A Just Response to Hazing Case

Where is the line between exuberant team spirit and criminal assault?

Nobody is more eager to learn the answer than the 27 members of the Westlake High School wrestling team, all benched Dec. 17 after school officials heard reports of out-of-control hazing activities.

According to students and sheriff’s investigators, some of the Westlake wrestlers engaged in a pattern of hazing and intimidation that included grabbing students, pinning them down and probing their buttocks with the handle of a mop the team dubbed “Pedro.”

A half dozen incidents are being investigated; reported victims include at least one girl, one wrestler and one boy not on the team. While only a handful of wrestlers are accused of committing the acts, many others witnessed them without intervening, investigators say.

“The motive was hazing,” said Sgt. Rod Mendoza of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. “The strong against the weak. Teasing. Harassing. Kids can be cruel sometimes.”

Hazing--the term for any group’s initiation of new members by forcing them to do ridiculous, humiliating or painful things--is an old but often abused tradition in many circles, from gangs to fraternities to the military.

In modest doses, the practice can indeed build dedication and esprit de corps, if only by instilling the subconscious message, “If I put up with that to join this group, then this must be a pretty special group.”

But too often hazing turns cruel, even tragic. Fraternity pledges have died or been permanently disabled. Gang experts say many of the crimes that haunt our headlines are committed by recruits forced to “prove themselves.”

Whatever happened at Westlake High, it went too far. School officials were right to suspend the team and call for a full investigation. They should also reconsider the wisdom of letting the team work out unsupervised for the 45 minutes between the final school bell and the official start of practice, though high school students certainly ought to be able to handle that much responsibility.

Decisions about whether some or all of the team should be allowed to compete for the school this year, and about which participants should be suspended from school under the policy of zero tolerance for violence, should depend on the outcome of the investigation. But activities like this must not be written off lightly.

Aside from sheer excess, two elements add to the seriousness of this case.

First, the alleged harassment was not limited to members of the wrestling team. It is one thing for older members to give new ones some grief (though the acts described here go far beyond acceptable levels). But when team members victimize nonmembers, they are no longer hazing at all. Now they are bullies, to be investigated and prosecuted as vigorously as any other gang of thugs who terrorize weaker or outnumbered victims.

The second red flag in this case is the sexual dimension. It is bad enough to throw someone to the ground and hold them there--unless you are in a wrestling match. It is completely unacceptable to further humiliate them with a simulated sex act.

Perhaps these wrestlers’ intentions were no more sexual than a pro football player who slaps a teammate’s backside or a pickup basketball player who half-masts another’s shorts as a joke.

But whether you’re a high school jock, an Army drill sergeant, a celebrity sportscaster or a presidential candidate, the added element of sex can turn a minor offense into a major one.

And rightly so.