Members of the Greek community gathered Tuesday for an anti-hazing workshop that sought to curb hazing practices in campus fraternities and sororities by educating them on the seriousness of the issue and the repercussions that can result.

Donna Freitag, involvement specialist and marching band liaison for the Center for Leadership and Involvement, hosted the workshop. New member educators and older students from sororities and fraternities on campus were required to attend.

Tuesday night’s workshop was the second part of a plan for hazing education on campus. Freitag hosted a different workshop Monday night for first-year students and new organization members to make them aware of what is considered hazing and what to do if they felt they had been or were currently being hazed.

Students in Tuesday’s workshop defined hazing as anything that makes a new member feel degraded or discomfort as a rite of passage.

“Hazing can occur in any organization where there are new members. It’s an initiation process,” Freitag said. “There isn’t any organization that it’s unique to.”

Hazing is a criminal offense in 44 states including Wisconsin, and 80 percent of hazing is alcohol-related, Freitag said. She went on to say someone has died on a college campus every year since 1970 due to hazing.

Drawing the line between hazing and non-hazing activities is sometimes blurry and hard to do, she added, stressing the importance of reviewing the intentions behind what new members are forced to participate in to help draw the distinction.

Grace Pitera, a pledge educator for Alpha Phi, came to the workshop as a requirement.

She said events like the workshop offer helpful opportunities to reiterate to new members what hazing is.

“After this, we’ll be able to remind our members that if they feel uncomfortable, we now have a list of resources they can contact, which is important for new members to know,” Pitera said.

Common excuses for hazing include tradition, commitment to the organization and education. However, hazing can trigger unexpected emotional responses in individuals, Freitag said.

“Many times, hazers don’t know the background of the people they are hazing, and they don’t know what could potentially break that person,” Freitag said.

As part of the workshop, students were given information about steps to take if they felt they were being hazed. Some of the steps included being able to resist pressures, stepping in if you see another being hazed and a list of authorities to contact to report hazing.

Freitag and the students worked together to compile a list of positive team building activities that could replace hazing rituals. Some of the ideas included: group dinners, working together, high ropes courses, service projects and anything that is a positive setting for getting to know one another.

Freitag left the students with a question to think about.

“For all the reasons your group thinks hazing is necessary to build a sense of team, what would you do if I said your hazing wasn’t working, would you care?” Freitag asked. “If you wouldn’t care, then you are probably doing hazing for reasons other than bonding.”