Kachelle Pratcher
Blue & White Flash/Staff Writer
Jackson State University’s Division of Student Life and The Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion is currently hosting Hazing Prevention Week.
Information is being disseminated at a booth on the first floor of the Student Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sept. 25-28. A banner is also available there for students to mark their imprint in support of the prevention of hazing.
Hazing Prevention Week is a way to educate and inform the student body of the university’s anti-hazing policies and how to report hazing from personal experiences. The efforts this week will extend beyond Jackson State into the community at large.
“This is not a new initiation but this is the first time Jackson State has held a hazing prevention week to this magnitude and we encourage students to leave their handprint to mark that they will stand against hazing,” said Gary Crosby, Executive Director of the Center for Student Engagement and Inclusion.
In recognition of the National Hazing Prevention Week, campuses, communities, organizations, and individuals everywhere are being encouraged to promote the prevention of hazing.
At the informational booth, after you leave a fingerprint or handprint, you will receive daily facts on hazing which are local, state and federal statistics.
“This prevention week will be successful. On the first day, 500 individuals left their imprint and were provided information about why students shouldn’t participate in hazing”, said Crosby. “We want to reach as many students as possible.”
This is also the first time Jackson State has made every student organization sign an anti-hazing agreement form for its active members to further inform students of JSU’s zero tolerance toward hazing.
Vice President for the Division of Student Life Marcus A. Chanay, will be the speaker at campus wide symposium on hazing on Sept. 27 at noon in the Student Center Ballrooms A and B.
Students and administrators agree that hazing awareness is necessary.
“I think hazing is dangerous. This prevention week is a good thing because it makes younger students aware of what’s going on,” said Tiffany Thompson, a junior mass communications major from Atlanta, Ga.
Vernell Gaines, a senior mass communications major, from Chicago, Ill., said: “Hazing prevention week is great and hazing should not be tolerated on a college campus. Hopefully this week will increase awareness.”
In the Jackson State University Student Handbook, hazing is defined as any action taken or situation of intimidation created, intentionally whether on- or off-campus, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, ridicule, or the breaking of the school’s rules. Students should definitely read the Anti-Hazing Policy, which can be found at http://10.14.12.245/studentlife/pdf/2011Book-hazing.pdf, in its entirety.
