Another evil practice : Hazing

[Adaryn]

When reading all these people saying in the Zidane/Materazzi thread that nasty insults and blows are just part of the game in most team sports, I thought about another horrible practice, which is that of hazing of the new students in universities and colleges. In France it was a current practice before there was a law against this a few years ago. It was practiced as a normal rite of passage in prestigious schools. Schools that are supposed to teach and educate the future Elite of the Nation : politicians, surgeons, doctors, psychiatrists, economists, journalists, all the so called prestigious and important fields in society. People who later are to cure, to heal and understand either physical or mental diseases. People supposed to govern our country and take the right decisions.
There was a strong protest against the law, many members of the so called Elite protested that it was a healthy practice designed to integrate the student into the group, like in a big family. Infractions to the law have been recorded, many people didn't want that practice to end.
The law was brought about consequently to complaints from students that had been abused, raped, hurt and humiliated during these so-called "bon enfant" hazings. Many times hazing involved being forced to ingest such things as excrements or disgusting mixtures, being insulted, harassed and degraded, humiliated in one's dignity, mimicking sexual acts with other students and so on. Several cases of rape and different sexual abuse have been reported. If the student refused to be hazed, he was automatically isolated from the group and his rights to study were denied : he wouldn't access the documents necessary for his learning, nor would he benefit the help and tutoring form older students. Nobody would talk to him, he would simply be ignored. The only choice for him/her then was to leave the school.

One can wonder how sane is a society that allows hazing...

 

[Lamp of Orion]

There was a strong protest against the law, many members of the so called Elite protested that it was a healthy practice designed to integrate the student into the group, like in a big family.

There's this book, titled 'Influence: Science and Practice, 4th Edition', that I have with me at this time, and it does speak about hazing, only to reach a conclusion that condones such practices, mentioning a positive correlation between the severity of an initiation ceremony and the newcomer's commitment to the group, whatever the group may be (cites Young, 1965; source: page 80).

 

[Lamp of Orion]

Perhaps I should add an excerpt from the source above, that which concerns the methodology along which hazings may follow (p76-78):

• Beatings. Fourteen-year-old Michael Kalogris spent three weeks in a Long Island hospital recovering from internal injuries suffered during a Hell Night initiation ceremony of his high-school fraternity, Omega Gamma Delta. He had been administered the "atomic bomb" by his prospective brotheres, who told him to hold his hands over his head and keep them there while they gathered around to slam fists into his stomach and back simultaneously and repeatedly.
• Exposure to cold. On a winter night, Frederick Bronner, a Californian junior college student, was taken 3,000 feet up and 10 miles
  into the hills of a national forest by his prospective fraternity brothers. Left to find his way home wearing only a thin sweat shirt and
  slacks, Fat Freddy, as he was called, shivered in a frigid wind until he tumbled down a steep ravine, fracturing bones and hurting his
  head. Prevented by his injuries from going on, he huddled there against the cold until he died of exposure.
• Thirst. Two Ohio State University freshmen found themselves in the "dungeon" of their prospective fraternity house after breaking
  the rule requiring all pledges to crawl into the dining area prior to Hell Week meals. Once locked in the house storage closet, they
  were given only salty foods to eat for nearly two days. Nothing was provided for drinking purposes except a pair of plastic cups in
  which they could catch their own urine.
• Eating of unsavory foods. At Kappa Sigma house on the campus of the University of Southern California, the eyes of eleven pledges
  bulged when they saw the sickening task before them. Eleven quarter-pound slabs of raw liver lay on a tray. Thick cut and soaked in
  oil, each was to be swallowed whole, one to a boy. Gagging and choking repeatedly, young Richard Swanson failed three times to
  down his piece. Determined to succeed, he finally got the oil-soaked meat into his throat where it lodged and, despite all efforts to
  remove it, killed him.
• Punishment. In Wisconsin, a pledge who forgot one section of a ritual incantation to be memorized by all initiates was punished for
  his error. He was required to keep his feet under the rear legs of a folding chair while the heaviest of his fraternity brothers sat down
  and drank a beer. Although the pledge did not cry out during the punishment, a bone in each of his feet was broken.
• Threats of death. A pledge of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was taken to a beach area of New Jersey and told to dig his "own grave."
  Seconds after he complied with orders to lie flat in the finished hole, the sides collapsed, suffocating him before his prospective
  fraternity brothers could dig him out.

You can preview this book at http://books.google.jo/books?id=NRkxsDq8CgAC&q.

