Joining a group, team, or organization can be one of the best parts of the UMass experience, but doing so should never put someone in harm’s way. At UMass, students have the opportunity to join a wide range of groups, including athletic teams, clubs, fraternities and sororities, performing arts ensembles, community service organizations, and other registered student organizations. Membership and participation in these groups can lead to lasting friendships, rewarding leadership opportunities, and a greater sense of community. Entry into some of these groups may involve formal or informal initiation rites, but none should require abuse as a rite of membership.

Hazing is any conduct or method of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person. Such conduct shall include whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug, or other substance, or any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of any such student or other person, or which subjects such student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.

Hazing is a crime under Massachusetts law. A person cannot give their consent to be hazed!