Tag Archives: hazings

Dance Team Suspended for Hazing at Florida A&M!

Regular readers of this site will remember the name Florida A&M: less than a year ago a member of the marching band died as a result of hazing incident on a bus and since then the program and school have been thrown into a firestorm of controversy . . . mostly because there had been a series of similar incidents over the years and the administration had done little, if anything, to combat the practice. The heat got so bad at the school that the university president resigned because of it in July.

So how do we start off the 2012 school year at FAMU? With another hazing incident, this time reportedly involving the school’s Torque Dance Team. Not a lot of details about what actually happened over Labor Day weekend, but it was enough for the school to investigate and suspended the entire squad. But really: how stupid do you have to be to continue hazing at a school where a kid DIED less than a year ago and lawsuits are flying around campus like drone aircraft?  (You can read the details of the stupid things that were done to Robert Champion here.) FAMU even put out new, stricter guidelines they thought would end hazing practices.

We hate to see schools over-react to hazing incidents, but in this case the death penalty might be the only thing to get student’s attention. End the program for five or six years (long enough that anyone who even remembers the school had a dance team are long gone) and start completely over with all new coaches, trainers, etc. And if there’s another hazing incident after that, then it’s gone forever.

I think even drunk college students would get the message at that point.

Source: CBS News

Victims Claim High School Jock “Hit Them With His Penis” During Year Long Hazing Events

Seth Kellen

Seth Kellen

Is it really hazing when an older teammate repeatedly tries to stick his finger in your anus, grabs your junk or makes you grab his over a period of almost a year? How about if someone pulls his own pants down in an elevator, jumps on your back and beats you with his penis? We suppose it could be, but if the charges against Browerville High School (MN) athletes, Seth J. Kellen, 18, and Connor S. Burns, 18, prove to be true it would certainly be one of the worst hazing incidents we’ve ever reported. And if it’s not some kind of hazing, then these two are just strange birds.

The recent graduates face a variety of similar, but different charges: Kellen is charged with both felonies and misdemeanors, including third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving penetration and indecent exposure in a public setting, while Burns is charged with six counts of criminal sexual conduct, four of them felonies and two gross misdemeanors.

So, what exactly did these small town multi-sport jocks do to face these kinds of charges? According to the lengthy article in the Star-Tribune:

Connor Burns

Connor Burns

Football and basketball players at Browerville High School were repeatedly sexually assaulted by teammates in showers, elevators and hotel rooms, according to criminal charges that have authorities puzzled that the attacks continued for months without anyone complaining or investigating.  In April, a parent went to a school official about a sexual incident in August 2011 at Horseshoe Lake, about 4 miles north of Browerville.

After the football team’s practice, led by the captains, several players went to the lake for a swim. Some team members began dunking a teammate and sexually assaulted him while he was underwater.  A 17-year-old player alleged that in March at the state tournament, Burns held him down in their downtown Marriott Hotel room while another teammate digitally penetrated him through his athletic shorts.

The next night, the 17-year-old endured the same, this time with one teammate holding him down while Burns and Kellen carried out the assault, the charges said.  Kellen also is accused of pulling down his own pants while in a Minneapolis parking ramp elevator with his teammates and two student managers, ages 11 and 12. Kellen then jumped on teammates’ backs and hit them with his penis, according to the charges.

Kellen also is accused of sexually assaulting football and basketball teammates numerous times in the locker room, in a school hall or in a locker room shower.  His assaults were alleged to often involve penetrating or attempting to penetrate teammates digitally through clothing, groping teammates’ genitals or trying to make them touch his genitals. One teammate he allegedly victimized was 13 years old, another 14 at the time.

So, the real question is: how did this kind of behavior go unnoticed by coaches or teachers for an entire school year? No one EVER noticed this kind of behavior from these two? We find that hard to believe, but we’ll let the legal system do its work.

UPDATED: Nine Ogden Utah High School Cheerleaders Suspended After Hazing Incident

UPDATE: Suspended Ogden Cheerleader Talks to Local TV Station – And basically talks out of both sides of her mouth. On one hand, she says the whole “getting blindfolded and pelted with condiments in the park thing” is way overblown. The victims knew–or should have known–what they were getting into. On the other hand, according to suspended senior cheerleader Hailey Lawrence, she actually thought the whole hazing thing was a bad idea, but never brought it up to any of the other girls because they wouldn’t have listened. But she really didn’t participate and only watched. Sure Haley, sure.

In addition to being suspended from school, the nine senior girls were also banned from the prom. Ouch.

Video below from ABC4 in Salt Lake City:

Ogden High School Mascot

EARLIER: Sounds like there could be a problem with hazing in at Ogden High School.

Just over a year ago, six OHS 12th-grade student-athletes were disciplined following the hazing of a 9th grade student-athlete in an incident that occurred in the weight room at the high school. At the time, OHS Principal Trevor “I Love My Job” Wilson said, “We cannot tolerate hazing to any degree. This just solidifies in my mind the need for continual education so all students realize hazing is wrong. And because of the involvement of student-athletes, it has been especially important to communicate with our coaches and teams.”

Apparently that message did not get to the cheerleading squad.

Just yesterday, 9 senior members of the squad were suspended after parent complained about a hazing incident that occurred the weekend of May 4. According to the parents of some of the new members, they were told to “wear a cute outfit and come to a local park for a photography session.” So, the parents dropped their little girls off and once the adults were gone (cheerleading supervisors were no where to be found) the newbies were blindfolded told to lie on the ground and do a variety of exercises including sit-ups, push-ups and some cheers, all while they were pelted with various food items and liquids.

Two things about the pelting: some of the victims claimed that once they were blindfolded they could hear male voices cursing at them, indicating that some non-team members also joined in the “fun”. And secondly, the girls say they were pelted with bags of flour, a variety of condiments, pickle juice, and possibly, urine.

Yes, our old hazing friend urine. Usually reserved for boys wrestling teams, it has now allegedly moved into the hazing rituals of cheerleaders.

No one was hurt during this incident, but mothers who went to pick their girls up from the park afterwards were a bit surprised at the condition of the kid’s clothing and some were a bit shaken up.  By Monday morning at least three parents had complained about the incident and following an investigation, nine seniors from the cheerleading squad had been suspended from school.

That might not be the end of it though: the parents of some of the victims say they might press criminal charges against members of the squad who are over 18.  Yikes!

Source: Standard Examiner