UC Berkeley has one of the most established Greek systems in the country. For many college students, joining a fraternity offers the realization of represents a genuine desire for community, mentorship, and belonging. However, the practice of hazing persists behind the promise of brotherhood, and the harm it causes can be serious, lasting, and life-altering.
If you or someone you love was injured during rush activities or a fraternity initiation, our Berkeley fraternity hazing lawyer from The Law Office of Scott R. Herndon can help you understand your options. Our firm brings the same meticulous preparation and personal commitment to these cases that every case and client receives. You do not have to navigate this alone, and you do not need to accept your injuries as simply the cost of belonging.
According to the Fraternal Information and Programming Group, hazing is defined as “any action taken or situation created intentionally, whether on or off fraternity premises, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule”(www.fipg.org). The sociologist Hank Nuwer also links hazing to bullying, especially if “fraternal members put newcomers through tortures intended to make the pledges, neophytes, or associate members quit a chapter, as opposed to the usual hazing methods of putting newcomers through stressful conditions in order to welcome them eventually into the group”(Newer 2004, 2015).
Hazing is often characterized by ‘groupthink’, where fraternity and sometimes sorority members act together and out of a perceived need to demonstrate solidarity to the Greek house or chapter. This can sometimes result in college students performing acts within the fraternity that they would otherwise know are deplorable, dangerous, and harmful. According to Nuwer, such acts of hazing on college campuses “[range] from beatings to drinking extravaganzas to nude groping and lining up to take verbal abuse”(2015).
In his essay, “Hazing and Alcohol in a College Fraternity,” James C. Arnold asserted a link between fraternities and what he called “addictive organizations,” and compared them to the rites of cults, where the process of hazing uses “cultlike manipulation and coercion to effect psychological and social influence…[and] purposely engender enforced dependency by instituting ways and means to make potential members and new members spend the majority of waking and sleeping hours in the company of members and their fellow newcomers. Such organizations promise the new initiates enduring abuse that if they only persist, all will be well in the end, and they will experience many rewards once awarded membership when the time of trial expires”(Newer, 2015).
As such, fraternities rationalize their hazing practices in terms of social indoctrination, similar to those experienced in military boot camps. This general process is described by Victor Turner in The Ritual Process and Arnold van Gennep in his seminal work of anthropology, Les rites de Passage (1909). But the irresponsible, reckless, and sometimes catastrophic effects of these practices is impossible to ignore.
As Hank Nuwer explains, pledges have died from drinking lethal amounts of alcohol, “being required by members to fill garbage pails with the collective vomit of new members,” or being abandoned far from campus, and dying after falls, auto accidents, and drowning, while others have died after being forced to exercise for hours in steam rooms, or after being beaten by paddles, fists, or canes (2015: See also www.hanknuwer.com/hazingdeaths.html).
Importantly, Nuwer also notes that sororities have been connected to the deaths of eight women and one man in hazing incidents. These tragedies underscore the importance and urgency of addressing hazing as a serious problem for any college student. If you have experienced hazing, reaching out to a Berkeley fraternity hazing attorney is paramount.
Many survivors of hazing hesitate to come forward. Some students feel a sense of loyalty to the organization or worry about the social consequences of dropping out of a pledge class. According to researcher Stephen Sweet, “those who quit pledging rather than endure not only suffer guilt because their pledge brothers will be asked to carry an additional burden, but they also lose a tie and part of their identity by forgoing all connection to the chapter they already may have sacrificed much for during hazing”(Sweet 2001; as quoted in Nuwer, 2015).
Others may not be certain that what they experienced rises to the level of something legally actionable. This may be due to the fact that many of the harms involved in hazing are psychological, and not merely physical injuries. According to psychologist Susan Lipkins in her book Preventing Hazing (2006), “even short-term hazing can lead to long-term, even lifelong, psychological and physical consequences for hazing victims. Short of death, psychological trauma due to hazing may be an even more pernicious problem than physical injuries for the latter nearly always heal, while victims report an inability to get on with their lives in normal fashion”(Nuwer, 2015).
The reality is that hazing encompasses far more than the extreme cases that make headlines. For example, physical harm, forced alcohol consumption, and psychological intimidation, along with other forms of coercion, can all produce real and serious injury.
State law takes a firm position on hazing and allows survivors to bring civil claims independent of any criminal charges or university disciplinary proceedings. You do not need a conviction, an expulsion, or a formal finding from your institution to pursue accountability in civil court.
A few types of harm that may give rise to a civil hazing claim include:
If any of these circumstances reflect your experience, your situation may warrant a closer legal examination in consultation with a fraternity and sorority hazing injury attorney in Berkeley.
For public resources on hazing, please consider the following websites:
Civil hazing cases are rarely simple. The individual members who participated may bear personal liability, but they are often not the only parties who can be held accountable. The fraternity chapter, the national organization, and the university itself, along with the owners of the property where hazing occurred, may all carry some degree of legal responsibility depending on the circumstances. Identifying every avenue of accountability and building a case that reflects the full scope of your harm requires careful, thorough work from the beginning.
Our hazing injury lawyer serving the Berkeley community understands that what is at stake in these cases goes well beyond physical recovery. Compensation in a civil hazing claim may include damages for:
In cases involving particularly egregious conduct, punitive damages may apply. Early preservation of evidence and the identification of witnesses are important, along with rigorous examination of the institutional relationships between the individuals involved and the organizations behind them.
You may not be certain yet whether you have a case, but The Law Office of Scott R. Herndon offers a confidential, no-obligation consultation to help you understand your options. Working with our Berkeley fraternity and sorority hazing lawyer means having someone on your side who will listen carefully, answer your questions honestly, and help you decide whether pursuing a civil claim is the right path forward for you.
