Hazing Prevention and Response at NWACC

NorthWest Arkansas Community College is committed to providing a safe educational environment for everyone, cultivating a community that fosters respect for the dignity and rights of all persons. Therefore, hazing, by any group or individual affiliated with the College, will not be tolerated.

What is Hazing?

Hazing, as defined in the NWACC Anti-Hazing Policy as any situation created, action or activity that is reasonably likely to, or is intended to, endanger the physical or mental health of a person for the purpose of initiation, admission into, affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in a group or student organization. Hazing can be intentional or unintentional and can occur with or without consent. This definition shall apply regardless of location or consent of participants. Hazing also includes “hazing planning or organizing.” Hazing includes, without limitation, behaviors that violate Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-5-201 and The Stop Campus Hazing Act.

Hazing includes but is not limited to:

• Any type of physical brutality, such as whipping, beating, striking, branding, electric shocking, placing of a harmful substance in or on the body, or similar activity
• Any type of physical activity that involves or results in sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, calisthenics, or other activity that subjects the person to an unreasonable risk of harm or that adversely affects the mental or physical health or safety of the person
• Any activity involving consumption of a food, liquid, alcoholic beverage, liquor, drug, or other substance, that subjects the person to an unreasonable risk of harm or that adversely affects the mental or physical health or safety of the person;
• Any activity that intimidates, demeans, embarrasses, or threatens the person with ostracism, that subjects the person to stress, shame, or humiliation, that adversely affects the mental health or dignity of the person or discourages the person from entering or remaining registered in an educational institution, or that may reasonably be expected to cause a person to leave the organization or the institution rather than submit to acts described in this subsection
• Any activity that involves coercing a minor student to consume a drug or an alcoholic beverage or liquor in any amount
• Any activity that threatens the wellbeing of a person by restricting their ability to communicate with others to get medical help, to document prohibited conduct, or report misconduct, such as, but not limited to, the confiscation of a personal communication device
• Any activity that induces, causes, or requires the person to perform a duty or task that involves a violation state or federal law

Examples of Hazing
(this is not an all-inclusive list)