On Dec. 23, 2024, President Biden signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA), amending the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). The SCHA requires recipients of federal funding to 1) collect and publish statistics on hazing incidents reported to campus security authorities or local police in their annual security reports; 2) develop and publish anti-hazing policies; 3) establish and provide hazing awareness and prevention programs; and 4) provide information on hazing incidents in a newly required campus hazing transparency report.
New Requirements for Annual Security Reports Related to Hazing
The SCHA requires recipients to include "hazing incidents that were reported to campus security authorities or local police agencies" in their annual security reports. An institution must report all hazing incidents that occur on campus, in or on noncampus buildings or property, and on certain public property, as defined by the Clery Act. Institutions must begin collecting data on reported hazing incidents as of Jan. 1, 2025.
"Hazing" is defined as "any intentional, knowing, or reckless act" committed by a person, whether individually or in concert with others, against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that:
- is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in a student organization; and
- causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution or the organization (such as the physical preparation necessary for participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury.
The SCHA provides a list of examples of conduct that "causes or creates a risk," including:
- whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone's body or similar activity;
- causing, coercing or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics or other similar activity;
- causing, coercing or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs or other substances;
- causing, coercing or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts;
- any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct;
- any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, state, tribal or federal law; and
- any activity that induces, causes or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, state, tribal or federal law.
The SCHA defines the term "student organization" as "an organization at an institution of higher education (such as a club, society, association, varsity or junior varsity athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government) in which two or more of the members are students enrolled at the institution of higher education, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution."
The law is unclear about what specific conduct constitutes "an affiliation with" a student organization or what constitutes a "reasonable risk."
Hazing Policies and Prevention Programs
The SCHA requires that institutions take certain acts before June 23, 2025. Institutions must publish a statement regarding the current policies related to hazing, how to report incidents of hazing, the process used to investigate such incidents, and information related to applicable local, state and tribal laws on hazing.
Institutions also must publish a statement of policy regarding hazing prevention and awareness programs that includes a description of research-informed campuswide prevention programs designed to reach students, staff and faculty, including 1) information related to institutional policies against hazing; and 2) primary prevention strategies intended to stop hazing before it occurs, including skill building for bystander intervention, information on ethical leadership and the promotion of strategies for building group cohesion without hazing.
Requirements for New Campus Hazing Transparency Report
The SCHA also requires institutions to develop, publish and update a campus hazing and transparency report on the institution's public-facing website. The report must be published in a "prominent location" and include:
- a statement notifying the public of the annual availability of statistics on hazing, including a link to the report with those statistics; and
- information about the institution's policies related to hazing and applicable local, state and tribal laws on hazing.
Beginning on July 1, 2025, each participating institution must develop, in accordance with the institution's statement of policy related to hazing, a report summarizing findings concerning any student organizations that are established or recognized by the institution found to be in violation of the institution's standards of conduct related to hazing. Barring any action by the Department of Education to require an earlier deadline, the SCHA requires institutions to publish the report no later than Dec. 23, 2025. In addition, institutions are required to "not less frequently than 2 times each year" update the report to include each incident involving a student organization for which a finding of responsibility is issued related to a hazing violation, including:
- the name of the student organization;
- a general description of the violation that resulted in a finding of responsibility, including whether it involved the abuse or illegal use of alcohol or drugs, the findings of the institution and any sanctions placed upon the student organization; and
- the dates on which the incident was alleged to have occurred, the investigation was initiated, the investigation ended with a finding and the institution provided notice to the student organization that a violation occurred.
Importantly, institutions must be careful not to include any personally identifiable information (PII) or any information that could reveal PII about an individual student, in accordance with FERPA requirements in the report. Finally, information included in each report or update must be maintained for five calendar years after the date of publication.
Important Deadlines for Complying With SCHA Requirements
The following key deadlines apply.
- Jan. 1, 2025: Begin compiling statistics on hazing incidents for the annual security report.
- June 23, 2025: Publish institutional hazing policy and prevention programs.
- July 1, 2025: Collect information with respect to hazing incidents for purposes of the campus hazing transparency report.
- Dec. 23, 2025: Publish the campus hazing transparency report on the institution's website.
- Oct. 1, 2026: First annual security report to include hazing incident information.
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