With Marshall University Greek Life’s Rush and Bid Weeks coming to a close, Hazing Prevention Week begins to educate students, both in organizations and not, on the importance of reporting hazing that takes place on campus, as well as how to prevent hazing from happening.

National Hazing Prevention Week started Monday. However, Marshall’s Greek Life panel decided to switch things up and begin hazing prevention events Wednesday, ending Tuesday, Sept. 26.

“A lot of times, people think this is just associated with the Greek community but that is entirely false,” Meena Elango, interim graduate assistant of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said. “This event is for every organization on campus, Greek or not, to promote safety and to stop hazing. The goal is for students to know at the end of this week that Marshall has zero tolerance for hazing in any organization, and for students to receive the necessary information to protect themselves and get the help that they may need.”

Hazing Prevention Week is observed on college campuses across the nation as a time to educate students, faculty and the public on ways to protect themselves and peers from unfair treatment that may be employed when individuals try to join organizations or Greek Life groups.

Darius Booker, Non-Panhellenic representative and a senior Business Management major, helped plan the events for the coming week, and said he thinks the plethora of educational opportunities, as well as fun engagement, will not only better students’ understanding of hazing, but help protect students as well.

“This gives all of our students the opportunity to learn about hazing and to learn about how to prevent hazing,” Booker said. “People can’t prevent something if they don’t know about it, so it’s important that our administration and our organizations are aware of the dangers of hazing, how to prevent it and to give students that information outright.”

Booker went on to explain that he believes the guest speaker to be featured Monday will help drive home the importance of a safe extracurricular campus life.

“Monday, we will be hosting Rasheed Ali Cromwell, a professional speaker who speaks a lot about hazing across the nation, and he’s coming to Marshall University to talk about the different aspects of hazing, how to identify it and how to prevent it,” Booker said.

Events for this year’s Hazing Prevention Week include: an opening celebration Wednesday with snacks and information, a taco bar at the Student Center Thursday, a movie night open to all students Friday, Rasheed Ali Cromwell’s speech Monday and closing tabling Tuesday. All events are open to all students.

Breanna Francis can be contacted at [email protected].