They, too, kept the initiation rituals secret. 90 percent of the time, it's a one-time deal and it's over. The survey confirmed that alcohol plays a major role in athletes' hazing, with more than half of the athletes saying they were involved in drinking contests or served alcohol during initiations. Projected nationwide, this data suggests that 158,823 athletes may have drunk alcohol during their team initiations. Alcohol makes you act differently, whether you are the hazer or the victim.
Alcohol always leads to other irresponsible and illegal activities, and things get out of control.
Alcohol plays a direct and indirect role in many hazing deaths, Coll said. Impaired judgment induces students to take risks they would not otherwise take, or they overdose on alcohol. Eileen Stevens knows this all too well. Her son, Chuck Stenzel, died in a fraternity hazing incident at Alfred University in February 1978. Though she was never allowed to see police reports or the district attorney's file, she learned details of the incident from her son's roommate.