 

[Deleted member 8431]

Perhaps I should add an excerpt from the source above, that which concerns the methodology along which hazings may follow (p76-78):

• Beatings. Fourteen-year-old Michael Kalogris spent three weeks in a Long Island hospital recovering from internal injuries suffered during a Hell Night initiation ceremony of his high-school fraternity, Omega Gamma Delta. He had been administered the "atomic bomb" by his prospective brotheres, who told him to hold his hands over his head and keep them there while they gathered around to slam fists into his stomach and back simultaneously and repeatedly.
• Exposure to cold. On a winter night, Frederick Bronner, a Californian junior college student, was taken 3,000 feet up and 10 miles
  into the hills of a national forest by his prospective fraternity brothers. Left to find his way home wearing only a thin sweat shirt and
  slacks, Fat Freddy, as he was called, shivered in a frigid wind until he tumbled down a steep ravine, fracturing bones and hurting his
  head. Prevented by his injuries from going on, he huddled there against the cold until he died of exposure.
• Thirst. Two Ohio State University freshmen found themselves in the "dungeon" of their prospective fraternity house after breaking
  the rule requiring all pledges to crawl into the dining area prior to Hell Week meals. Once locked in the house storage closet, they
  were given only salty foods to eat for nearly two days. Nothing was provided for drinking purposes except a pair of plastic cups in
  which they could catch their own urine.
• Eating of unsavory foods. At Kappa Sigma house on the campus of the University of Southern California, the eyes of eleven pledges
  bulged when they saw the sickening task before them. Eleven quarter-pound slabs of raw liver lay on a tray. Thick cut and soaked in
  oil, each was to be swallowed whole, one to a boy. Gagging and choking repeatedly, young Richard Swanson failed three times to
  down his piece. Determined to succeed, he finally got the oil-soaked meat into his throat where it lodged and, despite all efforts to
  remove it, killed him.
• Punishment. In Wisconsin, a pledge who forgot one section of a ritual incantation to be memorized by all initiates was punished for
  his error. He was required to keep his feet under the rear legs of a folding chair while the heaviest of his fraternity brothers sat down
  and drank a beer. Although the pledge did not cry out during the punishment, a bone in each of his feet was broken.
• Threats of death. A pledge of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity was taken to a beach area of New Jersey and told to dig his "own grave."
  Seconds after he complied with orders to lie flat in the finished hole, the sides collapsed, suffocating him before his prospective
  fraternity brothers could dig him out.

You can preview this book at http://books.google.jo/books?id=NRkxsDq8CgAC&q.

That is truly vile, disgusting and sickening. Maybe a nice trip to jail would teach these wackos what it feels like to be the victim.

 

[Palinurus]

I went to SOTT and searched the site for hazing. It appeared there are plenty of reports about this practice. Some recent examples:

http://www.sott.net/article/263196-Sodomy-hazing-leaves-13-year-old-victim-outcast-in-Colorado-town

http://www.sott.net/article/254876-Members-of-at-Northern-Illinois-University-fraternity-have-been-charged-with-hazing-following-the-death-of-a-student-after-a-night-of-drinking

http://www.sott.net/article/247180-Teacher-Students-Arrested-in-Hazing-Investigation

http://www.sott.net/article/244933-13-Charged-in-Hazing-Death-of-Florida-Band-Member

Disgusting, to say the least.

 

[Pierre]

When this thread was started back in 2006, I posted my personal experience of "hazing" which is a too common pratice in France. When our forum migrated this message was lost because it contained accents. I managed to find the original message in our saved version of the old forum, so here it is:

Perhaps some of you don't know yet about this bizarre tradition called "hazing". Here is my personal experience. Some years ago, I graduated from a group of schools that is considered as practicing the most violent hazing in France. It is a group of engineering schools. Officials say hazing is over. Students reports are different.

I got expelled from the hazing process during the very first hazing evening because I fought with one of the hazing officers (hazing central commitee is made of 9 officers wearing masks, changing their voices when they talk, wearing specific clothes, and covering themselves with very smelly cheese...)

I saw what happens during those 2 months of intensive hazing not as a hazer not as a hazed one but like a spectator.

From what I saw, this process is very efficient. It targets one main goal : breaking your mind so you stop thinking by yourself. This is a conformity lever.

