British colleges are reportedly struggling to put an end to dangerous student initiation ceremonies and hazing rituals which have become more ruthless since the tragic death of a first-year student.
Student societies are holding riskier initiation challenges which are being encouraged on social media as they try to outdo each other, according to the national university sports body.
Dozens of investigations into British colleges’ alcohol-fuelled initiation events have taken place over the previous years despite widespread bans put in place to check this habit.
This mainly began when Newcastle University student Ed, from Leicestershire, died from the toxic effects of too much alcohol during a banned fresher’s initiation event in December 2016.
The 20-year-old suffered a fatal brain injury after going into cardiac arrest following a pub crawl, organized by Newcastle University Agricultural Society, where first years were “egged on” to drink vodka trebles by older students.
Afterward, Universities enacted a zero-tolerance policy on initiations which pushes them underground and made them more dangerous as they continued their activities in secret.
Recently, reports suggested that Loughborough’s first-year students were allegedly forced to eat maggots and dog food during an alcohol-heavy hockey initiation ceremony.
British colleges sports clubs are mostly responsible
Investigation launched into initiations or hazing events by 20 British colleges between September 2016 and August 2019, revealed that the majority of this initiation is carried out by sports clubs.
According to data from freedom of information (FOI) requests to 155 universities, British college’s sports-related societies are mostly responsible for these ruthless initiations.
At the Royal Agricultural University, students were banned from playing their designated sport on campus after they coerced new members to drink as many alcoholic concoctions as possible.
Also, 12 members of the Rugby League team at the University of Central Lancashire were investigated for highly antisocial and offensive behavior, including hazing-type activities.
Ten of the students incurred a final written warning, one student incurred a written reprimand useful for a year, and one student was withdrawn entirely from the university following the incident.
British colleges need to do more
The National Union of Students (NUS) has released a statement urging British colleges to put in place more severe punishment to dissuade students from carrying out these acts.
According to the NUS, a more strict law, would and proper awareness would ensure students are safe and are aware of the risks of significant alcohol consumption.
Rachel Watters, NUS women’s officer, stressed that colleges could do much more in providing sober spaces and also in the area of tackling lad culture.
We need an overall culture shift to happen, she further noted, adding that merely banning initiation activities is not enough as the evidence shows that students are still holding the events outside the knowledge of the universities.
Challenging hazing and adverse group events in sports
Professor Moira Lafferty, psychology at the University of Chester, launched an organization named; “Challenging Hazing and Negative Group Events in Sport,” which trains students about the consequences of initiation activities.
The organization is working with academics on various programs across British colleges, to curb initiations which have become more dangerous as students are consuming more alcohol than before.
According to her:
Challenges used to be around lager and cider and now you look at it, the alcohol consumption is absolutely horrific. More people drink spirits now than they used to and there is more extreme alcohol consumption.
Lafferty believes more British colleges need to take action, urging more universities to join the 40 institutions to take part in educational workshops. She supports Universities UK (UUK), which represents vice-chancellors, launched advice calling for institutions to adopt more training on initiations.
The guidance from UUK said universities need to do more to educate students about the dangers of these rituals and excessive drinking to prevent any more tragic deaths from taking place in the future.
