Members of the Greek community at UCF participated in National Hazing Prevention Week on September 24-28 with the theme, “Keep Calm & Don’t Haze.” To provide awareness, the Fraternity and Sorority Life office along with the help of their Greek student leaders put together various events and programs to help take a stand against hazing.
The intentions of the week were to educate the campus on the harms of hazing and how it affects individuals in various organizations on campus, not just fraternities and sororities. This year, Fraternity and Sorority Life invited David Stollman to serve as the keynote speaker. Stollman presented to various individuals and students on the notion of “buying in or getting out” to an organization’s core values.
In addition to Stollman’s presentation, UCF’s NHPW had other events for students to help create awareness on the issue of hazing. Those events included – an Anti-Hazing banner competition, a showing of the documentary “Haze,” an Anti-Hazing Silent March, an Anti-Hazing banner that individuals could sign all week, a drunk driving simulation [1], an Anti-Hazing informational table and most of all, various conversations about ways to prevent hazing from ever occurring.
Overall, the week was a great success as students and staff learned new techniques and ways to be pro-active in their risk management efforts. In addition, UCF unveiled a new Anti-Hazing website that educates students, staff and faculty on hazing. For more information, visit: antihazing.sdes.ucf.edu [2].