Hazing Regulations
269:17. Hazing; organizing and participating; hazing defined.
Section 17. Whoever is a principal organizer or participant in the crime
of hazing, as defined herein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $3,000 or by
imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than one year, or both such fine and
imprisonment. The term "hazing" as used in this section and sections 18 and 19, 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,
forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of any food, liquor,
beverage, drug or other substance, or any other 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 student or other person to extreme mental
stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section to the contrary, consent shall not
be available as a defense to any prosecution under this action.
269:18. Failure to report hazing.
Section 18. Whoever knows that another person is the victim of hazing as
defined in section 17 and is at the scene of such 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 practSeptember 21, 2006ime
shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.
269:19. Copy of secs. 17-19; issuance to students and student groups, teams
and organizations; report.
Section 19. Each institution of secondary education and each public and private
institution of post-secondary education shall issue to every student group, student team,
or student organization which is part of such institution or is recognized by the
institution or permitted by the institution to use its name or facilities or is known to
the institution to exist as an unaffiliated student group, student team or student
organization, a copy of this section and sections 17 and 18; provided, however, that an
institution's compliance with this section's requirements that an institution issue
copies of this section and sections 17 and 18 to unaffiliated student groups, teams, or
organizations shall not constitute evidence of the institution's recognition or
endorsement of said unaffiliated student groups, teams, or organizations.
Each such group, team, or organization shall distribute a copy of this section and sections 17 and 18 to each of its members, plebes, pledges or applicants for membership. It shall be the duty of each such group, team, or organization, acting through its designated officer, to deliver annually to the institution an attested acknowledgment stating that such group, team, or organization has received a copy of this section and said sections 17 and 18, that each of its members, plebes, pledges, or applicants has received a copy of sections 17 and 18, and that such group, team, or organization understands and agrees to comply with the provisions of this section and sections 17 and 18.
Each institution of secondary education and each public or private institution of post-secondary education shall, at least annually, before or at the start of enrollment, deliver to each person who enrolls as a full-time student in such institution a copy of this section and sections 17 and 18.
Each institution of secondary education and each public or private institution of post-secondary education shall file, at least annually, a report with the regents of higher education and in the case of secondary institutions, the board of education, certifying that such institution has complied with its responsibility to inform student groups, teams or organizations and to notify each full-time student enrolled by it of the provisions of this section and sections 17 and 18 and also certifying that said institution has adopted a disciplinary policy with regard to the organizers and participants of hazing, and that such policy has been set forth with appropriate emphasis in the student handbook or similar means of communicating the institution's policies to its students. The board of regents and, in the case of secondary institutions, 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.
Updated June 24, 2005
