A effort to gather data on college hazing in all 50 states was expanded with assistance from the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine.
Hazinginfo.org currently includes hazing statistics from about 1,500 colleges across the US, up from nine states in the past.
The tool may help change the way people think about hazing, according to Elizabeth Allen, director of UMaine’s Hazing Prevention Research Lab.
“This project is really about shining that light on hazing, because we can’t solve a problem if we don’t even see it,” Allen stated.
Every higher education institution was compelled to publish an annual hazing report after the Stop Campus Hazing Act was approved in 2024. According to Allen, that enabled the database.
Artificial intelligence tools were initially used to gather the data, and its correctness was then verified by hand.
In 2019, a hazing incident at Washington State University claimed the life of Jolayne Houtz, founder of Hazinginfo.org, and her son. She claimed that her son’s life might have been saved if she had known about the fraternity’s history of hazing.
It’s no coincidence that parents and students find it quite difficult to locate hazing information. Many schools do not want to discuss this knowledge,” Houtz stated.
According to Houtz, she thinks this database will offer transparency and accessibility that potentially save lives.
The initiative also included the University of Washington Information School as a collaborator.
