Foreshadowing the "Stop Campus Hazing Act": Education, Prevention, and University Liability

On December 23, 2024, President Joseph R. Biden signed into law the Stop Campus Hazing Act (the “SCHA”). The SCHA amends the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), a subsection of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (the “Clery Act”). The SCHA defines “hazing” and “student organization,” expands the current Annual Security Reporting requirements, calls for a new form of reporting, and requires policies relating to hazing. It also requires each covered institution of higher education to publish a policy statement regarding hazing awareness and prevention programs that includes a description of research-informed campus-wide prevention programs designed to reach students, staff, and faculty.

This Article highlights the various ways in which higher education institutions have, and can be, held liable for student hazing on their campuses. This Article also, and more critically, highlights what effective teaching and learning should look like in the contexts of hazing awareness and prevention. It provides particular insight as to such skills, as recommended under the SCHA, as bystander intervention, ethical leadership, and building group cohesion without hazing.