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Hazing culture ascribed to need to fit in
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Tradition and a need to belong are some of the motivations behind why some students subject themselves to hazing, according to a University of Maine professor who has studied the issue.
Nine men, mostly Youngstown State University alumni, have been charged with felonious assault in what authorities have termed hazing of two YSU students.
The beatings, which occurred off-campus over a period of weeks, injured one of the young men so severely that he was in the hospital and on a ventilator for several days.
The university has suspended the local chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
Mary Madden, an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine, is co-author of a study about hazing, which surveyed students from college campuses across the country.
“As far as why students participate, there’s lots of theories about that,” she said. “The need to belong — wanting to belong to something is a natural part of the development period for college students. Some will go to a great extent to be accepted or to belong.”
Jack Fahey, YSU vice president for student affairs, said that in some hazing situations, the behavior becomes viewed as normal because everyone is doing it.
“I can’t make sense of it for you, but that’s what some people think,” he said. “People think, ‘I would never let myself be subjected to anything like that.’ It doesn’t make sense, but it does happen.”
YSU junior Maurizio Nerone of New Springfield said he was shocked to learn about allegations of hazing connected to YSU that left a student hospitalized.
“It makes me think twice about joining a fraternity,” he said.
Nerone isn’t part of YSU’s Greek system, but he has a close friend who’s a member of a fraternity who has encouraged him to join.
Sophomore Jenna Horvat of Boardman said the news really wasn’t a surprise to her. She points to the location of campus being close to areas where crime and violence often occur.
Two of the nine men charged in the alleged hazing recently turned themselves in to police, leaving only one man at large. Six other men turned themselves in earlier this month and were arraigned in the case last week.
Michael Charles, 28, of Illinois Avenue, and Jerome Justice, 28, of Tremble Avenue, Campbell, appeared Wednesday for video arraignments before Magistrate Anthony Sertick of Youngstown Municipal Court on two counts each of felonious assault. Both men surrendered to police Wednesday.
Magistrate Sertick set bond at $50,000 for each man and ordered they have no contact with YSU, the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity or the two victims in the case. All of those charged in the case have been jailed on similar bonds.
All eight men facing charges will have a preliminary hearing Friday before Judge Elizabeth Kobly of municipal court.
Madden said that when students at campuses across the country were interviewed about why they allowed themselves to be hazed, they downplayed the severity, saying it’s not a big deal.
“A lof them are not viewing it as negative thing starting off,” she said. “They think: ‘A lot of people before us have belonged to [this organization] or gone through this. To be accepted, we have to do the same thing if we want to be real members.’”
There also are myths about how much of a tradition it is, Madden said.
Though some students who are victims of hazing go on to subject other students to similar treatment, others may pursue positions of power within the organization to try to stop the behavior, she said.
Contributor: John W. Goodwin Jr., staff writer