Here are some of the hazing specificities :

1/ The targets (new students)

* the targets are weak, they are just out of 2 or 3 years of top engineering school preparation class (~50 hours class + ~40 hours homework a week)

* the targets are young (20-21 years old)

* the targets are isolated. Tou usually quit your childhood town to join your engineering school. For example my school was 900 km from my family house.

* the targets will play key roles in the future nation

* the targets have a favourable background for hazing : their are some of the best students. It demonstrates their capacities to follow rules, to accept externally imposed moral and law, ...

* the targets admire the senior students and the engineering school. In France from a very early age, top engineering school are considered as the top studies. So when you reach it, it's like touching the Graal.

* the targets are naive : they've spent their life studying and don't know much about the real world.

2/ The process

* fatigue : hazers wake you up during the night, you're not allowed to close your room, during rituals you sometimes wait for hours in line, hazing evening last until 3 or 4 a.m., hazing evenings are frequent (1 to 4 each week for months)...

* control : you are not allowed to smile, you are not allowed to talk to hazers, you're not allowed to look in the eyes of a hazer, you are not allowed to have any interaction with people from the opposite sex, you are not allowed not to answer a question, you are not allowed to say anything about hazing,...

* depersonalization : you have to learn a specific language, specific phrases to ask for a drink, to go to toilets,... You have to wear specific clothes and specific accessories, you have to walk a specific way, ...

* threats : if you don't conform to the mould you are labelled "HU". It means out of hazing : you are not allowed for your whole scholarship to join a school team, an association, you don't get access to archives (previous examination papers, previous lectures,...) you don't have access to jobhunting networks, you don't get coopted.

* alcohol : the peak moment of hazing are the hazing evenings. From 7 or 8 pm to 3,4,5 a.m.... Alcohol consumption is compulsory. You hold around your neck 24 hours a day what is called your emblem (a plastic shoe, a plastic scoop depending on the years). You can only drink from your emblem. You have to drink in specific way (one shot, eyes closed,...) if you make some mistakes you have to drink some more.

* positive / negative reinforcement : if you are a good pawn you get praised like a pet if you don't cooperate enough you have much hard time (push ups, drinking, insults, harrasment,....)

* humiliation : If you make a mistake (very arbitrary concept as you can imagine) you have to repeat humiliating rituals : specific humiliating phrases, specifics humiliating push ups. For two months you walk in an humiliating way, you dress up in an humiliating way,...

* isolation from group : You get scordings in front of the group (the new students). This group represents your future friends and you get labeled negatively in front them, you get humiliated in front of them. Sometimes others are punished because of your own mistakes.

3/ the results

* clan : after 2 months hazing and 3 years of school, the alumini are like members of the same tribe. There is a very strong solidarity between them.

* reduction of personal ethics : you leave the school brainwashed. You think like your school, you sleep like your school, you live like your school.

* corporatism : Alumni from one school recruit people from the same school. It's not talent that is taken into account first, it's the corporation you are part of that really matters.

* reduction in thinking variety : A lot of personal sensitivities have been broken by hazing. In the end, those groups of population are far more homogeneous, monolithic. They think and behave in the same predictable way.

* reproduction of similar behaviours (family, company) : the alumnis consider that this way of doing is wonderful. It brought them friends, networks, a good job, a good diploma, a good wage. What else could you need?

* dogmactic behaviour : most alumnis got partly brainwashed. Their capacity to think by themselves got reduced, instead dogmas, beliefs, collective morals were put in their brains. One of the worst dogmas is excellence. Most alumnis think that this piece of paper calle diploma garantees excellence and actually, it does, since in France what really matters is not your personal merit but the school you come from

 

[obyvatel]

When this thread was started back in 2006, I posted my personal experience of "hazing" which is a too common pratice in France. When our forum migrated this message was lost because it contained accents. I managed to find the original message in our saved version of the old forum, so here it is:

Your account matches my experience of hazing very closely. I was a little surprised to see such an uncanny resemblance given you are describing the situation in France whereas my experience was in India.

 

[Pierre]

Your account matches my experience of hazing very closely. I was a little surprised to see such an uncanny resemblance given you are describing the situation in France whereas my experience was in India.

Sociologically India and French show some similarities. The "power distance" criterion - which seems pretty close to the authoritarian followers mentality - measures how comfortable individuals in a culture are with inequality in the power structure.

India (77) and France (68) both rank very high in "Power distance". So it's understandable that in those two countries, "hazing", which is basically a submission of the individual to an illegitimate authority, is widespread and somehow accepted by the hazers of course but also by most "hazed ones".

