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Hazing is formally defined in the , , and  for the purposes of federal and state legislation, which the Code of Student Conduct will fully enforce. 

Hazing includes any act committed as part of a person’s recruitment, initiation, pledging, admission into, or affiliation with a student club or organization, athletic team, and/ or living group, that causes, or is likely to cause:

• Bodily danger or physical harm
• Serious psychological or emotional harm
• Personal degradation or disgrace
• Property damage
• Interference with an individual’s academic or work performance

including causing, directing, coercing, or forcing a person to consume any food, liquid, alcohol, drug, or other substance which subjects the person to risk of such harm, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate. 

The expressed or implied consent of the person being hazed and acquiescence of bystanders or group members are not neutral acts and are in violation of the Code. 

Examples of prohibited activities include, but are not limited to: 

• Excessive ingestion, consumption, or vomit-inducing activities using alcohol, drugs, food, water, or other substances.
• Paddling, striking, or branding of an individual.
• Causing an individual to be indecently exposed.
• Excessive physical activity.
• Deprivation of food or sleep.
• Actions exposing personal values to compromise or ridicule.
• Transportation and abandonment.
• Personal servitude.
• Confinement of an individual to unreasonably small, unventilated, unsanitary, or unlighted areas.
• Participation in any activity violating University policies or any local, state, or federal law.
• Participation in any activities interfering with academic pursuits or normal life functions.   

Hazing does not include customary athletic events or other similar contests or competitions.

For the purposes of this policy, a club, organization, society, association, athletic team, club sports team, fraternity, sorority, band, or student government will be subject to this policy regardless of whether or not the aforementioned is established or recognized by the University. Applicability of the policy is however subject to membership consisting of two or more of the members being students enrolled at Saint Martin’s University.

This policy applies to all University community members, including all University sponsored clubs, organizations, teams and their individual members, coaches, and advisors; academic cohorts; and individual University faculty, staff, volunteers, and contractors.   

No University student, student club or organization, academic cohort, staff member, faculty member, employee, volunteer, or contractor may engage in, conspire to engage in, or participate in the hazing of another. Hazing is prohibited whether it occurs on or off-campus.

If, as a result of observations or information received in the course of employment or volunteer service, any employee, including a student employee, or contractor or volunteer at the University has reasonable cause to believe that hazing has occurred or may occur, they shall report the incident, or cause a report to be made, to the Dean of Students.  The person shall make the report at the first opportunity to do so. 

Concerns about potential hazing should be referred to .

A person who witnesses hazing or has reasonable cause to believe hazing has occurred or will occur and makes a report in good faith may not be sanctioned or punished under the Good Samaritan Policy for the violation of this Policy, unless the person is directly engaged in the planning, directing, or act of hazing reported. 

Nothing in this section shall preclude a person from independently reporting hazing or suspected hazing activity to law enforcement.

In order to fully investigate alleged violations of Code of Student Conduct or other student conduct related policies (not including Title IX), such allegations may be formally investigated by the Office of Public Safety or another individual/ entity; the designation of an investigative person/ entity will be at the discretion of the Chief Student Conduct Officer.

Once an investigation has concluded, the report will be forwarded to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution and will follow the Forms of Resolution as detailed in the Code of Student Conduct. 

As noted in the Code of Student Conduct, when students and/or University clubs/organizations are found in violation of University policies, sanctions shall be imposed. The purpose of sanctioning is to educate a student or University clubs/organization as to why their behavior is inappropriate, as well as to make them aware of and sensitive to all the possible consequences of the behavior in question. Sanctions will be determined on a case by case basis, considering the nature and circumstances of the offense, the impact of the offense on the University community including those directly harmed by the conduct, prior sanctions applied in similar cases, the conduct record of the responding party and the responding party’s attitude and behavior throughout the conduct process. 

The University will provide hazing prevention education on the signs and dangers of hazing as well as the institution’s prohibition on hazing to both students and employees. This hazing prevention education is provided electronically through Vectors Solutions. The prevention education is provided to employees on an annual basis, and to students as they matriculate into the University; hazing prevention education for students is part of 

Saint Martin’s University will publicly report hazing violations beginning on August 5, 2022. 

The report will include: 

• The name of the student organization/ club, athletic team, or living group.
• The date the investigation was initiated.
• The date on which the investigation ended with a finding that a violation occurred.
• A description of the incident.
• The details of the sanctions imposed.
• The date the student organization/ club, athletic team, or living group was charged with a violation. 

The report will not include any personal or identifying information of individual students and is subject to the requirements of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232, et seq. (“FERPA”). Saint Martin’s University will maintain reports for five years and post reports on its Hazing Policy webpage at least 45 calendar days before the start of the fall academic term and at least 10 days before the start of all other academic terms. Investigations that do not result in a finding of formal violations will not be included in the report.