Stop Campus Hazing Act

On December 24, 2024, President Biden signed the Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA) into law.  The SCHA amends the amends the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1092(f), a subsection of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (the Clery Act), and renames the Clery Act officially as the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act.  The new federal law requires covered colleges and universities to 1) compile and disclose statistics on hazing incidents reported to campus security authorities or local police in their Annual Security Report, 2) publish information related to hazing incidents in a newly established Campus Hazing Transparency Report (CHTR) and 3) publish specified information related to anti-hazing policies and hazing prevention programs. 

What does the Act do:

The Act defines hazing for the purposes of reporting statistics on hazing incidents in an Annual Security Report (ASR) as:

any intentional, knowing, or reckless act committed by a person (whether individually or in concert with other persons) against another person or persons regardless of the willingness of such other person or persons to participate, that –

  • is committed in the course of an initiation into, an affiliation with, or the maintenance of membership in, a student organization; and
  • causes or creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in the institution of higher education or the organization (such as the physical preparation necessary for participation in an athletic team), of physical or psychological injury.

The Act also sets forth a non-exhaustive list of examples of conduct that causes or creates such a risk, including:

  • whipping, beating, striking, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on someone's body, or similar activity;
  • causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, extreme calisthenics, or other similar activity;
  • causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to consume food, liquid, alcohol, drugs, or other substances;
  • causing, coercing, or otherwise inducing another person to perform sexual acts;
  • any activity that places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct;
  • any activity against another person that includes a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law; and
  • any activity that induces, causes, or requires another person to perform a duty or task that involves a criminal violation of local, State, Tribal, or Federal law.

The Act defines “student organization" for purposes of reporting statistics as:

an organization at an institution of higher education (such as a club, society, association, varsity or junior varsity athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government) in which two or more of the members are students enrolled at the institution of higher education, whether or not the organization is established or recognized by the institution.

What is a CHTR:

The Act also calls for a new form of reporting by requiring each covered institution to develop, publish and later update on the institution's website a Campus Hazing Transparency Report (CHTR). There are several differences in what is to be reported in the CHTR and ASR regarding hazing. First, the CHTR must summarize findings concerning any student organizations that are established or recognized by the institution and found to be in violation of the institution's standards of conduct relating to hazing, whereas statistics reporting for ASR purposes must include reports of hazing by student organizations as that term is defined under the Act and, therefore, includes those that are and are not established or recognized by the institution. Also, the scope of information that must be included in the CHTR differs from what must be included in an ASR in that the ASR requires the disclosure of statistics of hazing reported to the institution, whereas the CHTR needs to disclose only a summary of incidents in which a student organization established or recognized by the institution was found to have committed a hazing violation. In addition, the geographic scope of violations that must be summarized in the CHTR is broader than the geographic scope of the statistics reporting section of the Act. Although statistics reported in the ASR should be limited to reported hazing occurring in or on an institution's Clery geography, the Act specifically provides that the Clery Act's definition of "campus" does not apply for CHTR reporting purposes. Therefore, if a student organization established or recognized by the institution is found to have committed a hazing violation, a summary of that finding must be included in the CHTR regardless of where the misconduct occurred.

Under the Act, covered institutions must:

  • beginning July 1, 2025, collect information prospectively with respect to hazing incidents concerning student organizations that are established or recognized by the institution found to be in violation of the institution's standards of conduct relating to hazing,
  • not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment of the Act, make the CHTR publicly available on the institution's public website, and
  • not less frequently than two times each year, update the CHTR to include, for the period beginning on the date on which the CHTR was last published and ending on the date on which such update is submitted, each incident involving a student organization for which a finding of responsibility is issued relating to a CHTR defined hazing violation.

These timing requirements are qualified by the Act's provisions that a covered institution is not required to develop a CHTR “until such institution has a finding of a hazing violation” and does not have to update the CHTR for any period in which the institution does not have a finding of a hazing violation.

The summary of information about each finding of responsibility must include the following:

  • the name of such student organization,
  • a general description of the violation that resulted in a finding of responsibility, including whether the violation involved the abuse or illegal use of alcohol or drugs, the findings of the institution and any sanctions placed on the student organization by the institution, as applicable, and
  • the dates on which:
    • the alleged incident was alleged to have occurred,
    • the investigation into the incident was initiated,
    • the investigation ended with a finding that a hazing violation occurred, and
    • the institution provided notice to the student organization that the incident resulted in a hazing violation.

The summaries in the CHTR cannot contain "any personally identifiable information, including any information that would reveal personally identifiable information, about any individual student" in accordance with FERPA. In addition, the CHTP may include a description of the purposes of and differences between statistics on reports of hazing (by any person or entity) in or on Clery geography that are published with other Clery statistics in the institution's ASR, and the summaries of hazing violations by student organizations established or recognized by the institution that are included in the CHTR. Including such a description could help to address any confusion among campus community members and others regarding these distinct types of data. An institution required to publish a CHTR must publish it in a "prominent location" on its website, include a statement notifying the public of the availability of hazing statistics published in its ASR (including a link to the ASR), information about the institution's policies relating to hazing (discussed below) and applicable local, and state laws on hazing, and the information required in each updated summary of hazing violations, "which shall be maintained for a period of 5 calendar years from the date of publication of such update."

ASR Disclosure Requirements:

The Act expands current ASR reporting requirements and now requires each covered institution to include in its ASR statistics of hazing incidents "that were reported to campus security authorities or local police agencies" and that are reported to have occurred on campus, in or on non-campus buildings or property, and on certain public property, as defined by the Clery Act (and referred to as Clery geography).

As with other Clery Act statistics, reported hazing incidents in or on Clery geography must be disclosed for the most recent calendar year and during the two preceding calendar years for which data are available. The Act provides that data gathering necessary to comply with this requirement must begin “[n]ot later than January 1 of the first year after the date of enactment of this Act." Because the law was enacted on December 24, 2024, data collection and reporting will begin on January 1, 2025.

Requirements:

Under the Act, Wichita State University must:

  • at least twice each year, update the CHTR to include each incident involving a student organization for which a finding of responsibility is issued relating to a CHTR defined hazing violation, for the period beginning on the date the last CHTR was published and ending on the date the update is submitted