Stop Campus Hazing Act

The Stop Campus Hazing Act, passed by the United States Congress and signed into law on December 23, 2024, amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education to disclose hazing incidents.  

This important new law has been years in the making and was supported by a broad coalition of advocates including the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition (FGRC) which is made up of the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), the Fraternity Sorority Political Action Committee (FSPAC), and the Fraternity Sorority Action Fund (FSAF).  Sigma Nu Fraternity is a member of the NIC and has taken, and maintains today, a lead in the NIC’s work on government relations and public policy. 

The Stop Campus Hazing Act applies to all institutions of higher education in the United States receiving federal funding.  The act aims to reduce the occurrence of hazing via increased awareness, prevention education, and transparency.

Below is a summary of the primary components of the law:  

• Hazing incident statistics must be collected by institutions of higher education, effective January 1, 2025, and included in the institution’s “Annual Security Report,” beginning December 2026. Current federal law already requires the “Annual Security Report”. The Stop Campus Hazing Act requires that hazing incident statistics be included in the report.  
• For the purpose of collecting and reporting statistics on hazing incidents, the Act defines “hazing”.  
• An act of hazing occurs if the act meets the definition, regardless of whether or not a person or persons participated willingly in the act.  
• An act is hazing if it is “committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in a student organization; and causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution of higher education or the organization, of physical or psychological injury…”  
• The Act provides examples of acts of hazing. Examples include “whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone’s body, or similar activity.” Examples also include “causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing” sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, consumption of food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or the performance of sexual acts. Examples also include “any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct”, and “any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation” of applicable laws, and “any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation” of applicable laws.  
• The Act defines “student organization” which includes athletic teams and clubs, bands, fraternities, sororities, and student government.  
• The Act requires institutions of higher education to produce an annual report, entitled “Statement of Policy and Prevention Program on Hazing.” The report must include: 
  • A “statement of current policies relating to hazing”, how “to report incidents of such hazing,” “the process used to investigate such incidents of hazing,” and “information on applicable…laws on hazing.”  
  • A “statement of policy regarding prevention and awareness programs related to hazing that includes a description of research-informed campus-wide prevention programs designed to reach students, staff, and faculty…” including “primary prevention strategies intended to stop hazing before hazing occurs, which may include skill building for bystander intervention, information about ethical leadership, and the promotion of strategies for building group cohesion without hazing.”   
• Requires institutions of higher education to produce a report to be entitled “Campus Hazing Transparency Report”. The report must be published on the institution’s public website, “in a prominent location”, and must be updated “not less frequently than 2 times each year.” The report must include:  
  • “…each incident involving a student organization for which a finding of responsibility is issued related to a hazing violation.”  
  • “the name of such organization”, a “general description of the violation”, “whether the violation involved the abuse or illegal use of alcohol or drugs”, and “any sanctions placed on the student organization by the institution”.  
  • Incident date, investigation initiation date, and date of finding of responsibility.  
  • Hazing incident information “for a period of 5 calendar years” from the date the incident was first included in the report.
• Requires the “Campus Hazing Transparency Report” not include “any personally identifiable information, including any information that would reveal personally identifiable information, about any individual student” in accordance with FERPA.

Plaid, a leading provider of online hazing prevention education, has created a webpage with additional helpful information on the Stop Campus Hazing Act at Stop Campus Hazing Act. 

If you believe that you have been hazed, or if you know somebody who may have been hazed, please call the Anti-Hazing Hotline at 1-888-NOT-HAZE or send an email to headquarters@sigmanu.org.