Hazing
An Act prohibiting the practice of hazing was enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives in General Court in 1985. Chapter 269 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following three sections:
Section 17. Whoever is a principle organizer or participant in the crime of hazing as defined herein shall be punished by a fine of not more than three thousand dollars or by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than one year or by both such fine and imprisonment. The term hazing as used in this section and in sections eighteen and nineteen, shall mean 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 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 students or other persons to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.
Section 18. Whoever knows that a person is the victim of hazing as defined in section seventeen and is at the scene of such a crime shall, to the extent that such person can do so without danger or peril to himself or others, report such crime to an appropriate law enforcement official as soon as reasonably practicable. Whoever fails to report such crime will be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.
Section 19. Each secondary school and each public and private school or college shall issue to every group or organization under its authority or operating on or in conjunction with its campus or school, and to every member, plebe, pledge or applicant for membership in such group or organization, a copy of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen. An officer of such group or organization and each individual receiving a copy of said sections seventeen and eighteen shall sign an acknowledgment stating that such group, organization or individual has received a copy of said sections seventeen and eighteen. Each secondary school and each public or private school or college shall file, at least annually, a report with the regents of higher education and in the case of secondary schools, the board of education, certifying that such institution has complied with the provisions of this sections and also certifying that said school has adopted a disciplinary policy with regards to those organizers and participants of hazing. The Board of Regents and, in the case of secondary schools, the Board of Education shall promulgate regulations governing the content and frequency of such reports, and shall forthwith report to the attorney general any such institution which fails to make such report.
The following Disciplinary Policy shall be applied to any organizer (individual or organization) and/or participants (individual or organization) of the practice of hazing with any affiliation to Massasoit Community College. Any individual or organization associated with Massasoit Community College for whom there is reason to believe may have been involved as an organizer or participant in the practice of hazing shall be subject to any or all of the following procedures:
- A review by the Massasoit Community College Student / Faculty Judiciary Council
- A review by the Massasoit Community College administrative and/or security staff, as deemed appropriate, subject to established College and Statewide grievance procedures
- Criminal prosecution by appropriate law enforcement and judicial agencies
Should there be any questions concerning the College’s Hazing Policy, please contact the Dean of Student Services.