UW marks three years of Hazing prevention

Since anti-hazing legislation was signed into law, institutions in Washington state educate their community on hazing, its consequences and its prevention.

By: Karla Pastrana

March 30 marked the third anniversary of Washington state taking the first step to prevent hazing in major institutions as then Governor Jay Inslee signed Sam’s Law into effect in 2022. 

Sam’s Law also known as House Bill 1751, was sponsored by Representative Mari Leavitt of the 28 Legislative district and proposed to the Washington state Legislature by Jolayne Houtz and Hector Martinez after their son Sam’s death in November 2019 at the Washington State University (WSU) Pullman campus. Sam Martinez died due to alcohol poisoning caused by his fraternity brothers of Alpha Tau Omega who hazed him into taking the “frat’s pledge” in which Sam and other freshmen were required to drink large amounts of alcohol. 

Since Sam’s death, 15 members of the fraternity were charged with supplying a minor with alcohol in 2023 and on Jan. 29 of this year WSU was found liable for Sam’s death. While on May 1 2023, The Martinez family was successful in making Washington state the fifteenth state to make hazing a felony rather than a misdemeanor. 

The bill states that hazing is when a group or individual coerces people or a person to do a dangerous act that could cause physical, mental or emotional harm to the person being recruited. 

This includes acts of public humiliation or forcing someone to consume high amounts of alcohol or do drugs. Forcing someone to wear clothing with inappropriate words or images on it is also considered hazing, even if someone is not under the influence. It can also be an activity that creates unnecessary stress to participants like a club pop quiz.  

By law, hazing is still considered hazing whether the victim is willing to participate.  

Now hazing is a class C felony which states that the guilty party will be imprisoned for five years or pay a fine in an amount that is decided by the court of $10000 or more, or both. 

The Martinez family enlisted the help of 10 undergraduates from the University of Washington’s Information School to help them construct a website that can help students and parents find hazing incidents that have happened in more than 40 universities in Washington and Texas. The goal of the database is to help students and parents decide what sororities and fraternities are safe, according to King 5 News.  

This June UW will also be holding the first ever PNW Anti-Hazing Summit where higher education institutions of ten states will discuss the topic. 

Additionally, UW along with other universities have taken measures to address hazing within their institutions. In 2024 UW developed the Hazing Prevention Advisory Committee which the Community Standards and Student Conduct (CSSC) department helps by investigating cases. UW was also able to create the Hazing Prevention website where students can report hazing incidents for all three campuses and learn how to identify it. 

“Hazing isn’t the stereotypical Hollywood stuff. It’s normally harassment and intimidation,” Alex Salemme, UW’s head specialist of the Hazing Prevention department told The Ledger. “Historically UW doesn’t see that much of violent hazing.” 

Many students don’t realize they are experiencing hazing until they are taught what hazing is and are trained to identify it, according to Salemme. Since 2024 UW has required all entering students to take a hazing training to help them identify and stop hazing from occurring in the community. Additionally, all UW employees from admin to student employees are required to take it as hazing can happen anywhere, not just in sororities and fraternities. 

The training has led UW to see an increase in hazing reports in the Seattle campus since they started. During the 2023-2024 school year the CSSC conducted 15 investigations in total. Of the 15, four cases ended with charges and two organizations were found guilty of committing the acts, according to the website’s annual summary.  

Salemme highlights that in the last academic year the hazing was more physical, unlike this year which is more verbal intimidation and harassment. 

“This increase is positive because it [the lessons] is working,” Salemme said.  

Although UW has been mainly focusing on the Seattle campus due to it having sororities and fraternities, sports teams, more clubs and a larger student body, UW Bothell and Tacoma are still in the administration’s radar for the hazing campaign. This will become more prevalent in those locations soon, according to Salemme.  

“We haven’t had any hazing reports from UWT. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening,” said Director of Community Standards & Student Conduct Ed Mirecki of UW Seattle.  

In September Salemme gave a presentation to the UWT student leader orientation. However, Mirecki and Salemme plan to train not just student employees and representatives but also club leaders and pack advisors to bring more awareness to hazing at UWT. 

“Getting student leaders involved will have a stronger impact on students because it creates ownership within the student body. So far, students have been only hearing about it through Alex [Salemme] and me. Change comes from the students for there is ownership in saying ‘we don’t want this in our RSO,” said Mirecki. 

Mirecki and Salemme hope students will be accountable for themselves and others once they take their hazing training.  

To learn more about hazing, what UW is doing to prevent it, or to report an incident on one of the three campuses visit UW’s Hazing Prevention website.