The definition of hazing can vary, but the one offered by StopHazing.org is fairly useful. According to that group, 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.” It can be as simple as requiring those seeking to join a social organization to wear khakis every day, or forcing them to consume dangerous amounts of alcohol or drugs. What constitutes hazing can be vast, and while the hazing rituals may seem “innocent” at first, they almost always get worse, with serious and sometimes deadly consequences. While hazing is often associated with college fraternities and sororities, data from StopHazing.Org finds that students as young as middle and high school have been victims of hazing, and the organizations where hazing can occur includes sports teams, clubs, the military and other organizations. According to HazingPreventionNetwork.org, an estimated 1.5 million high school students are hazed every year. Also, famed hazing researcher, Hank Nuwer, has found that between 1959 and 2021 there has been at least one hazing death in a U.S. school, club or organization.

After the death of my 18 year-old son, Marquise, from hazing and suicide, I joined two other parents who lost their sons, Jim Piazza and Steve Gruver, along with the leading Fraternity and sorority umbrella organizations in the country, the NIC and NPC, to form the AntiHazing Coalition. Together, along with other families and the lobbying firm, Arnold & Porter, we’re working to pass federal and state laws to protect other children and their families from becoming victims of hazing, and holding abusers criminally liable.