I recently stumbled across an interesting study of hazing in American colleges and universities, released earlier this year. I haven’t had the chance to fully digest it yet, but I thought I’d pass it along.

A few highlights of the executive summary:

55% of college students involved in clubs, teams, and organizations experience hazing.

Hazing occurs in, but extends beyond, varsity athletics and Greek-letter organizations and includes behaviors that are abusive, dangerous, and potentially illegal.

Alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep- deprivation, and sex acts are hazing practices common across types of student groups.

In more than half of the hazing incidents, a member of the offending group posts pictures on a public web space.

More students perceive positive rather than negative outcomes of hazing.

In 95% of the cases where students identified their experience as hazing, they did not report the events to campus officials.

Nine out of ten students who have experienced hazing behavior in college do not consider themselves to have been hazed.

The study defines “hazing” quite broadly, and I’m not sure I buy all of its premises, but it’s certainly worth a peek.