My high school coach used to say "a word to the wise is sufficient." These are my words of wisdom from a presentation I gave on the consequences of hazing in November 2008. I hope any student facing the temptation to haze or be hazed will take a few moments to review this presentation. The next time you are confronted with those temptations, I hope you will heed the warnings in this presentation.
Introduce Myself: My name is Angel Powell. I’ll be talking to you about Hazing 101. We’ll be discussing the legal and other consequences of hazing. I’m qualified to talk to you about hazing for two reasons. First, I’m an attorney. I just recently moved back to the Fayetteville area to serve as FSU’s new assistant general counsel for the University with Wanda Jenkins the head counsel as my boss. I am taking the place of Josh Malcolm who went on to his Alma Matta at UNC-P. So, because I’m a lawyer, I guess you can say I know a little bit about the law. Second, as you can see from my pin, I am greek. I am a “serious” lady. I am an Alpha Kappa Alpha lady. I initiated at Iota Mu at Duke University in 1992. I am soon to be a member of the Upsilon Kappa Omega Chapter in Fayetteville next month. So, since I am greek and since I was initiated during a period when hazing was still a major part of greek life, I was hazed and I was one of those people who didn’t haze myself but who was silent about the hazing that continued to occur among my neophytes. So, I understand the challenges surrounding hazing and the pros and cons. I hope that by you knowing a little about me, we can have an honest and frank discussion about hazing. And, that you know that I feel your pain no matter if you are or are not a hazer. Let’s start by just defining hazing: What is hazing? Who can define it in your own words? Why do you think hazing goes on? What do you think some negative consequences of hazing can be? We are going to watch a short documentary on the consequences of hazing. Then we’ll briefly discuss these consequences as they might affect you.