This news comes from the UW Seattle Student Life blog. 

RealResponse hazing prevention funding renewed through 2031

This article was published in The Tacoma Ledge on April 4, 2025. Written by Karla Pastrana, all rights and credits belong to her and The Tacoma Ledge. 

March 30 marked the third anniversary of Washington state taking the first step to prevent hazing in major institutions as then Governor Jay Inslee signed Sam’s Law into effect in 2022.

Sam’s Law also known as House Bill 1751, was sponsored by Representative Mari Leavitt of the 28 Legislative district and proposed to the Washington state Legislature by Jolayne Houtz and Hector Martinez after their son Sam’s death in November 2019 at the Washington State University (WSU) Pullman campus. Sam Martinez died due to alcohol poisoning caused by his fraternity brothers of Alpha Tau Omega who hazed him into taking the “frat’s pledge” in which Sam and other freshmen were required to drink large amounts of alcohol.

Since Sam’s death, 15 members of the fraternity were charged with supplying a minor with alcohol in 2023 and on Jan. 29 of this year WSU was found liable for Sam’s death. While on May 1 2023, The Martinez family was successful in making Washington state the fifteenth state to make hazing a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

The bill states that hazing is when a group or individual coerces people or a person to do a dangerous act that could cause physical, mental or emotional harm to the person being recruited.

This includes acts of public humiliation or forcing someone to consume high amounts of alcohol or do drugs. Forcing someone to wear clothing with inappropriate words or images on it is also considered hazing, even if someone is not under the influence. It can also be an activity that creates unnecessary stress to participants like a club pop quiz.

By law, hazing is still considered hazing whether the victim is willing to participate.

Now hazing is a class C felony which states that the guilty party will be imprisoned for five years or pay a fine in an amount that is decided by the court of $10000 or more, or both.

The Martinez family enlisted the help of 10 undergraduates from the University of Washington’s Information School to help them construct a website that can help students and parents find hazing incidents that have happened in more than 40 universities in Washington and Texas. The goal of the database is to help students and parents decide what sororities and fraternities are safe, according to King 5 News.

This June UW will also be holding the first ever PNW Anti-Hazing Summit where higher education institutions of ten states will discuss the topic.

Additionally, UW along with other universities have taken measures to address hazing within their institutions. In 2024 UW developed the Hazing Prevention Advisory Committee which the Community Standards and Student Conduct (CSSC) department helps by investigating cases. UW was also able to create the Hazing Prevention website where students can report hazing incidents for all three campuses and learn how to identify it.

“Hazing isn’t the stereotypical Hollywood stuff. It’s normally harassment and intimidation,” Alex Salemme, UW’s head specialist of the Hazing Prevention department told The Ledger. “Historically UW doesn’t see that much of violent hazing.”

Many students don’t realize they are experiencing hazing until they are taught what hazing is and are trained to identify it, according to Salemme. Since 2024 UW has required all entering students to take a hazing training to help them identify and stop hazing from occurring in the community. Additionally, all UW employees from admin to student employees are required to take it as hazing can happen anywhere, not just in sororities and fraternities.

The training has led UW to see an increase in hazing reports in the Seattle campus since they started. During the 2023-2024 school year the CSSC conducted 15 investigations in total. Of the 15, four cases ended with charges and two organizations were found guilty of committing the acts, according to the website’s annual summary.

Salemme highlights that in the last academic year the hazing was more physical, unlike this year which is more verbal intimidation and harassment.

“This increase is positive because it [the lessons] is working,” Salemme said.

Although UW has been mainly focusing on the Seattle campus due to it having sororities and fraternities, sports teams, more clubs and a larger student body, UW Bothell and Tacoma are still in the administration’s radar for the hazing campaign. This will become more prevalent in those locations soon, according to Salemme.

“We haven’t had any hazing reports from UWT. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening,” said Director of Community Standards & Student Conduct Ed Mirecki of UW Seattle.

In September Salemme gave a presentation to the UWT student leader orientation. However, Mirecki and Salemme plan to train not just student employees and representatives but also club leaders and pack advisors to bring more awareness to hazing at UWT.

“Getting student leaders involved will have a stronger impact on students because it creates ownership within the student body. So far, students have been only hearing about it through Alex [Salemme] and me. Change comes from the students for there is ownership in saying ‘we don’t want this in our RSO,” said Mirecki.

