Hazing Cases and Qualified Immunity

In mid-1999, a student by the name of B.J. Durham transferred schools as a result of his mother’s divorce and financial struggles. B.J. was a cross-country/track star at his previous school, Park Tudor Private High School, and was rumored to be moving for athletically-motivated reasons. Because of the hearsay, B.J. was not granted full-eligibility by the IHSAA but partial. B.J., the plaintiff in this case, was also denied access to the Hardship Exception which would’ve granted him athletic eligibility in full. B.J. and his family took their case to court. The court issued a permanent injunction against the IHSAA’s decision, to which the IHSAA later appealed. The court stood on their decision,

In Jackson v. Birmingham Board Of Education, Coach Jackson filed a lawsuit claiming the school’s athletic program was discriminating against the team based on their sex and was being retaliated against, which falls in violation of Title IX (Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, 2005). After finding out funding and access to equipment were not equal, a girls’ basketball coach spoke with supervisors. The complaint was unsuccessful and he received poor work evaluations as a result and was eventually removed from the coaching position. The lawsuit was dismissed on the premise that Title IX does not include claims of retaliation. This has created confusion with court cases in regards to what constitutes as retaliation in making an accusation of discrimination. Since the development of Title IX, another civil action that has been created to protect citizens from having their rights violated is Section 1983 (42 USC 1983). Section 1983 covers claims in conjunction with Title IX. Section 1983 enforces Constitutional rights and reiterates the prohibition of discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex and religion (42 USC

When you are a part of Greek life you are popular. In professional sports, with men sports the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major Baseball League etc., there is a history of hazing to accept new rookies into the league. Even though, the organization have dangerous activities, but ignore outrageous events they may have to endure to become part of the organization. Hazing is classified into three types subtle, violent, and harassment. Subtle hazing is mainly deception, or not having to do the same thing other new members had to do. These falls under “reasonable hazing” to others, but to me it is not. With subtle hazing when a pledge is lining up you could call a guy run a lap but referring to him as a girl. Mainly, required greeting of members in a specific manner when seen on campus. With harassment hazing is causes stress, a relative degree of discomfort, physically or emotionally, to the new members

The U.S. Supreme Court Decision of Warford v. Lexington News-Herald is an example of how the court defined an assistant basketball coach at the University of Pittsburgh as a private figure. Reggie Warford complained about allegations of recruiting improperties that he committed as an assistant basketball coach. The issue at hand was originally posted in the 1985 Lexington Herald, but were reprinted in 1986 under a special NCAA reprint publication entitled 1985: A Year of Crisis in College Athletics. The 1986 publication is the source of the libel dispute.

The Plaintiff contends that Baylor’s knowledge of the potential threat Elliott and other student-athletes posed as well as their deliberate lack of concern subjected her to an increased risk of being sexually assaulted. Specifically, Hernandez alleges that the university failed to address and intentionally concealed the sexual violence committed by football players for several years; the Plaintiff also states that Baylor’s staff was directly and repeatedly told about the sexual assaults committed

In some cases a schools decision to cut sports in order to comply with Title IX has lead to a lawsuit. An example of this would be Miami University. The university formed a committee to address the issue of Title IX compliance and hired a consultant as well. "The committee and consultant determined that in order to comply with Title IX, the university had the option of eliminating a few sports for men. As a result, the university eliminated the men's soccer, wrestling and tennis teams, effective at the end of the 1999 spring semester (Challenge 2002)." On November 18, 1999, the plaintiffs filed a complaint against the defendants, claming that the defendants' elimination of the men's wrestling, tennis and soccer programs at Miami University, a state university of the State of Ohio and a recipient of federal funds, constituted gender discrimination in violation of the 20 U.S.C.& et seq. And violated their rights to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment (United 2002). The court found that the plaintiffs failed

