Biden signs law mandating colleges report hazing incidents

USA Today Education

Zachary Schermele

December 24, 2024

President Joe Biden on Tuesday enacted the first federal anti-hazing law, marking the end of a yearslong push by victims’ families for more transparency and accountability on college campuses.

The Stop Campus Hazing Act, which passed the House of Representatives in September and the Senate this month, requires universities to start collecting hazing statistics to include in regular public reports.

The requirements could kick in as soon as next week and affect many campus groups.

Under long-standing federal statutes, colleges and universities must disclose crimes that occur on their campuses each year. Yet despite the sometimes violent and fatal nature of hazing, schools have never been required by the federal government to disclose statistics about how often it happens, especially within fraternities and sororities that target their new members.

Though nearly every state has an anti-hazing law, the measures vary in scope and impact, according to the advocacy group StopHazing. Earlier attempts to put a federal law on the books have fizzled in Congress.

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