Dayton Daily News interviews Allan about ‘normalized’ hazing
Dayton Daily News of Ohio spoke with Elizabeth Allan, a professor of higher education at the University of Maine and director of the National Hazing Prevention Consortium, for the article, “Hazing ‘normalized’ in our culture, expert says.” Hazing is so ingrained among college organizations that it’s often not even recognized, according to Allan. “So much of hazing has become normalized in the culture,” she said. “You hear people rationalize it or dismiss it or minimize it, saying, ‘Oh, no, no, that wasn’t hazing, that was just an initiation, or that was just a tradition, or that was just for bonding.’” Allan said the egregious hazing cases get national attention, but many more go unreported. “When you have a law or a policy, it’s important, but it’s not enough,” she said. “There’s just a lot of work to be done to really sharpen the awareness of the general public, of the parents whose kids are going to school, of educators.”