Hazing Prevention Research Lab

Hazing destroys lives. Hazing prevention saves lives. In partnership with StopHazing, researchers at the University of Maine work to develop evidence-based approaches to reducing the prevalence and harms of hazing.

Of students are hazed
before they enter college.

Of college students who participate in groups experience hazing.

Of student athletes experience
at least one form of hazing.

Of students who experience
hazing do not report it.

Source: Allan & Madden, 2008

Shining a light on hazing

National Hazing Awareness Week is Sept. 23-27, 2024. While the work of hazing prevention is ongoing, it is a particularly important to highlight the issue during this week. 

As part of our effort to prioritize and amplify hazing prevention, we’re excited to announce a new National Study of College Student Hazing. This project will be directed by Dr. Elizabeth Allan — Principal Investigator of the original study and the world’s leading scholar of hazing prevention. Dr. Allan and her team are dedicated to conducting rigorous research about hazing and its prevention, research that informs practice for harm prevention and the promotion of healthy groups, and research that ultimately saves lives and creates a better world. 

Your support will help us amplify this work and prevent further harm and loss of life. 

Donate Today

Hazing is any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers them, regardless of a person’s willingness to participate.

There are three components that define hazing:

  1. It occurs in a group context
  2. Humiliating, degrading, or endangering behavior
  3. Happens regardless of an individual’s willingness to participate

Hazing continues to kill, injure and cause psychological harm to students on U.S. college campuses. More than half of college students experience hazing when they participate in teams, groups or clubs. At least one student has been killed by hazing nearly every year since 1959.

Hazing impacts campus communities and spaces designed to provide opportunities for friendship, learning, growth and development. Behaviors and practices that fall under the definition of hazing are in direct opposition to the missions of colleges and universities. They can and do compromise the health and well-being of our future leaders. 

These activities occur across all types of groups and organizations, including varsity athletic teams, fraternities and sororities, performing arts, honor societies, club sports and more. Hazing can take many forms and is categorized within a Spectrum of Hazing that includes humiliation, harassment and violence. Unfortunately, such conduct is pervasive and often minimized as harmless pranks and antics.

Preventing hazing is a campus-wide issue and it takes commitment to shift an organization’s culture. Institutional dedication to hazing prevention goes beyond box-checking policies and one-off speaking engagements or trainings. Hazing prevention must be comprehensive, tailored, informed by unique campus environment factors and grounded in data.

There are resources and opportunities available at StopHazing to support institutions in research-based hazing prevention. 

Resources

  • Contribute to the re-launch of the National Study on Student Hazing.
  • Support the Hazing Prevention Research Lab with a gift to the Hazing Prevention Fund at the University of Maine Foundation. 
  • Talk about hazing with your student and know how to report it.
  • Utilize research-based hazing prevention resources.

Latest News

Recent Research Findings

A photo of students walking to class at the University of Maine.

How hazing reinforces white supremacy on college campuses

Hazing-news-feature

NCAA DIII athletes experience hazing at higher rates than non-athletes

Hazing-workshop-news-feature

Workshops, focus groups help prevent hazing among high school athletes

Meet Dr. Elizabeth Allan

An outdoor portrait of Elizabeth Allan on the University of Maine campus.

For nearly two decades, University of Maine Professor of Higher Education Elizabeth Allan and colleagues have worked to build a research base that illuminates the nature and extent of hazing to inform effective prevention strategies. Allan is founder and principal of StopHazing, home to the research-to-practice Hazing Prevention Consortium, which has worked with more than 35 colleges and universities nationwide to assess campus climate and build capacity for planning, developing, implementing and evaluating data-informed hazing prevention strategies. Allan is also an in-demand expert for policymakers and the media. She has testified at congressional hearings and been interviewed or cited by news outlets such as the Associated Press, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, PBS, CNN, CBS and more. In 2021, Allan received the UMaine Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award.