New Book:

The Hazing Reader: Examining Rites Gone Wrong in Fraternities, Professional & Amateur Athletics, High Schools and the Military

Click Here to Read the Review by Publishers' Weekly Reviews

Author: Edited by Hank Nuwer. Contains insights from hazing victims and also pertinent essays by Lionel Tiger, Irving L. Janis, Donna Winslow, Elizabeth Allan, Susan Iverson, Ricky L. Jones, Stephen Sweet, Michael V. W. Gordon, Walter Kimbrough, James C. Arnold, Holly Hart McKiernan, Brian Crow, Scott Rosner, Michelle Finkel and other experts on today’s hazing culture.

If you wish to receive an announcement one day prior to publication in September 2003, send a message “Put me on The Hazing Reader list” to hnuwer@hanknuwer.com

Buy this Book | Table of Contents | Abstract | Editor Bio | Praise for Hazing Books by Hank Nuwer

Table of Contents

Introduction By Hank Nuwer: Exterminating the Frat Rats

A Chronology of Hazing Events

Chapter One: Understanding Fraternity Hazing By Stephen Sweet
Chapter Two: Males Courting Males By Lionel Tiger
Chapter Three: Groupthink By Irving L. Janis
Chapter Four: Cult-Like Hazing, Part One and Part Two By Hank Nuwer
Chapter Five: An excerpt from: Alcohol and the chosen few: Organizational reproduction in an addictive system (exact title under discussion now by editor and author) By James C. Arnold
Chapter Six: Pledging and Hazing in African-American Fraternities and Sororities By D. Jason DeSousa, Michael V.W. Gordon, & Walter Kimbrough
Chapter Seven: Examining Violence in Black Fraternity Pledging By Ricky L. Jones
Chapter Eight: Troubled Times in a Fraternity System By Jonathan R. Farr
Chapter Nine: A Sorority Executive’s Perspective on Hazing
Chapter Ten: Military Hazing By Hank Nuwer
Chapter Eleven: Rites of Passage and Group Bonding in the Canadian Airborne by Donna Winslow
Chapter Twelve: Traumatic Injuries Caused by Hazing By Michelle A. Finkel, M.D.
Chapter Thirteen: A Carolina Soccer Initiation "Party" By Gregory Danielson [with an introduction by the editor]
Chapter Fourteen: Hazing and Sports and the Law By R. Brian Crow and Scott R. Rosner
Chapter Fifteen: Institutional Liability and Hazing—Mainly Athletics-Related By R. Brian Crow and Scott R. Rosner
Chapter Sixteen: Transforming a Hazing Culture By Elizabeth J. Allan and Susan V. Iverson
Chapter Seventeen: Hazing and Gender By Elizabeth J. Allan

Abstract:

The Hazing Reader is an important addition to scholarship on the subject, explaining why males and females haze and offering clearcut guidelines for which student groups can be saved and which ought to be expelled and criminally prosecuted. The book is extremely comprehensive, taking note of hazing in high schools, colleges, and the military. It also examines risky hazing practices such as beatings (in white and black fraternities), paddling, sexual abuse rituals, and use of alcohol

Editor Bio:

Hank Nuwer is author of three previous books on hazing, including “Wrongs of Passage” (Indiana University Press). He is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). He occasionally speaks to student athletes and Greeks, including visits to the University of Oregon, University of Michigan, Franklin College (Indiana), the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Illinois, University of Maine, Cornell University and California State University, Chico. October 2003 marks his 25th anniversary since the publication of his groundbreaking essay on hazing for Human Behavior magazine which featured an interview with “Groupthink” theorist Irving Janis.

Blurbs:

“Hank Nuwer, a journalist who has been researching and writing about hazing since 1978, is on a mission...Nuwer continues[s] his contribution...to understand, reduce, and perhaps even vitiate academic hazing, which is a problem fraternities and sororities generally share.”
--The Journal of College and University Law

“The definitive study of college hazing”
Tucker Carlson, The Weekly Standard

“Wrongs of Passage” is extremely well-researched, with lots of interviews with victims of hazing.”

“Wrongs of Passage “ is a grim expose by hazing expert Nuwer of the continuing yet largely unacknowledged crisis of death and injury among fraternity and sorority pledges. Nuwer’s work is invaluable.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Anyone concerned about the presence of fraternities and sororities on college campuses today should read Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing. University administrators, advisors, undergraduates, Greek alumni, parents of pledging students, and even fraternity critics will learn something from Hank Nuwer's story of the 1978 death of Chuck Stenzel at Alfred University. .[Editor: Following the Stenzel death, Alfred University under Nadine Hoover and Norm Pollard performed groundbreaking research into collegiate and high school hazing practices. click here for more info] .Nuwer believes hazing kills, has nothing to do with tradition, and must be stopped before more deaths occur." National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Journal, John E. Creeden, Associate Provost for Student Affairs, Rutgers University (New Jersey)

' First, a word on what Broken Pledges is not. The book is not an anti-fraternity diatribe. One of the points brought home so clearly in the book is that hazing is a long-standing societal problem, not the sole province of male fraternities. Broken Pledges is not written by a sensationalist unfamiliar with the territory. Nuwer is a first-class objective journalist who was hazed as a [fraternity] pledge [at Buffalo State College] and who hazed pledges as a member. . .Even as someone who has worked with fraternities for nearly 10 years, I gained a great deal of insight and perspective.” From the review by Richard Harris, The Fraternity Newsletter: a publication of the Association of Fraternity Advisors, Inc.

