Preventing hazing isn't one training your chapter delivers or completes once a year — it's a system: clear expectations, monitored events, compliant alcohol management, known reporting channels, and BOG members who model accountability instead of just teaching it. This article gives your BOG what it needs to run that system and lean on it, not just be aware of it.

For: All BOG members

When: Start of the year, ongoing throughout membership, and immediately in any suspected incident

Hazing is any intentional, knowing, or reckless act by a group or individual, committed against others, regardless of that person's affiliation within the chapter — for the purpose of gaining membership, joining, the association process, initiating, or retaining membership. Permission or willingness to participate is not a defense.

⚠️ Watch out — Social road trips, scavenger hunts, forced physical activity framed as "bonding," required embarrassing apparel, and big/little or "family" traditions are common blind spots — chapters often don't recognize these as hazing because they're framed as tradition rather than harm.

📌 Policy — If alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances are present during a hazing incident, that severely increases the punishment, sanctions, and possible prosecution against the individuals involved.

Hazing sits inside a broader Health & Safety Policy that BOG is responsible for making sure the chapter actually knows and lives by:

📌 Policy — This policy is required to be introduced during new member education and revisited throughout membership — it's not a one-time onboarding topic.

✅ Best practice — Have your risk management chairman or BOG review and approve event plans before they happen, not audit them after the fact. Catching a problem in the planning stage costs a conversation; catching it afterward costs an incident report.

Every BOG member — and every chapter member — should know all of these, not just the one they remember:

📌 Policy — Retaliation against anyone for filing a report, receiving guidance, or otherwise engaging with a compliance report is strictly prohibited.

Phi Kappa Tau's Good Samaritan Policy exists so members act immediately in an emergency — for example, calling for help during an alcohol-related medical situation — without hesitating out of fear of punishment.

✅ Best practice — Don't just let this policy sit in a handbook. Bring it up directly when you talk about alcohol safety, so members already know — before they're in a stressful moment — that calling for help is the right call, not a risk to themselves.

⚠️ Watch out — The instinct is for members to talk it through with friends outside the chapter, or to guess at what happened before the facts are clear, BUT this can make a bad situation worse. Stick to the steps above and let the right people gather the facts.

Your Membership Orientation Officer already builds anti-hazing directly into New Member Education. Their own facilitator guidance puts it well: belonging is built through shared values — not fear or coercion.

BOG's job isn't to duplicate that curriculum — it's to make sure it's actually landing and holding all year:

✅ Best practice — Pair this with your chapter's start-of-year university standards walkthrough so members hear FIPG's, the university's, and Phi Kappa Tau's expectations together, reinforcing each other instead of competing for attention across separate meetings.

What if a new member says they're okay with an activity — does that change anything?
No. Permission or willingness to participate is explicitly not a defense under this policy.

What if alcohol is involved in a hazing incident?
That significantly increases the severity of punishment, sanctions, and possible prosecution — it doesn't mitigate anything.

Can we still rent a room at a bar for a social event?
Yes — as long as chapter funds aren't used for drink promotions, paid-for drinks, or tickets, and the chapter isn't co-hosting or sponsoring the event with the venue.

Is there a way to report a concern anonymously?
Yes — the text line (513-540-1906) and the online concern form at phikappatau.org/concern both allow for anonymous reporting.

Who's actually in charge if a crisis happens?
The chapter president leads oversight of the immediate response, but your full BOG should already agree in advance on who calls Executive Offices, who talks to the university, and who keeps the rest of the chapter informed — don't figure that out for the first time during the crisis itself.

Questions? Contact your Executive Offices staff liaison. · Last reviewed: September 2026.