Hazing

Limestone University is committed to promoting a campus environment that is just, open, disciplined, and caring. This philosophy supports the educational mission of the institution and our standards for co-curricular programs that facilitate students’ development. Limestone University is opposed to any group or organization, registered or otherwise, officially or in fact, that participates in any activity that involves hazing any member of the University community. 

Registered organizations and groups shall be permitted certain initiation ceremonies and activities, which, when examined by the ordinary University student, would seem reasonable under the circumstances and justified in view of the purpose for which they are conducted. 

The definition of “hazing” is “any conduct or methods of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endanger the physical or mental health of any student or other person.” Such prohibited actions, situations, and activities include, but are not limited to, the following: 

  1. any brutality of a physical nature, such as paddling, whipping, beating, branding, or forced calisthenics 

  1. excessive exposure to the elements 

  1. forced or required consumption of any food, alcohol, drug, or other substance 

  1. forcing or requiring the theft or damage of any property 

  1. any activity or situation which would subject an individual to extreme mental or physical stress, such as permitting fewer than six (6) hours of continuous, uninterrupted sleep per night, or forced or required extended exclusion from social contact 

  1. forced or required conduct which could result in extreme embarrassment, such as nudity; 

  1. running personal errands for others, such as driving them to class, cleaning their individual rooms and/or intentionally littering or jumbling the house or a room for the person to clean, washing their cars, etc. 

  1. “Road trips” (dropping someone off to find his/her own way back), scavenger hunts, or kidnaps 

  1. “Line-ups”, including, but not limited to, any activity where individuals are forced to answer questions, memorize stories, poems, or information not directly related to the student organization, or to endure any personal indignity 

  1. forcing, requiring, or encouraging the violation of any University policy, Federal, State, or local law. Consent shall not be available as a defense to any other prosecution of this action. 

Whoever knows that another person is the victim of hazing and is at the scene of such an occurrence shall, to the extent that the person can do so without danger or peril to himself or others, report such an occurrence to an appropriate University official and/or law enforcement official as soon as reasonably possible. 

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