Last month, seven fraternity members at Indiana University were charged with hazing, a Level 6 felony.
The charges follow other recent hazing allegations at IU. In November 2025, the Office of Student Life temporarily banned 27 fraternities from hosting social events after several alleged hazing incidents.
IU defines hazing as “any conduct that subjects another individual to a risk of physical or psychological harm greater than a reasonable risk of group participation, in the course of initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in a team, group or organization as a condition of association with a team, group, or organization.”
IU officials are working on hazing prevention methods through education and awareness. The university has worked alongside StopHazing since 2023, according to the IU Office of Student Life website.
StopHazing is a national research-based organization that works with universities to implement hazing prevention methods. The organization licenses online courses to help provide hazing prevention education.
Lauren Baines, director of health promotion at the IU Office of Student Life, works with the Hazing Prevention Coalition. The coalition was created in January 2024 and is an interdisciplinary team of 24 departments, including the IU Athletics Department, IU Student Government and the IU Interfraternity Council.
Baines said the coalition has been successful in getting organizations to collaborate across departments.
“To share about what their students are seeing, to report about what is effective and what is proper messaging for their particular students, opportunities for us to come in and provide trainings and just gathering that support to share with individual offices,” Baines said. “I think that’s the best approach, when we can all come together.”
The Hazing Prevention Coalition was created from StopHazing’s Hazing Prevention Consortium, a multi-year research-to-practice initiative. StopHazing works with universities for three years.
In the first year, the consortium focuses on building capacity and conducting assessments, while the second and third years emphasize implementing sustainable strategies based on data results from the first year. IU joined the consortium in 2023 and is now in its final year.
StopHazing Strategy and Operations Director Meredith Stewart said the consortium started in 2013 to conduct research and collect data for effective hazing prevention across college campuses nationwide.
Stewart said the development of Hoosiers Not Hazers at IU, as well as updating the website to provide more transparency and clarity on hazing policies has been effective at hazing prevention.
Hoosiers not Hazers is an in-person hazing prevention workshop and is mandatory for first and second-year members of IFC chapters. Along with Hoosiers not Hazers, IU provides several other hazing prevention efforts, including workshops, tabling events at involvement fairs and presentations.
Julia Nowak, IU Police Department public information officer, said IUPD responds to hazing reports when received and teaches preventative hazing measures.
Nowak said there is Greek liaison program with IUPD officers and Greek life students; officers present to students about alcohol safety, hazing and ways to stay safe at large events.
“Some of the tips we like to tell our students is simply to look out for one another,” she said. “If you see someone being pressured, isolated or being put in danger, to speak up, you want people to speak up and seek help."
Nowak emphasized that just because someone consented to hazing, that does not mean that it’s no longer considered hazing.
In a 2023 IU Student Involvement Survey, 80% of IU students agreed hazing is not an effective way to create bonding on campus, and 95% believed they do not need to be hazed to belong to a group. Despite this, hazing persists.
Stewart said while there is not one single answer to this issue, she believes it comes down to culture and tradition.
“Culture shifting is hard, and it takes time, and you’re coming up against long-standing traditions and norms and historical context of institutions or organizations,” Stewart said.
She said while most students do agree hazing is not okay, once they are in that situation, they either don’t recognize that they are being hazed, or they don’t have the skills yet to combat it.
Despite the challenge that comes with breaking down traditions, Stewart is optimistic the culture around hazing can change through building healthy relationships and peer support.
“There are a lot of things that get in the way, that are long standing and hard to break through,” Stewart said. “But, inch by inch, we’re getting there.”
