On December 23, 2024, President Joe Biden took steps to improve hazing reporting and prevention on college campuses by signing the Stop Campus Hazing Act (“Hazing Act”) The new law requires higher education institutions that participate in federal student aid programs to report hazing incidents in their Annual Security Report (“ASR”) and take steps to prevent hazing incidents by establishing campus-wide hazing education and prevention programs. The Act also requires institutions to generate a Campus Hazing Transparency Report which summarizes findings of student organizations that violated the institution’s hazing policies.
While universities are already required to report crimes that occur on campuses in their ASR, the Act is unique in its attempt to target reported incidents of hazing specifically.
The Act defines hazing for purposes of the reporting obligations as “any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that (1) is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in, a student organization (e.g., a club, athletic team, fraternity, or sorority); and (2) causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the [institution] or the organization, of physical or psychological injury.”
Many states carry their own anti-hazing laws. California, for example, criminalizes the activity under California Penal Code section 245.6. Colleges and universities will now need to update their policies and reporting to comply with state law and the new requirements in the Act.
Colleges and universities must have anti-hazing policies in place on or before June 23, 2025. By July 1, 2025, colleges and universities must begin collecting the required data to satisfy requirements of the Campus Hazing Transparency Report that must be made publicly available on the institution’s website on or before December 23, 2025. The new ASR requirement will take effect in October 2026.
Additionally, by June 23, 2025, colleges and universities are required to have anti-hazing and prevention policies in place and publish statements regarding those policies. The Act does not identify specific locations for the publications, but a practical location is the institution’s ASR.
F3 attorneys are available to assist colleges and universities in complying with the new reporting requirements and drafting related policies and procedures.
