Stop Campus Hazing Act

The Stop Campus Hazing Act was signed into law in December 2024. The federal law amended the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), a subsection of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (the Clery Act), and renamed the Clery Act officially as the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act. This bipartisan and bicameral law requires institutions of higher education to: 

• Compile and annually disclose statistics on hazing incidents reported to Campus Security Authorities or local police in the Annual Security Report. 
• Publish information related to hazing incidents in a Campus Hazing Transparency Report at least twice annually.
• Publish specific information related to anti-hazing policies and hazing prevention programs.

Transparency Report 

For the Fall 2025 semester, there were 0 reports made to the Community Standards Office, the Title IX office, or Public Safety concerning Hazing concerns.  There were 0 investigations started involving Hazing allegations.

Stop Campus Hazing Act Policy

The Act defines hazing for purposes of reporting statistics on hazing incidents in an Annual Security Report (ASR) as:

any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that –

• 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 (such as the physical preparation necessary for participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury.

The Act sets forth non-exhaustive examples of conduct that causes or creates such a risk, including:

• whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone's body, or similar activity;
• causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, or other similar activity;
• causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances;
• causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts;
• any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct;
• any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law; and
• any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law.

The Act defines a "student organization" for purposes of reporting statistics as "an organization at an institution of higher education (such as a club, society, association, varsity or junior varsity athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government) in which two or more of the members are students enrolled at the institution of higher education, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution." 

The inclusion of the "an affiliation with" a student organization language in the Act's definition of hazing is broader than that adopted by many states. Most states prohibit sufficiently risky activities related to initiation and maintaining membership in a student organization. The Act's "an affiliation with" language is broader to the extent that it prohibits such activities engaged in as part of an affiliation with a student organization, even where a person's participation in the activities is not conditioned on becoming a member or maintaining continued membership in the student organization.

Connecticut Hazing Policy

Hazing: As defined by Connecticut State Law, hazing includes any act that recklessly or intentionally endangers the health or safety of a person for the purpose of initiation, admission, affiliation, or continued membership in a student organization. A person’s willingness to participate does not make the act acceptable or legal. Likewise, knowing about hazing and choosing to ignore it—or failing to take action—will also be treated as a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

Hazing includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Physical Harm or Abuse: Any form of physical brutality, such as paddling, whipping, beating, branding, forced physical exercise, or exposure to harsh weather or dangerous conditions.
2. Forced or Coerced Consumption: Requiring or pressuring someone to consume food, alcohol, drugs, or other substances in a way that puts their health or safety at risk.
3. Psychological or Emotional Harm: Acts intended to cause mental or emotional distress, including forced sleep deprivation, abandonment or being left in unfamiliar places, confinement, being excluded from social interaction, or being made to participate in activities meant to embarrass, shame, or humiliate.
4. Forced Rule-Breaking or Servitude: Pressuring someone to break laws, violate university policies, or perform personal tasks or services against their will.
5. Failure to Act: Not stepping in to stop, prevent, or report hazing when aware of its occurrence is also considered a violation.