University of Maine launching new national hazing study

Sixteen years after two University of Maine professors published the landmark 2008 National Study of Student Hazing, the lead researcher of that report will spearhead an updated nationwide survey of college students’ experiences with and perceptions about hazing. 

Professor of higher education Elizabeth Allan will lead the project, the first under the new Hazing Prevention Research Lab established within the UMaine College of Education and Human Development. The lab builds on Allan’s two decades of work to create safer, healthier and more inclusive environments in higher education and other organizations. The launch of the new study and lab coincides with National Hazing Awareness Week, which begins Monday, Sept. 23, and runs through Friday, Sept. 27. 

“There have been a handful of smaller studies since 2008 that looked at select groups of students or campuses, but nothing on the scale of the national study,” said Allan. “Updating that research will be critical to informing our prevention strategies to ensure they’re driven by the best possible data.”

Allan’s research focuses on building a knowledge base to better understand the scope of hazing — defined as any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers them, regardless of their willingness to participate — as well as how to prevent it. She is founder and principal of StopHazing, home to the Hazing Prevention Consortium. This multi-year research-to-practice initiative has worked with more than three dozen colleges and universities nationwide to assess their campus climate and build capacity for planning, implementing and evaluating data-informed prevention strategies. Allan has also testified before Congress, consulted with the U.S. Department of Defense and been featured in numerous media outlets.

“We’ve made tremendous progress in understanding the nature of hazing, its root causes and the types of activities and behaviors it entails. We also know that comprehensive approaches are needed to end hazing among groups and institutions,” Allan said. “Expanding the Hazing Prevention Research Lab projects will allow us to grow this work and ultimately save lives and create a better world.” 

Allan notes that since 1959, there has been at least one hazing-related death each year in the United States.

The 2008 survey found that 55% of college students who participate in groups experience hazing, and that more than 95% of those students do not report it.

UMaine has established a Hazing Prevention Research Fund that aims to grow the capacity of Allan’s hazing prevention lab. The fund is dedicated to the prevention of hazing incidents through research and research-based practices, and was created in memory of hazing victims, their families and friends. It will be administered by the University of Maine Foundation. 

Last year, the foundation facilitated a gift to support Allan’s research from Jolayne Houtz and Hector Martinez, whose son Sam Martinez died in a hazing incident at Washington State University in 2019. That gift has supported the development and launch of HazingInfo, the nation’s first free, comprehensive database of hazing incidents. 

Contact: Casey Kelly, casey.kelly@maine.edu