the week before school began and the district is searching for more, Campbell said.

Some were spanked on school grounds and others were likely paddled while walking around town -- usually alone or in pairs, she said.

"It doesn't appear that they were dragged away and this was done to them, but that doesn't take away from the severity of what happened to them," Campbell said. "It's scary to enter high school. If they agreed, they may have just wanted to make (the suspects) like them.

"I've been in Everett seven years and this is the first case I've ever handled or have known of," Campbell said. "We have strong policies and will not tolerate any form of harassment, intimidation or bullying -- that includes staring and leering."

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Bergen Record, New Jersey, 21 September 2002

8 youths deny hazing charges

By Jennifer V. Hughes

Eight juveniles charged in a July hazing incident were arraigned Friday, and pleaded not guilty to counts of aggravated assault and hazing.

The youths, along with five adults, participated in or were present during a rite inducting three Hawthorne High School freshmen into the Sigma Kappa Delta fraternity, police said. The adults are alumni of the school.

Three boys were paddled so severely on their bare buttocks that they were sent to the hospital, authorities said. The assault took place July 27 when the three boys were blindfolded and brought to a secluded section of woods across the county line in Ridgewood, police said. The case will be heard in state Superior Court in Paterson because Hawthorne has the strongest interest in the case, officials have said.

The youths will next be in court on Oct. 28. The teens face up to two years in a juvenile prison. The maximum prison term for the adults would be five years. All of the youths have been released to their parents, and the adult defendants are free on bail.

Follow-up: 29 October 2002 - Eight teens admit frat hazing