Hazing on university campuses has re-emerged in the national spotlight since Timothy Piazza, a 19-year-old Pennsylvania State University student, died as a result of injuries suffered in an initiation ceremony of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity in February. Eighteen fraternity members were criminally charged, and the university announced steps to toughen its oversight of Greek life.
But hazing exists beyond fraternity-pledging rituals. In a documentary film planned for release next year, the filmmaker Byron Hurt will take a critical look at the role hazing plays in many types of groups, including in the military, the medical profession, and at universities.
Mr. Hurt was inspired to make the film after learning about two young African-American men who died on college campuses. Their stories felt personal for Mr. Hurt, who had been hazed and participated in hazing rituals as a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity at Northeastern University. He hopes the film will be used by educators and activists to help end violent and abusive rituals.
Mr. Hurt’s other films include Soul Food Junkies and Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. He has received funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Independent Television Service, as well as other sources, for Hazing.
Q. Can you first tell me about your film?
A. Hazing is a documentary that will take a broad look at the culture of hazing in America. I am looking at some of the traditional spaces where people know hazing exists, like fraternities, sororities, and sports teams. I’m also taking a look at performance organizations like marching bands, clubs, as well as areas that people would never even consider, like the medical field. In nursing, for example, there’s a culture of hazing that people know very little about.
I want to sensitize people to the fact that hazing, in many cases, is really assault.
I was inspired to make this film after reading about the death of George Desdunes, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He tragically died from alcohol overintoxication at Cornell University. His body was left in the library of the fraternity house and was discovered by the person who cleans the house.
I really connected with the story because I’m in a fraternity, I pledged a fraternity, and I participated in hazing rituals. Something like this could have happened to me, and I could have perpetuated something like this, leading to serious injury or death. I thought I was the right person to explore this culture.
There’s also a real high level of toxic masculinity within hazing culture that I feel really equipped to examine as a filmmaker.
Q. I read that you had been inspired by Robert Champion, a member of a marching band who died in a hazing ritual at Florida A&M University.
A. Robert Champion’s story was the story that broke the camel’s back. I heard about it. I watched it on the news. I said, Byron you have to do this. This is your film to make.
Q. Tell me more about your experience in a fraternity? Are you going to address it in the film?
A. I’m a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Inc., and I’m still active on the graduate level. Pledging in my fraternity was a really rigorous process. I don’t want to go into it at this time, because it is a secret-society organization and some of that will be revealed in the film.
I didn’t really have the courage to confront hazing when I was pledging. There’s a reason. Hazing is a system of humiliation, degradation, in many cases violence, emotional abuse. And it’s normalized, especially among young people. Some people really believe the process is necessary in order to create members in good standing who are respected and have credibility within the group. It’s that culture of hazing that I really want to challenge. I want to sensitize people to the fact that hazing, in many cases, is really assault and is really abusive.
Q. I’ve read in other interviews that you’re expecting some backlash. What do you think that backlash is going to be?
A. I think people are going to feel really defensive, particularly members of black Greek-letter organizations.
There is a lot at stake. There are organizations that risk being sued or losing their insurance or just receiving negative publicity. And there are, rightly, a lot of people in those organizations who believe their organizations do more good than bad. They feel the organizations are being painted with a broad brush.
I expect there to be people who feel like I am sharing information that is supposed to be secret and should be an in-house conversation. But in-house conversations have not ended hazing. In-house conversations have not reformed the culture, and young people are still dying today.
I would hate to send my daughter off to college for her to pledge an organization, to join a team, even, and become severely injured or possibly die because she decided to join an organization for all the right reasons. But the culture of hazing doesn’t discriminate. I don’t believe that those young men at Penn State intended to kill someone. I don’t think someone intended to kill Robert Champion or George Desdunes or Daniel Chen. or Michael Deng I don’t believe people said, We want to drive them to the point where they commit suicide. They don’t think that they’re going to get caught or be complicit in a death.
Q. Have you found in your investigation of hazing that certain themes persist?
A. There is a common universal theme, which is: I went through this process in order to get entry into this organization, team, or field, and so therefore you have to go through this process. Otherwise you’re not worthy; you’re not as valuable as the people who came before you.
And so there is this expectation that if you are going to receive credibility as a member of that group, then you must submit yourself to that hazing process. That, I think, is universal.
There are distinctions. In black fraternities and sororities, there is an emphasis on physical hazing, which could include violence. In white fraternities, based on my research and interviews, there’s a greater emphasis on binge drinking, providing prescription drugs or illegal drugs, providing money to “big brothers,” and also participating in sexual acts that degrade women. In white sororities there’s a lot of sexual humiliation, where girls are told to perform sexual acts that would embarrass or shame them. There’s a lot of emotional abuse with girls in general: You’re not pretty enough; you’re not worthy enough; you’re not good enough to be a part of this organization; you’re fat. Really, really personal emotional abuse and a lot of guilting and shaming.
It’s very layered. I don’t think people realize how nuanced the system of hazing is.
Q. A lot of our readers are faculty and administrators at universities. What can you say to help them understand hazing better?
A. When a young person is going through a pledge process, they are forced to do things that they don’t normally do. Sleep deprivation is a huge issue, so they may be falling asleep in class. They may be missing class. Their grades may fall dramatically.
I interviewed a young man whose professor noticed many of these things. Because the student was involved a big public case that received a lot of media attention, the professor was aware that his student had gone through an incredible amount of trauma. Rather than failing him or thinking that he was blowing off the work, he helped the student get through his coursework successfully and was understanding about the trauma that he had experienced. There are students suffering from PTSD-like symptoms after the pledge process.
Q. As a filmmaker and a member of a fraternity, you have two allegiances, to your viewers and to your fraternity brothers. How do you decide what to share about your experience?
A. It’s very complicated, and I am still wading through how much I will reveal and how much will remain secret. There are certain rituals and things that are sacred that I don’t want to discuss publicly. But I do draw the line when it comes to hazing.
I would make different choices today regarding pledging and going through what I went through, because I value myself more. I have a much greater appreciation about violence, particularly male violence and a culture of masculinity that is often violent. That’s what I’m hoping to address in the film.
There will be a level of personal disclosure that will provide a positive example of someone who experienced the culture of hazing and who now challenges it through a critical lens.
I still have relationships with the people in my fraternity, and I respect many of them. I consider many of them to be my friends, and they are my lifelong brothers.
But I do feel we need to challenge our attitudes and behaviors. I think we have to be leaders. I consider this film an act of leadership.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Correction (6/12/2016): An earlier version of this article stated that Timothy Piazza died in an initiation ceremony at a fraternity house. He suffered fatal injuries at the ceremony and died later at a hospital.
Nell Gluckman writes about faculty issues and other topics in higher education. You can follow her on Twitter @nellgluckman, or email her at nell.gluckman@chronicle.com.
