North Columbus News

Representatives from higher education institutions across the country gathered at The Ohio State University for the fourth annual Ohio Anti-Hazing Summit. The event drew participants from 33 Ohio schools, eight Big Ten universities, one Big 12 school, and one Athletic Coast Conference institution. In addition to academic institutions, 10 national fraternity and sorority organizations, five national hazing prevention groups, and several vendor and consulting organizations attended. This year’s summit saw 100 first-time attendees.

The summit began four years ago at Bowling Green State University. This year’s agenda included workshops and educational sessions focused on collaboration and practical solutions to prevent hazing in college environments.

Melissa Shivers, senior vice president for Student Life at Ohio State, opened the summit by discussing her own experience in a Greek-lettered organization.

“As a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, I am always a supporter of the sorority and fraternity community,” she said. “I believe in what we do. Yet we still have a ways to go, to continue working with our organizations to ensure that they understand that there are meaningful, important ways of bringing new members into our organizations without putting people’s lives and health at risk.”

Ohio State has developed an extensive hazing prevention program which includes risk reduction consultations, anti-hazing education for students and staff, workshops, and participation in National Hazing Prevention Week each fall.

Mike McRee of the Whitespace Group led the first workshop. Drawing from his own experiences with hazing, he encouraged attendees to focus on finding solutions rather than just identifying problems.

“Instead of being a naysayer, remember we’re going to be solution-oriented today,” McRee said. “We’re going to be thinking about those because everybody can identify problems. [So ask] how could this work? How could you take a concept and say ‘Yes, and what if we did this?’”

Attendees broke into small groups to discuss strategies for preventing hazing on their campuses.

Ben Batey from Bowling Green State University shared an approach called “shared hardship” as an alternative to traditional hazing activities.

“I get asked a lot, ‘What can we do in place of hazing?’” Batey said. “Particularly with our young men, they’re looking for shared hardship, something where they can tell stories after. I tell them, ‘Go do an obstacle course, a Spartan Race, a Tough Mudder – some kind of school-sanctioned event. You can get a group together and still have that experience.’”

Participants were invited to share their best ideas using sticky notes so others could benefit from different perspectives—a practice intended by facilitator McRee.

“How can we partner across different departments, different organizations and beyond our own institution?” McRee said. “A statewide event like this is where we can network, connect and learn best practices. There’s a lot of subject matter expertise and content in this room. Some people have already found effective solutions and we’re going to generate more.”