00:00University hazing, an unfortunate result of the darker side of society culture, where
00:04initiates endure humiliating tasks in order to be fully accepted into a group.
00:09I met with AJ, who has experienced this kind of initiation firsthand, and his identity
00:13is being kept a secret for privacy reasons.
00:16They don't forget that you haven't done your initiation, it's something they always point
00:19the finger to, everyone sort of jeers you on, otherwise you just, I don't know, you
00:24just look a bit of a stick in the mud, and I can imagine it's a lot worse in other
00:28societies
00:29as well. You've kind of got to stick by the initiation rules, which I think does put a
00:37lot of pressure on people, makes people make mistakes, makes people drink too much sometimes
00:41out of fear.
00:42Not only are individuals being affected by this, but also the reputations of the societies.
00:47So what do they think of these humiliation rituals?
00:50I've been in the society for now four years, and it's not only given me my mates for life,
00:55it's given me amazing life experiences that I will use later in life. With all the horror
00:58stories of initiations of a group are up and down the country. People are not joining
01:03societies nowadays. If you ban anything, people are going to be able to break the walls of
01:06time. People are going to find loopholes. Okay, you must know, and they need to police
01:09it a bit more.
01:10Studies have shown that programmes put in place have led to a reduction in incidents
01:14on participating campuses, but what's the general consensus among students?
01:19I get the idea as a concept of initiating people in, like that team mentality, but it can
01:25definitely turn toxic. There are some that involve some brutal activities, which I feel
01:32it needs to go.
01:33It's all right if there's limits. I've heard there are some pretty nasty ones, we'll say.
01:40I think they're funny.
01:41Yeah, they are funny, but the ban in the street, yeah, I mean, you don't want to be doing weird
01:46stuff and that.
01:46In an official statement from KSU, they said, Kent's student union is absolutely clear that
01:51student group activities that involve pressure, humiliation, exclusion, risk or harm, whether
01:57physical, emotional or social, go against the values we expect our student groups to
02:01uphold and have no place within our student community. If any students have experienced
02:06something that has made them feel uncomfortable, we would strongly encourage them to come forward
02:10and speak to a member of KSU staff. Students can email or use the student report tool on screen
02:17now.
02:18However, encounters like these are just the tip of the iceberg, as other students have told
02:23me stories so concerning I am unable to repeat them. It's situations like these that students
02:28should be protected from. So the question still stands, will these initiations continue despite
02:34the ban? Josh Colombo, KMTV.
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