EDITORIAL - The problem of hazing

The ugly face of hazing is once again staring at us. And as usually happens when we get confronted by something horrendous and undesirable, we kneejerk ourselves into action, mistakenly believing that reacting for its own sake will solve the problem.

Among the kneejerk reactions is a proposal to tighten the squeeze on schools, holding them responsible for any hazing involving its students. But the proposal does not take into account many things, giving the impression that, for lack of any sense, it simply wants to come up with something, anything.

First of all, schools cannot keep track of all activities their students engage in outside of school hours. They are not their students' keepers, so to speak, the moment these students step out of their gates. Only in the unlikely event that hazing is done in schools can schools be held accountable.

But as hazing is illegal, no such activity is ever held in schools. Hazings are always done surreptitiously. If parents themselves, who are supposed to have a more direct and personal line to their kids, are often kept out of the loop of these surreptitious activities, more so with schools.

Secondly, schools are, by their very nature, not only institutions of learning but of character formation as well. That means all schools, regardless of status, are motivated by the sole purpose of promoting that which is good.

In other words, it would be a terrible mistake and grossly unfair to punish schools simply because of some hazing that involved some of their students. Proposals to punish schools under these circumstances is to bark up the wrong tree.

The focus of all proposals to address the problem of hazing should instead be on the fraternities or groups that conduct them. In addition to those directly involved in hazing, all the officers of the groups or fraternities involved should be made accountable in the most severe way.

No hazing ever happens without the knowledge of fraternity officers, regardless of whether they take part directly in the actual hazing. Making them accountable is the only way of making them think twice before giving such activity the green light to proceed.

Additionally, also those who are being hazed must be held similarly accountable. That is the only way to discourage their submission to these activities. Right now, they are being regarded as the victims. But they are not. They are very much conscious participants of hazing and only become victims when they get hurt.