Students returning to Case Western Reserve University last academic year were greeted with a new anti-hazing requirement in the form of a module. This new requirement came in response to the deaths of Collin Wiant and Stone Foltz, students who were killed in 2018 and 2021, respectively, as a result of hazing rituals in their respective university’s fraternities. The module was created in light of the new legislation “Collin’s Law,” which requires hazing prevention training in Ohio colleges and universities. This includes all undergraduate students participating in on campus organizations, such as athletics, Greek Life and student activities, as well as all first-year students. The module was also encouraged for upperclass and graduate students, faculty and staff. In addition to these requirements, the law also requires that each participating university release a biannual report to be released in January and August of each year for five years.

January has come and passed. Six months since the implementation of this module, the first biannual report was recently made available. You can find the full report on the CWRU Public Safety website, but here is a summary of what the three pages detail:

The report first reiterates the university’s commitment to preventing hazing. It then outlines the goals of the Community Concerns Reporting System (CCRS). This system is designed to provide a process for students and staff to report “incidents of hazing, perceived mistreatment, cultural/ethnic insensitivity, and bias against students” across campus. Students can use this streamlined system to report, or can always report to one of the many offices on campus who also deal with these incidents, such as the Threat Assessment and Behavioral Intervention Team (TABIT), the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, the Office of the Dean of Students or the Division of Public Safety. 

The report then moves on to the actual cases of hazing reported. There were only two incidents reported, both within five years previous to this program’s implementation. Though all personal information has been removed, the report still details the offending organization and the nature of the incident, as well as the dates and the outcome of the investigation. The two incidents present in this report were both within Greek Life, in two separate fraternities here on campus, in the years 2017 and 2020. Both pertained to putting pressure on incoming members, and both incidents ended with mandated alcohol education and disciplinary action. Both cases are now resolved.

The next one of these reports should come out in August of this year, so be on the lookout for that update. For more information about CWRU’s anti-hazing policies, check out Collin’s Law on CWRU’s Public Safety website or at the Division of Student Affairs. For now, if you see an incident similar to those mentioned in the report or in Collin’s Law, make sure to report to TABIT or use the CCRS. All students have a right to be safe on campus.