00:00The hazing problem has been around for a long time, and believe it or not, despite all the
00:05efforts to try to stop it, it seems to be getting worse, not better.
00:09David Bianchi calls the months of September and October hazing season. The Miami, Florida-based
00:14attorney has represented families in hazing cases for more than four decades. The rash of cases
00:20across the country involving high school football teams in recent weeks isn't a surprise to him.
00:26There have been at least five high-profile cases in the news in the last six weeks. The principal
00:34at Elk Grove High School in Sacramento, California, sent a letter to parents outlining a hazing
00:39incident involving members of the football team. A week later, an incident at a rival school just
00:45five miles away led to the suspension of seven Monterey Trail high school football players.
00:51Kentucky State Police have opened an investigation into hazing allegations involving the
00:56football team at McCreary Central High School, which took place at a preseason football camp.
01:01Harford Technical High School in Bel Air, Maryland, fired its head football coach and four assistants
01:07on September 18 amid an investigation into hazing allegations. And a Title IX federal lawsuit has
01:14been filed in Ohio alleging widespread hazing in the football program at Ursuline High School in
01:20Youngstown. More than 20 students are alleged to have been involved, and the school canceled the
01:25remainder of the football season on September 12. Despite the fact that 44 states have laws against
01:31hazing, there are dozens of documented cases each year, many of which involve criminal acts,
01:37according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Bianchi believes it's simply a
01:43matter of accountability. So you've got all the laws, rules and regulations that you can think of
01:49on the books, but it keeps happening. And the reason it keeps happening is that we're not tough
01:55enough on trying to enforce these laws and regulations. And when these incidents do happen,
02:01the punishment is not swift enough or stern enough. In the case of Ursuline High School,
02:07there was no punishment at all, initially. The lawsuit filed September 2 accuses members of the
02:13football team in engaging in hazing, sexual assault, and the dissemination of child pornography,
02:18among other offenses. It details the disturbing experience of a player who endured an initiation
02:25during a nine-day football camp in June. Sobhod Chandra, who represents the player and his family,
02:31said the incidents go way beyond a harmless prank. What the law does prohibit is these sorts of,
02:36you know, violent acts, sexualized acts, and other things. And so it's very difficult to comprehend,
02:44number one, how does a culture like this develop across time, as is alleged in the lawsuit regarding
02:51the Ursuline football team? How do coaches tolerate it look the other way? Straight Arrow News reached
02:58out to Ursuline High School and the Archdiocese of Youngstown, but have not yet received a response.
03:04The lawsuit alleges the coaching staff knew about the hazing and, when confronted, dismissed the
03:10actions as, just boys being boys. The suit also accuses the school's administration for failing to
03:17properly investigate. Chandra said the parents of the victims are baffled and they don't understand
03:22how their pleas for help could go unheard. He believes the Ursuline football team appeared to
03:28be more important than any other values at the school. How those cultures develop, how they sustain
03:34themselves, how they remain resilient against criminal law, against civil liability prospects,
03:42against basic humanity and decency, is really unclear to me. It's incomprehensible. But there is,
03:49according to the suits, a kind of groupthink that develops within the team and with the coaches
03:54and perhaps even with the administrators. That groupthink can be stimulated and even encouraged by
04:00technology. Many of these high-profile hazing incidents involve video recordings taken by bystanders
04:06or those directly involved. The videos are then typically distributed within the group via Snapchat or
04:13other apps and, in some instances, shared even wider on social media. Todd Shelton, CEO of the Hazing
04:20Prevention Network, believes a viral copycat mentality is pervasive in this social media generation.
04:27There's a level of one-upmanship occurring where someone sees a hazing incident and they think it's
04:35funny or they think it's cool and they want to do it with their team or their new members and they want to
04:45one-up the incident that they saw because they want theirs to be the one that people think is cool. And so, yes, I think, absolutely, it's making hazing worse.
04:56Bianchi agrees phones and social media have become a much bigger part of hazing in recent years. That technology, though, also brings more of these cases to light.
05:05Then the kids try to take it down. But you can't take it down because you can't put the genie back in the bottle. And let me tell you, these incidents have long-term consequences.
05:14Even for high school students, because what happens is when you record it and you post it, and now you can't take it down, this is going to follow you for the rest of your life if the police decide to investigate.
05:27Another factor that Bianchi said can perpetuate hazing at the high school level, the feeling that football stars, who are likely team leaders, could go on to earn big dollars under the new pay-for-play college football model.
05:40Those players may feel they are immune to rules or invincible.
05:45They're involved in a sports team where they were highly recruited and now they're driving a fancy car and they've got more money than they ever dreamed of.
05:53And you throw that into the mix with all the other ingredients that make a perfect case for hazing, it's only going to make the problem worse because they're going to feel like they can, they're bulletproof.
06:03They can get out of anything.
06:05Shelton calls hazing the abuse of a power dynamic by people already a part of a group or organization against those trying to become a part of it.
06:1422% of students experience some form of hazing in high school, according to a 2017 YouGov study.
06:22Stopping it requires schools, coaches, and administrators to educate students about the dangers of hazing and being clear and transparent about the rules.
06:32They have clear, trusted channels for reporting and then they do something about it.
06:38They take those reports seriously and hold those involved accountable.
06:43The five most recent incidents mentioned in this report are all still under investigation by the school districts and in several cases also being investigated by law enforcement.
06:55If you believe there's a pressing issue in sports you think we should dig into, tell me about it at cfrancis at san.com.
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