Hazing Prevention Research Lab

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

Shining a light on hazing

National Study of Student Hazing Logo. Research-To-Practice. Saving Student Lives.

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. 

You can support and amplify this work by giving to our “Lives Remembered, Futures Protected: Hazing Prevention Research Campaign.” 

Contribute to life-saving research today

From Research to Action
The study updates the landmark 2008 study “Hazing in View: College Students at Risk” led by UMaine Professors Elizabeth Allan and Mary Madden. 
The original study has been cited hundreds of thousands of times in publications, policy briefs, presentations, and news articles, and has informed state and national policies and laws. 
Dr. Allan, who will lead the new study, is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Maine, the Director of the Hazing Prevention Research Lab, and Principal at StopHazing.org. 
Your Donation Will Help Save Lives
Hazing continues to kill, injure, and traumatize 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, with more than 100 deaths since 2000. 
This research will help us develop more effective hazing prevention solutions, training, and strategies to reach our vision: A world free of hazing.
All students deserve to participate in groups, clubs teams, and organizations without being harmed–emotionally, mentally, or physically–by hazing.

Your gift will:

  • Help us create, test, and administer the national student survey at more than 50 U.S. colleges and universities. 
  • Help us translate hazing prevention research into practical tools and free resources for the public to create safer schools, colleges, and communities.
  • Support accurate and reliable information sharing so students, families, and communities can be educated about hazing and its prevention.

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

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.

Members of the Hazing Prevention Research Lab’s Research Advisory Council:

  • Jane Stapleton, M.S., executive director of practice at the Prevention Innovations Research Center, University of New Hampshire.
  • Lindsay Orchowski, Ph.D., staff psychologist in the Adult Outpatient Division at Rhode Island Hospital in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health within Brown University Health/professor (research scholar) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
  • Tim Marchell, Ph.D., former director of the Skorton Center for Health Initiatives at Cornell University (retired).
  • Laura Santacrose, DPH, associate director of Skorton Center for Health Initiatives at Cornell University/professorial lecturer at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
  • Jason Meriwether, Ph.D., vice president for enrollment management and marketing at Campbellsville University/assistant professor of education.
  • Stephanie Gordon, Ed.D., vice president for strategy and impact at NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education).
  • Norm Pollard, Ed.D., former dean of students and adjunct professor at Alfred University (retired).
  • Walter Kimbrough, Ph.D., executive vice president of research and member engagement at UNCF and presenter for CAMPUSPEAK.

Members of the Hazing Prevention Research Lab’s Advancement Council:

  • Gary and Julie DeVercelly, parents of Gary DeVercelly, Jr.; Clery Center board members; leaders and advocates for the Stop Campus Hazing Act.
  • Pam Champion, parent of Robert Champion; founder of the Be a Champion Foundation.
  • Jolayne Houtz, parent of of Sam Martinez; founder of HazingInfo.org.
  • Colleen Tyler, parent of Luke Tyler; general manager for global partner marketing and GTM at Microsoft.
  • Doug Fierberg, licensed attorney specializing in campus violence (i.e., hazing and sexual assault); partner and founder of Fierberg National Law Group.

Latest News

A studio portrait of Elizabeth Allan.

Database from HazingInfo, UMaine makes hazing data available from colleges and universities in all 50 states

A photo of memorial candles.

Database detailing 187 years of hazing deaths now available

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

Anti-hazing bill on which UMaine researcher consulted passed by Congress

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.

Watch: Elizabeth Allan on ‘the Maine Question’ podcast

Elizabeth Allan, professor of higher education leadership at UMaine’s College of Education & Human Development, has studied hazing throughout her career and become an authority on the subject. Founder of StopHazing.org, Allan’s recent hazing education efforts encouraged Congress to craft legislation, which was recently signed into law, that addresses this national phenomenon.

In this episode of “The Maine Question” podcast, Allan explains how hazing operates and provides examples on how to reduce or eliminate the practice.