This case involves the Plaintiff, Kelly Pryor, and the Defendant, National Collegiate Athletic Association, in a complex argument that involves racial discrimination under Title VI and the NCAA adoption of Proposition 16 as well as Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation claims. The court must carefully consider the claims Pryor has brought forth and determine if the discrimination of Proposition 16 was purposefully adopted by adding certain education requirement to ultimately hinder the amount of scholarships awarded to incoming black student athletes. Throughout this case analysis, I will weigh the different evidence presented from both parties and report the court’s reasoning for decisions made in Pryor v.

the cause of so many untimely deaths and injuries, it raises the question; should hazing be

Hazing as we know it today is most commonly to initiate members into a fraternity, sorority, or club of some sort. Hazing’s roots go into Ancient Greece when Plato first observed the occurrence and wrote about it in one of his works. The first sign of the term “hazing” appeared in the 16th century, when veteran soldiers would harass new sailors whenever the weather would create a haze. The integration of hazing in American society occurred in the 19th century after the Civil War. Before the war, university fraternities were a place to exchange ideas which most students did not find too engaging. After the war, the meaning of university fraternities had evolved to strengthen bonds with one another. The war put not optimal events and situations, which made soldiers strengthen bonds between one another. Fraternities would often replicate the traumatic events that occurred during the war to strengthen bonds between the recruits and the organization. The fraternities would base hazing rituals on stories their fathers or grandfathers who had participated in the war. Three hazing related deaths occurred in the

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was to determine if the plaintiff, David Dunlap Dunlap, had met the burden of proof that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by intentionally discriminating against him under both disparate impact and disparate treatment analyses and whether the TVA appeal to the District Court erred in each of these analyses could be legally supported to reverse their decision FindLaw, 2011).

On Saturday November 4th, I visited Maine South High School to observe the athletic training room facility. I had emailed the Head Athletic Trainer, Jerry Bornhoff prior to my attendance to make sure I was allowed to shadow him for the day. A Maine South football game was scheduled for the afternoon, and the facility was packed with football players. Throughout the time I was there, I made sure I noted the whole process of an athlete from when they first arrived and when they left the training room facility.

Summary: Matthew Haag’s New York Times article, “10 Additional Penn State Students Charged in Hazing Death of Pledge” begins with the discovery that members of the fraternity Beta Theta Pi deleted footage of the incident. This sudden realization by the F.B.I. led to the accusation of 10 additional suspects within the fraternity. The deleted footage revealed Mr. Piazza was “given at least 18 alcoholic drinks over 82 minutes at the Feb. 2 fraternity party.” The new video later showed him repeatedly falling down the stairs ultimately cracking his skull and busting his spleen from the continuous falls. So far charges have been presented upon all twelve of the involved.

Often times hazing is a big problem we see occurring in our society. Whether it is occurring within a sports team, sorority, school, friends, or even a group of co-workers, we hear about it on a relatively frequent basis. Often times hazing stories are justified by the person committing the act of hazing and over dramatized by the media. Conducting a full study on whether hazing actually exists and the multiple ways it exists can help members of our society to further understand the implications of the action. Throughout this study the definition of hazing has been explored as well as superfluous examples to prove hazing is prominent in our society and laws and actions taken against

Hazing has often been thought to exist primarily in fraternities and sororities; many people are starting to realize the pervasiveness of these harmful rituals. In fact, a recent study by Alfred University and the NCAA found that approximately 80% of college athletes had been subjected to some form of hazing. This total comes to more than 250,000 athletes during the 1998-99 school year alone. Half were required to participate in drinking contests or alcohol related initiations while two thirds were subjected to humiliating hazing. The majority of hazing occurs during the initiations to club sports and fraternities/sororities.

Hazing is defined as any action taken or any situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule and risks emotional and/or physical harm to members of a group or team. Many people have become a victim of this horrific act. While it may start as a fun tradition that is performed in different groups, it can become very tragic. Hazing takes place in high schools, sports, and fraternities which has led to an increase in media attention due to victims revealing personal accounts of hazing incidents.