 

[l apprenti de forgeron]

Thanks Belibaste for seeking the old post and what the others brought. I think many of us live something similar at the time of entry into the college, when acceptance to belong to a group was very important. Although I should mention the previous step, in high school. I attended the most important school of the capital of a province in Argentina, where the local "elite" is formed, and where make some recognition/respect, or simply not be bothered, was a violent process, but not something so pathological like the listed above. Probably because not has become in any ritual form of welcome, therefore not has been systematized and depends on the evil of every group that is formed.

 

[Adaryn]

Your account matches my experience of hazing very closely. I was a little surprised to see such an uncanny resemblance given you are describing the situation in France whereas my experience was in India.

Sociologically India and French show some similarities. The "power distance" criterion - which seems pretty close to the authoritarian followers mentality - measures how comfortable individuals in a culture are with inequality in the power structure.

It's also interesting that France and India are both mysogynistic countries, though it's more "subtle" in France (though sometimes, not so subtle: _http://planetivy.com/offbeat/44852/feminists-win-court-war-against-misogynistic-rapper/).

As for India, rape and sexual harassment are apparently a "national sport".

RoseChasm says she shared her account of studying abroad in India and experiencing repeated sexual harassment in hopes of spreading 'international exposure about what women travelers and residents experience in India.'

_http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1023053

 

[lostinself]

Having no direct experience with radical forms of "welcoming" or "initiation" - which fortunately don't seem popular in my country - i have to say i find the descriptions above quite shocking. That such practices are not openly condemned and not widely researched in psychological terms, is to me yet another sign of the system having its roots in pathology. It even seems there are studies trying to suggest positive impact of these "rituals" on society - after the hazing is done, a psychological bond is said to be formed between the initiate and his direct hazers, and that is perceived as a good thing for integration of social groups.

The question should be what's the exact nature of the aforementioned bond. To me it looks much like a variation on Stockholm syndrome when the victim submits oneself mentally to the oppressor and starts to perceive him as a supreme but benevolent being. The bond formed by hazing is similarly asymmetrical. The humilation has been done but there was no payback of any kind as the "ritual" prohibits any kind of self-defense on part of the initiate. Because of initiate's self-submission, the hazer easily puts himself "above" his prey. From that point on they can appear as friends but their mutual relations will always be defined by silent domination of the past oppressor. Of course the initiate will eventually have the chance to take "revenge" by becoming a hazer himself in future but it's as far as possible from restoring the balance. This can lead to creation of psychological hierarchy, an informal "hidden" pyramid - ie. the STS way of running things...

 

[angelburst29]

Reports of Hazing in Football Locker Rooms in Sayreville (New Jersey) War Memorial High School.

Sayreville Football parent reveals sexual nature of alleged locker room hazing ritual (Exclusive)
_http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/10/sayreville_high_school_football_hazing_parent_reveals_sexual_nature_of_locker_room_ritual_exclusive.html#incart_m-rpt-1

Wed. Oct. 2014 - It came without warning.

It would start with a howling noise from a senior football player at Sayreville War Memorial High School, and then the locker room lights were abruptly shut off.

In the darkness, a freshman football player would be pinned to the locker room floor, his arms and feet held down by multiple upperclassmen. Then, the victim would be lifted to his feet while a finger was forced into his rectum. Sometimes, the same finger was then shoved into the freshman player’s mouth.

This disturbing hazing within the storied Sayreville football program, as told to NJ Advance Media on Wednesday by the parent of a player in the program,happened almost every day in the locker room this fall, he said.

The allegations — revealed for the first time — provide details to the events that sparked a criminal investigation by local and county police, and prompted the cancellation of the remainder of the Sayreville football season this week by Superintendent of Schools Richard Labbe.

The parent, informed by his son and other parents close to the investigation, is the first to come forward to reveal the hazing practices Labbe has characterized as “incidences of harassment, intimidation and bullying as constituted by the definition within the anti-bullying statute that took place on a pervasive level, on a wide-scale level, and at a level in which the players knew, tolerated, and in general accepted.”

According to the parent, whose identity is being protected because the parent feared retribution against the family and the player,
the routine was initiated when an upperclassman would enter the locker room and make a wolf call or howling noise.

“[For] 10 seconds, the lights would go off and they would grab a freshman and they would go on,” the parent said. “Right on the floor. … It was happening every day. They would get the freshmen.” He added: “Kids would just sit around and witness [stuff] like this.”

