By Nicole Asbury
Higher education institutions that are part of federal student aid programs must begin reporting hazing incidents publicly, thanks to a new bill signed by President Joe Biden.
Campuses have been required to release annual reports that document any crimes, but hazing typically is excluded from those reports. The Stop Campus Hazing Act, which passed in the U.S. Senate earlier this month, mandates institutions publicly share hazing statistics, including the name of the organization involved and details of the behavior that incited a hazing violation. It also provides an explicit definition of the term and requires institutions to implement education and prevention programs on campus.
Some of its mandates could take effect in the next six months, according to the bill, which Biden signed into law on Tuesday.
“This bill empowers students and their families to make informed decisions about the schools they attend and the organizations they join,” Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Georgia), who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. “That information could be lifesaving.”
Its passage was celebrated by families of hazing victims, who have called on federal authorities to take such a step for years. Eric Oakes, whose son Adam died in 2021 at an event hosted by a fraternity at Virginia Commonwealth University, was a part of those advocacy efforts.
“For us, it was important,” Oakes said in a phone interview Friday. “They don’t just pass federal bills for no reason; something legitimate is happening on our campuses around hazing. We need to educate our students and get them to change their behavior, because it’s not only reckless, it cost my son his life.”
Adam Oakes was a freshman at VCU when he received an invitation to pledge the Delta Chi fraternity. According to his family, the 19-year-old attended a “Big Little Reveal” party, where he was supposed to be introduced to the “big brother” who would guide him through Greek life. But a little over 12 hours later, he was found dead on a couch in the off-campus house, his family said.
A Virginia state medical examiner found that Oakes died of alcohol poisoning and ruled his death an accident. The Richmond university later expelled the fraternity. Oakes’s death also led to criminal charges against nearly a dozen people for misdemeanor counts that included unlawful hazing. Some faced counts of giving alcohol to a minor.
Since then, the Oakes family has started and run a nonprofit called the Love Like Adam Foundation, which raises awareness about hazing and its dangers. The family also advocated for the Virginia General Assembly to pass a measure known as “Adam’s Law,” which requires most of the state’s colleges and universities to publicize reports of hazing misconduct. Their next step was to support the federal bill.
Eric Oakes said he believes the new bill could save students’ lives. He looked through his son’s phone after he died and noticed that Adam’s search history showed he was looking into campus clubs. He says the sites his son reviewed didn’t publicly mention that VCU’s chapter of Delta Chi was previously placed under a year-long suspension for failing to comply with the university’s requirements for fraternities — including rules surrounding event registration, attendance policies and academic performance.
Those details are important in helping a student determine whether they want to join an organization or athletic team, Oakes said. He added that if his son would have known some of those details, he would have been less likely to join the fraternity.
Under the bill, hazing is defined as “any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person against a student” that is conducted as a part of initiation process or to maintain membership in an organization, and can cause physical injury, mental harm or degradation. Most states have anti-hazing laws, but there are a handful — such as South Dakota and Wyoming — that lacked a law with an explicit definition.
Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats from Virginia, mentioned Adam Oakes in a statement that applauded the bill’s passage.
“Our hearts are with the Oakes family, who lost their son Adam to a tragic incident of campus hazing in 2021,” the senators, who were sponsors of the bill, wrote. “No family should have to go through what they have been through. This law will improve transparency and accountability around incidents of campus hazing and hopefully help to prevent future tragedies like the one that claimed Adam Oakes’ life.”