No tolerance for hazing

Sioux City (Iowa) Journal: As is true with bullying, no school should tolerate incidents of hazing.

Activities associated with the initiation ritual of hazing within high school athletic teams are nothing more than victimization of students through physical and mental abuse. They should be unacceptable to administrators, teachers, coaches, parents and student-athletes.

In recent months, incidents involving wrestlers at four Iowa high schools, including Sioux City North, have renewed discussion within our state about hazing and served as wake-up calls to school officials of the need for vigilance in this area.

We applaud school districts, including our local district, who undertake strong, sustained pro-active efforts to prevent problems of hazing and bullying because no student should be subjected to behavior of this kind. As Kelly Manker, athletics director at Woodbury Central High School in Moville, Iowa, commendably framed his district’s position for a story by Nick Hytrek in Sunday’s Journal: “We have zero tolerance for what’s called initiation. Anything that’s physically or emotionally harmful is not accepted.”

Parental support

It’s incumbent on school personnel to establish and reinforce policies and messages about hazing, but parents and the general public need to support them. The public should partner with schools. Parents of student-athletes should talk with their kids about hazing, ask them questions and share information with them. ... As a community, we all share responsibility.