Detectives from the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office and the Sayreville Police Department are investigating the allegations, but officials have refused to reveal any specifics about the case. The parent said his son and several other Sayreville players have been questioned by police. No charges have been filed. The parent also said he is in the process of retaining an attorney.

“These parents here, they’re in shock,” the parent said. “We never expected anything like this to happen. Your kid, he’s going to school, school’s got to be a place where you think the kid is the safest.”

When told of the specific allegations over the phone Wednesday, Labbe declined to comment. He referred to his previous comments calling the allegations “very serious.”

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office declined comment on the allegations detailed by the Sayreville parent. Also, David Abromaitis, a detective in the office, declined comment Wednesday when reached by phone.

The parent said the “ringleaders” involved in the hazing are seniors.

Madeline Thillet, speaking at Tuesday night’s board of education meeting, said her son was one of the members of the team interviewed by investigators. She downplayed the hazing while protesting the cancellation of the season. “I was at the police station with him when they were questioning him,” she said. “They were talking about a butt being grabbed. That’s about it. No one was hurt. No one died. I don’t understand why they’re being punished. I think that the forfeited game was punishment enough.”

The parent said he could not “understand how none of the coaches were aware of it. As a coach, you know what’s going on in your clubhouse. You know what’s going on in the locker room.”

On Oct. 1, Labbe said he was alerted to an anonymous allegation made to Sayreville police about a serious incident of inappropriate conduct —possibly more — by members of the football team. The next day, the matter was turned over to the Middlesex County prosecutor and Labbe canceled Sayreville’s football games — varsity, junior varsity and freshman contests — last weekend against rival South Brunswick.

Then, on Friday, in a separate incident, an attorney for assistant coach Charles Garcia said his client had resigned after details of his arrest for steroids possession surfaced.

On Monday, Labbe announced he was canceling the rest of the season.

The hazing allegations have turned Sayreville’s no frills, blue-collar community upside-down, as both local and national news vans and media reporters have descended on the town, scouring the streets and interviewing people in parking lots and strip malls.

Many Sayreville residents have expressed outrage over the cancellation of the football season. The varsity team, nicknamed the Bombers, has made the playoffs in each of the past 20 seasons, and Sayreville has captured three state championships over the past four years, feeding nearby Rutgers University with a host of elite players.

Sayreville longtime football coach George Najjar declined comment when reached by phone Wednesday.

More than a hundred Sayreville residents attended Tuesday night’s previously scheduled board of education meeting to urge the members to reconsider the decision to cancel the season. The crowd, at times, grew heated and animated, but the board affirmed the decision to end the football season.

Afterward, about a hundred people gathered under the lights on the football field, lingering for about 15 minutes, gazing across the impressive stadium, until it was time to go home.

 

[angelburst29]

An update:

7 football players arrested in New Jersey hazing, sexual assault case
_http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-football-new-jersey-hazing-20141011-story.html

Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 - Seven high school football players have been arrested in a hazing scandal in central New Jersey, and three of them have been charged with sex crimes for assaults on freshman team members last month, prosecutors said.

Six of the defendants, whose identities were withheld because they are juveniles, were arrested by investigators with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Sayreville Police Department on Friday night, according to a statement released by prosecutor Andrew Carey.

The alleged incidents took place at Sayreville War Memorial High School between Sept. 19 and Sept. 29, according to Carey, who said four juvenile players were held against their will and improperly touched in a sexual manner.

The hazing allegations surfaced earlier this week, and Middlesex County school officials canceled the school’s football season in response, angering parents and members of the Sayreville community. The team has won multiple state championships and is considered a powerhouse in the New Jersey sports landscape.

Three of the players were charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact and hazing for “engaging in an act of sexual penetration” on one of the victims, Carey said. The other four face aggravated assault and hazing charges.

Emails sent to Principal James Brown and the school’s athletic director seeking comment were not immediately returned. But the incident has drawn an outcry from New Jersey politicians, including Gov. Chris Christie, who called the allegations “extraordinarily disturbing” on Thursday.

“If these facts as alleged are true, then this is a nightmare for the parents of those young men and it tells us something about the attitude that was allowed to pervade in that program,” Christie told reporters on Thursday.

The defendants will appear in family court in New Jersey, though a hearing date has not been set. Criminal complaints against juveniles are not public record.

