Chairman Cassidy, Klobuchar, Colleagues Introduce National Hazing Awareness Week Resolution

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced a resolution to recognize this week, September 21st through the 25th, as National Hazing Awareness Week. The resolution recognizes the hundreds of students who have died or suffered severe, life-altering injuries as a result of collegiate hazing and promotes efforts to prevent hazing. U.S. Representatives Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA) and Lucy McBath (D-GA) introduced a companion resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Chairman's efforts to prevent hazing on college campuses were prompted by the death of Max Gruver, a Louisiana State University student who died as a result of hazing at a fraternity event in September 2017.

"Students should not have to fear getting physically or emotionally harmed while they are simply trying to find community at college," said Dr. Cassidy. "Thanks to the tireless work of the Gruver family and other advocates, we passed the Stop Campus Hazing Act last Congress to increase accountability and ensure hazing is never ignored."

"When parents send their kids away to college, they expect they will get a good education and make new friends. They don't expect them to be harassed and hazed. Hazing is a dangerous - and at times deadly - reality that students are confronted with," said Senator Klobuchar. "With this resolution, we honor the students who have died or been severely injured due to hazing and promote preventive efforts. This goes hand in hand with our bipartisan Stop Campus Hazing Act, which is improving hazing reporting and prevention on college campuses."

"I have been honored to work with families and advocates to pass legislation to end campus hazing. I know what it's like to lose a loved one, and no parent should ever have to bury their child," said Representative McBath. "I'm glad to lead efforts once again to spread awareness about the pain of these incidents and am grateful to my colleagues for their continued commitment to protecting our students."

"Hazing has left countless students with life-altering injuries, and too many families have had to endure the loss of a loved one," said Representative Thompson. "I am pleased to introduce this bipartisan resolution to bring awareness, accountability, and transparency to campuses in an effort to help protect students from hazing."

Background:

Cassidy and Klobuchar's Stop Campus Hazing Act became the first national anti-hazing legislation in U.S. history, improving the reporting and prevention of hazing on college campuses. The bipartisan legislation requires colleges to include hazing incidents in their annual campus safety report and establish a campus-wide, research-based program to educate students about the dangers of hazing. In addition, the bill increases transparency and accountability by providing parents and students with better information about a student organization's history of hazing incidents.

The first annual security reports to include hazing are required to be published by October 1 of this year. According to a recent analysis by HazingInfo, more than 500 hazing incidents have been recorded across more than 1,400 colleges during the 2025-2026 academic year, the first year that colleges were federally required to publish Campus Hazing Transparency Report on their websites.

Full text of the resolution can be found here.

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