As early as this fall, Ohio State plans on making all hazing incidents from the past five years available. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
Ohio State will make hazing incidents from the past five years available to the public as early as this fall as part of the university’s anti-hazing campaign.
The Ohio State Board of Trustees discussed the launch of new anti-hazing training for incoming students and a new hazing report website, stophazing.osu.edu, at an Aug. 17 meeting. According to Collin’s Law — an Ohio law that increases penalties up to a third-degree felony — the information within the website should include the name of the subject of the report, the date when the subject was charged with a violation of the university’s policy or Ohio’s hazing law, what the violation entailed, the investigation details and when the case was resolved.
University spokesperson Dave Isaacs said the new website will make hazing incidents public and more organized for students. It is required by law to be finalized by January but is expected to be launched this fall, he said.
“This is a great way to educate the university community about hazing and what we’ve been doing about other violations of the code of student conduct, and it helps students make informed decisions about organizations that they might want to join,” Isaacs said. “This new website will bring together, in one central place, that information.”
The website comes almost a year after Senate Bill 126, also known as Collin’s Law, went into place. The bill, named after Collin Wiant who died in 2018 from a hazing incident at Ohio University, expands the definition of hazing and also requires a statewide training for college students and staff.
The university currently has a zero-tolerance policy for “any form” of hazing and maintains a list of actions that are considered hazing on the Student Conduct website. Ohio State students and employees are required to report hazing incidents and can do so online and/or anonymously.
There are 10 fraternity organizations suspended with their student organization statuses revoked due to hazing violations, according to Sorority and Fraternity Life. These include Acacia, Chi Pi, Kappa Sigma, Sigma Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Theta Tau, Phi Kappa Si, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Alpha Mu and Tau Kappa Epsilon.
Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life Kim Monteaux De Freitas declined to comment on the story because she said SFL is not in charge of the new website.
The Interfraternity Council did not respond for comment by the time of publication.
According to the agenda, information on hazing will be included in future student orientation sessions.
Isaacs said students can also expect anti-hazing messages and promotions throughout the rest of the school year.