 

[angelburst29]

Five coaches now suspended in the New Jersey sexual abuse and hazing scandal at War Memorial High School.
_http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/five-coaches-suspended-in-new-jersey-sexual-abuse-and-hazing-scandal/

Sunday Oct. 19, 2014 - New Jersey high school embroiled in a hazing case that has led to sexual abuse charges has suspended five football coaches, local media reported on Sunday.

Seven football players aged 15 to 17 at Sayreville War Memorial High School face charges of sexual abuse of four freshmen on the team, according to prosecutors in Middlesex County, New Jersey.

The head coach and four assistant coaches, all of whom are teachers at the high school as well, have been suspended from their coaching and teaching positions, according to NJ Advance Media.

They are suspended with pay and have not been charged in the hazing allegations, according to NJ Advance Media, citing sources.

The school district superintendent and the school board president could not be reached to confirm or comment on the report.

Earlier, the superintendent canceled the remainder of this year’s high school football season and has said he was considering suspending the program in future years as well.

The school, which has about 1,700 students, is considered a football powerhouse.

Three Sayreville players were charged earlier this month with aggravated sexual assault, and four were charged with aggravated assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact and other crimes.

Prosecutors say the victims were held against their will while other juveniles touched them.

NJ Advance Media, citing interviews with victims, has reported that the freshman players were held down while other players inserted fingers into their rectums and then their mouths.

 

[angelburst29]

Central Bucks West Football Season Canceled Amid Hazing Allegations - Central Bucks West High school, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

_http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-cb-west-football-suspended-reasons-20141024-story.html
Friday Oct. 24, 2014 - An accusation of a single punch — that administrators determined to be unfounded — led to the discovery of hazing allegations and cancellation of Central Bucks West High School's football season, according to the district's superintendent..

Superintendent David Weitzel said Friday that on Oct. 14 a parent of a ninth-grade football player reported to the district that another player was punched by other members of the team as they attempted to cut his hair as a form of initiation.

Weitzel said district officials began interviewing team members and the boy who was allegedly punched. The student told administrators he was not punched, according to Weitzel.

So Oct. 17, Weitzel said, Central Bucks West Principal Jason Bucher sent an email to parents of football players indicating there was no indication of mistreatment.

But according to Weitzel, more interviews took place that Friday and again on Monday and "other things started to come up that were not related to the alleged punch."

"That's when we realized that this went beyond the unfounded allegation of hitting someone," he added.

In a statement posted on the school district's website Thursday, Weitzel said "students new to the team were expected to participate in several initiations that were both humiliating and inappropriate."

These activities included requiring a rookie player to grab another player's "private parts" while fully clothed, Weitzel said.

He added police contacted district officials Wednesday after they received word about the alleged hazing from a reporter.

Weitzel said that after consulting with the district's solicitor, officials put together a summary report that was sent to the Bucks County district attorney's office.

Central Bucks Regional Police Chief James Donnelly said Thursday that a criminal investigation is underway. He said school administrators used the term "waterboarding" when describing to detectives a hazing ritual that involved placing a towel over the head of a younger player and leading him into the shower.

According to Weitzel, the players indicated that the coaches were not present in the locker room during the hazing, which occurred in August, and were not aware the activities were taking place.

Head coach Brian Hensel on Thursday was made aware of the extent of what administrators discovered. Hensel, a 1990 Lehigh University grad who played for the Mountain Hawks, and all the members of the varsity and junior varsity coaching staff were suspended as the criminal investigation progresses.

Weitzel said the decision to cancel the remainder of the team's season, including Friday's homecoming game against Central Bucks East, was his call.

While the district's announcement was released Thursday afternoon, Weitzel said he decided to cancel the season "late Wednesday night."

"This is absolutely a tough issue for everybody," he said. "It's sad. I'm sure the team is troubled by what is now out in the open and regret what they did. They're boys and they made a mistake."

Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine Jr., who played for his father, Mike Pettine Sr., and also was an assistant coach at CB West, addressed the issue with the Cleveland media Friday.

"It's unfortunate," Pettine said. "If what is [out there] is true, there's obviously no place for that. As an alum, I can speak for all of us that it's an unfortunate thing. Bucks County, Pa., and Doylestown is a great place to grow up, it's a great place to raise a family, and to have a negative light cast on it, it's an unfortunate thing."

Weitzel said the issue will be discussed publicly at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday during the school board meeting in the auditorium of the school in Doylestown.

A district spokeswoman said CB East and West plan to reschedule their homecoming games. CB East's homecoming game will now be held Oct. 31 against Quakertown. West will hold its homecoming at a home basketball game to be determined.