Several events took place on campus for National Hazing Prevention Week Sept. 24-28.
According to National Hazing Prevention Week’s website, the week is “an opportunity for campuses, schools, communities, organizations and individuals to raise awareness about the problem of hazing, educate others about hazing and promote the prevention of hazing.”
According to UCA, “Hazing is defined as any intentional action taken or situation created, whether on or off university property, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule.”
Not only is hazing prohibited at UCA, it is also illegal in Arkansas.
Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority participated in National Hazing Prevention Week by setting up a banner in front of the Student Center that said “Power with, not power over.”
Members of Sigma Sigma Sigma asked people who walked past the banner to paint their hand and place it on the banner as a way to serve as a representation of “these hands don’t haze.”
“We should all work together to be powerful, not hurt one another to feel powerful,” Sigma Sigma Sigma member Yohanna Cortes said. “We believe that as a Greek organization we should always take care of one another as brothers and sisters and not shame each other or ‘earn letters’.”
On Sept. 23 members of the Greek community at UCA attended presentations by Director for Fraternity and Sorority life at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Michelle Guobadi about Greek life and hazing.
Sigma Nu treasurer Spencer Burton said the presentation was very beneficial.
During her presentation, Guobadi talked about how she participated in hazing and hazed others while she was in college. She said she is now ashamed of what she did, and she is against hazing.
“As a proud member of an anti-hazing fraternity, it was encouraging to listen to Michelle Guobadi’s personal testimony on how participation in hazing activities, while in her eyes at the moment, had a truly negative affect on her life and others,” Burton said.
UCA outlines on its website what student can do to combat hazing. The website states “as a member – new or initiated – of a fraternity or sorority at UCA, you have an obligation to ensure that your organization upholds the principles upon which it was founded, as well as to protect your own dignity.”
UCA also states that hazing can be reported by contacting the UCA police department or the dean of students.
Photo by Rose McGarrity
