Serve in the Light of Truth

In partnership with Sigma Nu Fraternity, HazingPrevention.Org is pleased to announce the 2013 #40Answers Campaign.  For each of the 40 days leading up to National Hazing Prevention Week (September 23 – 27, 2013), one commonly heard excuse for hazing will be posted via the Twitter accounts for HazingPrevention.Org (@PreventHazing) and Sigma Nu Fraternity (@SigmaNuHQ).

Participating in the campaign is easy!  First, follow @PreventHazing and @SigmaNuHQ to see the hazing excuse for each day.  Second, post your answer to that excuse using your personal or organization’s Twitter account. Note all Twitter posts should include the #40Answers hashtag so the conversation can be easily followed.  Lastly, follow the conversation by searching Twitter for posts tagged with “#40Answers”.

The list bellow outlines the 40 commonly heard excuses for hazing that will be used for this year’s #40Answers Campaign.  The first excuse will be posted via the HazingPrevention.Org (@PreventHazing) and Sigma Nu Fraternity (@SigmaNuHQ) Twitter accounts on August 14, 2013.

All are encouraged to participate.  Just be sure to include the #40Answers hashtag in your response posts so others can easily follow the conversation.

1. New members have to earn their way into this group/team/organization.
2. I don’t think _________ is hazing.
3. This is just part of becoming a member of a team/organization/fraternity/sorority.
4. Other groups/teams/organizations/chapters won’t respect us if we don’t haze.
5. Professional sports teams do the same thing. It’s on ESPN and they never get in trouble. Why do we?
6. It’s all in fun. We aren’t trying to hurt anyone.
7. Hazing builds better members by breaking them down so we can build them up and make them stronger.
8. They chose to participate.
9. We’ve always done it that way.
10. Hazing unites the new teammates/new member class.
11. We won’t get caught.
12. Hazing teaches freshmen/rookies to respect the upperclassmen.
13. The university only prohibits hazing because they have to for liability reasons.
14. Hazing made me a better person.
15. They have it easy compared to what I went through.
16. We can’t just allow anyone into our group/team/organization.
17. That other organization/team asked us to haze their members, but we wouldn’t do that to our own members/teammates.
18. My organization/team does lots of great things. Why are you focusing on this little thing?
19. If we stop hazing then we’ll lose alumni support or respect from other teams.
20. No one is going to die from _______.
21. You hazed in your organization/team, why should I listen to you now when you say it’s wrong?
22. I’m not the captain/president/new member educator; I can’t change what we are doing.
23. Everyone else on campus does it.
24. It’s tradition.
25. Hazing helps us weed out those who really don’t want to be here.
26. There was a stated educational purpose to what we were doing, so it’s not hazing.
27. We can’t do anything fun anymore. Everything is hazing.
28. They wanted to be hazed.
29. Our new members/rookies are going to drink anyway. We’re not having them do anything they wouldn’t do on their own.
30. The members of __________haze worse than we do!
31. New members must learn to appreciate the team/organization.
32. Even if we do get in trouble, the school can’t get rid of our team/organization/chapter; the alumni will stop their donations.
33. I had to go through it so the new members/rookies need to do it too.
34. We don’t agree with it; we’re just waiting for the seniors to graduate.
35. We only haze a little bit.
36. It’s just boys being boys. They are just stupid pranks.
37. We give our rookies/new members the option to not participate.
38. If I ask campus professionals or advisors for help, our organization will be shut down or our team will lose its season.
39. The military hazes.  Why can’t we?
40. It used to be much worse.