This post was written by Hatchet reporter Avery Anapol
One month after the Student Association voted to bring in outside researchers to study the University’s hazing culture, a top administrator cast doubt on whether that review would move forward.
Associate Dean of Students Tim Miller questioned whether students would truthfully answer questions about their experiences with hazing to give administrators and student leaders a better understanding of hazing at GW. If he does approve the survey, he said he likely won’t release the information publicly.
The study would cost up to $2,000, and Miller said he is still talking with other colleges that commissioned the study to see if and how the results impacted their approach to hazing on campus.
“I want to know what you do with this. What is this data and information really helpful in doing and accomplishing?” he said.
Greek leaders said earlier this fall that their community has focused on routing a culture of hazing in the Greek community, after a string of hazing incidents in 2011 when the University charged three out of five chapters it investigated for hazing and underage alcohol violations.
GW’s judicial office typically receives a handful of alleged hazing incidents each semester. The University recently began looking into hazing allegations against Sigma Delta Tau.
SA Sen. Nick Gumas, CCAS-U, said he believes the survey would accurately reflect the hazing climate on campus, given that the National Collaborative for Hazing Research and Prevention surveyed over 50 college campuses for its national study of college hazing, the first of its kind.
“I imagine if there was problems with the way that they conduct the survey, they would have found out about those problems and alleviated them within the first dozen,” Gumas said.
In an interview last month, the national agency’s co-director Mary Madden said students are more likely to be honest because the surveys are anonymous and members are not asked to identify their organization. The study would likely poll about a quarter of students.
Miller said didn’t see a “benefit” in sharing the results of the survey with all students. He said he would share the information confidentially with the SA president and leaders of Greek life, club sports and a handful of other student leaders.
“Everybody doesn’t need to know the results of the whole thing,” Miller said. “The people who are [hazing] already know they’re doing it. The people who aren’t doing it, know they’re not doing it.”
Gumas declined to say whether he believes the information should be public because he is still in talks with the University.
Gumas and Miller said they were still discussing whether the survey would be funded by both the Center for Student Engagement and the SA.
Klaire Spielberg, a freshman in Alpha Delta Pi, said she believed the survey’s results should be kept under lock and key.
“I don’t really think that there is that much hazing going on on campus, but I think that that should be private information,” she said. “I don’t think that GW really needs any more bad publicity, to be completely honest.”
– Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report
