Universities have a difficult job trying to stamp out dangerous hazing rituals, experts have warned, after a series of recent incidents highlighted how new US legislation was making little difference.

The Stop Campus Hazing Act was passed in the final days of the Biden administration in December 2024. The first ever federal anti-hazing law, it stipulated that institutions track and report on hazing incidents, including in their annual reports.

It also mandates that each institution receiving student aid must have a hazing policy with information on how students can report the practice.

The law was passed as an amendment to the Clery Act, which already required universities to report campus crime data but Aldo Cimino, professor of anthropology at Kent State University, said there was little evidence this had ever reduced the prevalence of incidents.

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“As such, it is not clear why we should expect adding hazing to the Clery Act is somehow going to be different.” he said.

“Campus-wide hazing prevention programmes…have little to no evidence of reducing the actual prevalence of hazing where implemented. By mandating dubious campus-wide training programmes, the SHCA is effectively a giveaway to the anti-hazing industry.”

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Cimino said most of the hazing prevention recommendations offered by researchers were based on no scientific evidence whatsoever, or on the hope that extending prevention techniques that worked for binge drinking or sexual assault could make a difference.

Despite the legislation, incidents have continued to increase. Three leaders of a Northern Arizona University fraternity are facing hazing charges after an 18-year-old student died last month, and two former Arizona State University students are suing their fraternity over claims of forced binge drinking, drug use and “waterboarding”.

Alongside the incidents in Arizona, a video has emerged from University of Iowa police officers who uncovered dozens of half-naked students standing silently in a dark fraternity basement during an alleged ritual in 2024.

Elizabeth Allan, professor of higher education at the University of Maine, said the new law had succeeded in increasing awareness and making it clear that hazing was not merely a disciplinary issue but also a matter of public safety.

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“Since the federal law was enacted, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of colleges and universities that have developed webpages and websites to provide the public with information about hazing violations and how to report them,” she said.

But Allan, who also directs the Hazing Prevention Research Lab, said statutes alone would not change the social dynamics such as peer pressure, tradition and status hierarchies that influence behaviour – which occurs in private spaces where institutional visibility is limited.

“Some student organisations operate with layers of secrecy, loyalty norms, and alumni protection that shield misconduct. In addition, staff turnover, decentralised oversight, and inconsistent enforcement can weaken accountability.

“Ultimately, hazing is sustained by deeply embedded group norms and the enforcement of policy is one important means of shifting hazing culture, but policy needs to be supplemented with education and building skills for effective bystander intervention and reporting.”

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Michelle Boettcher, professor of higher education student affairs at Clemson University, said hazing was so pervasive because of the idea that each cohort must “one-up” the previous year.

“Bonding through difficult circumstances has a long-standing history. The idea of overcoming adversity and then having connections with your team is part of the narrative we have in popular culture as well as in campus culture.

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“When you combine a need to belong with poor decision-making and undeveloped leadership skills and the ways in which our culture is drawn to spectacle, the possibility for danger can be very high.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com