A new state law took effect Sunday that requires postsecondary educational institutions to provide hazing incident reports to enrolled students and post them on their websites.
Senate Bill 38, the new hazing law, defines hazing as “any intentional, knowing, or reckless act, occurring on or off the campus of an educational institution, by one person alone or acting with others, directed against a student, for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in an organization.”
Douglas Stoves, UTRGV senior associate dean for Student Rights and Responsibilities, said the new law will create transparency and ensure students’ safety.
“There’s been several very nationally known deaths that have occurred as a direct result of hazing,” Stoves said. “So, that’s where, really, I feel it has really motivated a lot of legislatures, not just Texas, but also in other states to act and to be proactive as they can when dealing with issues regarding hazing.”
The law requires postsecondary educational institutions to distribute to each student enrolled at the institution a summary of reported hazing incidents 14 days before the first class day of each fall and spring semester.
“That doesn’t go into effect, of course, till Spring 2020 because we have already started school,” said Veronica Gonzales, UTRGV vice president for Governmental and Community Relations. “Students must have access to this information, and I know our dean of students is working on that.”
The new hazing law also requires postsecondary educational institutions to post “a report on hazing committed on or off campus by an organization registered with or recognized by the institution” on its website.
According to the law, the report must also include information regarding each disciplinary action taken by the institution against an organization for hazing and each conviction of hazing during the three years preceding the date on which the report is issued or updated, including the name of the organization disciplined or convicted and the date in which the incident occurred or citation was issued, among other requirements.
The law also provides immunity for students who voluntarily report a hazing incident before being contacted by the institution, with some exceptions, but are not immune if they report their own act of hazing.
“Any person who voluntarily reports a specific hazing incident involving a student in an educational institution to the dean of students or other appropriate official[s] of the institution is immune from civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed as a result of the reported hazing incident,” the law reads.
Valeria Moncada, president of Alpha Psi Lambda and an exercise science senior, said the new law is a good way for students to be informed of what is going on around them.
“It is something good for students [to] know because I wouldn’t want to join an organization that’s putting my life [at] risk, but it can also put a bad picture on the university depending how many hazing incidents [there are],” Moncada said. “They think of hazing and they think of fraternity and sorority life, and it shouldn’t be like that, because it’s not only in sorority and fraternity life that hazing happens, but it can also happen in other [organizations] so people can also be aware of that.”
Gonzales said the most important factor is to ensure the safety of students.
“We have no tolerance for hazing, period,” Gonzales said. “This new law is only going to strengthen what was already there.”
For the complete text of the law, visit: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/pdf/SB00038F.pdf#navpanes=0.
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