“Broken Pledges is replete with page after page of evidence showing that no one looks good when fraternities and hazing are scrutinized. Not the injured or deceased. Not [fraternity] brothers who have a habit of dissembling or clamming up to protect themselves during the resulting inquiries. Not faculty advisors who look the other way during hazing. And not hapless college officials left with the task of public relations damage control and the curbing of future incidents. . .Eileen Stevens, the mother of Chuck Stenzel [pledge killed in a hazing at Alfred University] and founder of the Committee to Halt Useless College Killings (CHUCK) said [in a telephone interview] reading Nuwer’s book was very painful. `But it’s very valuable because he makes clear the devastating effect hazing deaths have on families.’” From the article/review by George Smith of the Allentown [PA] Morning Call

“A thorough and eye-opening examination of the dangers of initiation and hazing
rituals. . .A powerful investigation into a practice in dire need of curtailment.”
Kirkus Reviews

“Everyone associated with fraternity life should read Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing. . .Perhaps it should be compulsory reading for all actives prior to rush. Put this one on the bookshelf in your chapter house.” Book review, Fraternal Law

“Required reading for all prospective college students and others who belong to groups where hazing is an accepted ritual.” Sue Ellen Beauregard, Booklist

“Grade A: Though sometimes graphic, this book is important because it offers proof that hazing is everywhere, not just in college fraternal organizations. The book belongs on the shelves of groups where hazing may occur.” Library Journal (Danna C. Bell, Marymount University Library, Arlington, VA.)

“Greek leaders say [Broken Pledges] illustrates a problem fraternities and sororities are working together to eliminate—organizational hazing. Jonathan Brant, spokesman for the National Interfraternity Conference in Indianapolis, an organization that represents about 5,200 fraternity chapters nationwide, says Nuwer’s book should `raise awareness’ about hazing and its consequences. But even more importantly, he says, the book might also put the spotlight on the work individual Greek chapters are doing to eliminate the problem.” Lesley Ann Mitchell, Article/Review, Gannett News Service

“Hank Nuwer uses the Stenzel case—one that ultimately resulted in a tough New York State law on fraternity hazing—to investigate the persistence of such harassment not only at the university level, but in the world of professional societies and the military. The details are sufficiently horrifying to make good agitprop—just what Nuwer intends.”
Alanna Nash, Entertainment Weekly

“Mr. Nuwer was an associate professor of journalism at Ball State University when, in 1988, he received a Gannett Foundation fellowship to write his book. The book examines hazing abuses that Mr. Nuwer says are prevalent not only among Greek organizations but also in the military, athletic teams, and high school and college bands. In the course of his investigation, [the author] found that fraternity and sorority members who haze pledges don’t mean to harm them. . . “What strikes you is the very ordinariness of the death that makes it so chilling. I want to show that these men didn’t start out to kill anyone. To view them as villains is not to get an accurate picture.” Michele N-K Collison, The Chronicle of High Education

“It is indeed a rare event when a new book of any kind about college fraternities appears. . .And most of the few which do pop up have little serious interest or value. However, Hank Nuwer’s Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing is a welcome exception to this rule. All Greeks who love their fraternities, and value the positive force they can exert on members and campuses, need to read this book. . . Nuwer takes off to discuss aspects of hazing – I know of nothing else in print which tells so much about this extraordinarily complicated student behavorial phenomenon. Moreover, Broken Pledges is very good reading. Its affect upon my wife illustrates this. She was at first interested only because it dealt exclusively with Eileen Stevens, whom she knows. But once engaged in reading the book, she became so fascinated she could hardly put it down. A loyal sorority alumna, she said that for the first time in her life it left her wondering if the Greek letter sorority and fraternity systems as described here were worth saving, and if our own granddaughters would be safe in them. . . So thank you, Hank Nuwer, for writing a book so useful for those concerned with student life—and especially the Greeks—the likes of which we have not seen for many years.” Frederick D. Kershner, The Delta Tau Delta Magazine, past international president of the fraternity

Key words: hazing, addictive organizations, fraternities and sororities, student groups, rituals in organizations, athletic hazing, high school hazing, military hazing, hazing deaths, alcohol deaths