DECEMBER COMMUNITY NEWS
To see this month's Principal's letter, please visit: http://www.newton.mec.edu/Day/nfp.04.05.html
Library: Atomic Learning gives students another weapon in the homework battle
Hazing: perverted initiations
Day School Council: School Council debates transportation, homework
Day PTO: Happy Holidays from the DAY P.T.O.
Hazing
by N. F. and V. K.
Many times in this community, there are groups or clubs that require initiations. This means that when someone new is accepted into the group, sometimes the veterans find it amusing to play a prank on the “newbies”. This unlawful act has been committed numerous times in the past and often results in fines and even jail sentences.
Chapter 269, Section 17, of the Acts of the Massachusetts Legislature explains that hazing is any method of conduct of initiation that endangers the participant’s mental or physical health.
Media coverage of this type of initiation exploded after the death in 1984 of Jay Lenaghan, a resident of American International College in Springfield. Jay was “a big boy,” quotes Jay’s father, James. He was “well over 6 feet tall and he weighed about 265 pounds.” After his death, there were indications that Jay had drunk alcohol after the pledge dinner, and choked on his vomit as he slept.
After her son’s death, Mary Lenaghan, Jay’s mother, proceeded to sponsor a state law to ban any acts of hazing. She explained that no one should ever have to go through the kind of pain that she went through. “You have no idea how I feel, how terrible, but the school also feels really bad, and I don’t want to make this worse for them,” Mary Lenaghan stated in a Boston Globe interview soon after the accident.
Peter Capodilupo, the Newton North football team head coach, explained that to prevent hazing, he speaks with the team about it, reads the law, and explains that hazing is a very serious crime that comes with extremely severe consequences. He says that he tries to have the older players embrace the younger ones, going in the opposite direction of hazing. To further insure safety, there is a freshmen-only locker room, where no upper classman are allowed, thus making it a safe place for freshman to change. At the first sign of conflict between players, Capodilupo speaks with the students involved to resolve any problems they have. He explains that he is always on guard, because one can never know what may happen.
Within the football practicing time, there is very little to no time when the players are unsupervised on the field. Capodilupo explains that he or other coaches are always around to control the play or settle the conflicts, but it is harder to control what the players take part in away from practice. To bond the players further there are many team meals before games where parents serve and prepare food for them.
Recently, there was an act of hazing nearby in Sandwich, where a freshman player was initiated onto the football team, and pushed over by veteran players. The boy had to go into intensive care, and suffered many serious injuries, including a blow to the spleen. The veteran players were charged with hazing and had some serious consequences for their actions.
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