College hazing's “red zone”

This fall’s hazing headlines reveal more than 25 hazing incidents across 14 states, highlighting the dangers for incoming college students

Learn about hazing on your campus: HazingInfo's Campus Hazing Database

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The new school year is in full swing — and so is hazing’s “red zone.”

The red zone begins with the start of school and goes through Thanksgiving break, a time when campus hazing incidents spike and students are at higher risk for being harmed or killed by hazing.

News headlines from the first eight weeks of this school year tell the story:

College students have been blindfolded, slapped, forced to drink and go without sleep for days. They have been pushed to physical exhaustion until they couldn’t walk and their urine turned black. 

In one case, a pledge reportedly was forced to lick a dead rat. In another, two pledges lit themselves on fire.

A review of hazing headlines from August 1 to September 28 reveals:

• Hazing incidents were reported across 14 states and 21 colleges and universities.
• 27 separate hazing incidents were highlighted, with many combining multiple instances of hazing into a single investigation or news story.
• At least 23 incidents involved fraternities. Kappa Sigma fraternity alone accounted for six separate instances of hazing reported in six different states.
• Fort Valley State University’s marching band, Harvard College’s student orchestra, the University of Rhode Island men’s rugby team, and the cheerleading team at Indiana University of Pennsylvania also made the news for hazing.   
• At the high school level, football teams in six states made headlines for hazing, along with a high school wrestling team and a girls’ soccer team.

Fraternities most often cited for hazing

Hazing news stories came from every corner of the United States, across campuses small and large, public and private, rural and urban.

Some of the incidents occurred this fall, while other news reports stem from new developments in older hazing investigations.

Greek organizations accounted for the vast majority of reported hazing.

At the University of Georgia, two fraternities are being investigated for hazing this fall. Sigma Chi fraternity members allegedly punched freshman pledges and required them to send videos of themselves chugging alcohol during the summer. Members of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity allegedly deprived pledges of sleep, screamed at them, and burned their forearms with cigarettes.

The University of Kansas lifted hazing suspensions early for two fraternities, Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Delta Theta. But both were allowed to continue operating by their national organizations, despite findings that included sleep deprivation and forcing pledges to sleep in vomit-covered sheets.

At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Kappa Sigma fraternity is on interim suspension for hazing in which two pledges were seriously burned during a fraternity ritual known as the “weather pledge” in which they set themselves on fire. 

Kappa Sigma fraternity is also in trouble at Texas A&M University, where police are investigating reports that pledges were made to exercise to the point of exhaustion. Some pledges passed out or vomited from fatigue, while others reported their urine turned black and they couldn’t walk following the hazing.

More Greek hazing incidents reported nationwide

Hazing incidents at Greek organizations were also reported at:

• California State University, San Marcos (Alpha Kappa Delta Phi sorority)
• California State University, Chico (Phi Kappa Tau fraternity). 
• University of California, Los Angeles (Kappa Sigma fraternity).
• Mercer University in Georgia (Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity).
• Southern University in Louisiana (Omega Psi Phi fraternity).
• Louisiana State University (Kappa Sigma fraternity).
• Michigan State University (Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity).
• University of Southern Mississippi (Omega Psi Phi fraternity).
• Oklahoma State University (Kappa Sigma fraternity).
• Pennsylvania State University (Phi Beta Sigma and Sigma Pi fraternities).
• Clemson University in South Carolina (Kappa Sigma, Sigma Nu, and Phi Delta Theta fraternities).
• Texas Tech University (three reports of hazing at unidentified fraternities on and off campus).
• Washington State University (Gamma Iota Omicron fraternity).

Disturbing reports of hazing in high school football

This fall also brought word of hazing investigations across six states involving high school football teams, and in one case, junior high football teams.

At least five of those incidents involved sexualized hazing. 

Football teams are under investigation at Elk Grove High School and Monterey Trail High School in California; McCreary County Central High School in Kentucky; Harford Technical High School in Bel Air, MD; and Ursuline High School and the Athens Area School District in Ohio.

Hazing was not limited to football. Other school sports teams also drew attention for hazing.

The Liberty High School wrestling team in Peoria, AZ, made headlines after student wrestlers described being groped and assaulted during meets and practices while the former head coach did nothing.

The coach of the Girls Preparatory School soccer team in Chattanooga, TN, recently resigned following an investigation that found hazing on the team over a span of several years. 

And in Texas, junior high football games in Uvalde were canceled at two schools following inappropriate social media posts titled “Uvalde Hate Week,” which contained disturbing content and the faces of students. The district linked the activity to “two student groups hazing each other on social media” ahead of a scheduled football game.

Hazing snapshot highlights toxic hazing culture

This two-month snapshot of hazing in fall 2025 captures some of the pervasive cultural and systemic issues that contribute to campus hazing culture. 

That includes students who don’t report hazing, often for fear of retribution. And it includes university administrators and national Greek organizations that turn a blind eye toward hazing, allowing toxic hazing rituals to persist.

Hazing has claimed at least 335 lives since the first documented case in 1838 and injured countless others.

Find out about hazing on your campus: Use our Campus Lookup feature to search your college or university.