Mirecki and Salemme hope students will be accountable for themselves and others once they take their hazing training.

To learn more about hazing, what UW is doing to prevent it, or to report an incident on one of the three campuses visit UW’s Hazing Prevention website.

This blog was written by Jolayne Houtz, founder of hazinginfo.org and mother of Sam Martinez. This was published on March 31, 2025. All rights and credits belong to Jolayne Houtz and hazinginfo.org. 

Editor’s note: This is part of our blog series, “The State of Hazing,” investigating the impact of hazing laws in states that require public disclosure of hazing incidents.

At least 21 hazing incidents have been publicly reported by 5 Washington colleges and universities since 2018 — but experts say that number is low and doesn’t reflect the true scope of hazing on the state’s college campuses.

One reason: Only 35% of Washington colleges and universities are in compliance with a state law that requires all public and private schools to disclose campus hazing cases on their websites.

A new HazingInfo.org investigation finds 20 out of 31 higher education institutions in Washington are not disclosing hazing incidents despite a legal requirement to do so.

State Representative Mari Leavitt calls that figure unacceptable. She led the passage of Sam’s Law in 2022, which requires transparency about campus hazing incidents.

“Hazing doesn’t stop because we pass a law, obviously,” Leavitt said. “It’s discouraging to hear about the ones not complying. They know better. Clearly, more work needs to be done.”

Leavitt has called for a work session on Sam’s Law to better understand how institutions are implementing the law. That session is scheduled for Wednesday, April 2, at 1:30 pm in front of the House Postsecondary Education and Workforce Committee.

11 Washington campuses report hazing as required

Washington’s law was named after Sam Martinez, a Washington State University freshman who died in 2019 of alcohol poisoning following a hazing ritual at Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Sam’s family partnered with Leavitt to pass Sam’s Law in 2022 and a second bill in 2023 that made hazing a felony in Washington.

Washington college hazing data, 2018 to February 2025

Across the nation, the HazingInfo.org investigation found 946 reported incidents of hazing on 171 campuses between 2018 and February 2025. That total only reflects data from the nine states, including Washington, that currently require public reporting of hazing incidents.

HazingInfo found 11 Washington colleges and universities that make their hazing data available publicly as required: Bellevue College; Central Washington University; Eastern Washington University; Seattle University; University of Puget Sound; all three University of Washington campuses (Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma); Washington State University; Western Washington University; and Whitman College.

The HazingInfo investigation did not include other kinds of organizational misconduct like alcohol violations or assaults that weren’t officially labeled as hazing.

Five of Washington’s 31 colleges and universities don’t even have a formal hazing policy, while 14 campuses do not have an online reporting form for students and others to report hazing.

“They know who the bad organizations are”

Colleen Tyler calls it unconscionable that so many campuses are still not reporting hazing. Her son, Luke, died by suicide at Washington State University in 2023 after he endured weeks of hazing by his fraternity, Theta Chi.

“It’s not just physical, it’s the mental anguish they’re putting these kids through in the name of brotherhood. And it’s sickening,” Colleen Tyler said.

After her son died, Tyler heard from a couple dozen people with their own stories about hazing they experienced or witnessed at Washington State University and beyond.

“I just don’t know what else it’s going to take to change,” Tyler said. “It’s a felony, you have to report it now, and yet … the schools are almost complicit in it. They get the police reports, they know who the bad organizations are, they know the patterns.”

Schools tell parents they are “all about campus safety,” she said. “Your words have to match your actions. You can’t tell us you care about the kids and then not report on hazing.”

More hazing awareness means more reports of hazing

At the University of Washington (UW), hazing reports are up since the passage of Sam’s Law. Alex Salemme calls that a good sign.

“To us, that means the education and the awareness are working,” said Salemme, UW’s hazing prevention and response specialist.

UW has received 13 reports of hazing so far this academic year, he said — nearly the same as for all of 2023-24. But not all hazing reports are substantiated after an investigation.

The state’s flagship university has publicly reported nine hazing incidents since 2018, the largest number in the state. Those are incidents that have been investigated, formally determined to be hazing, and included in the UW’s hazing transparency report.

Washington State University (WSU) has publicly reported eight hazing incidents since 2018.

In a recent presentation to the state Legislature, WSU reported a total of 52 violations of student organization policies (including hazing) since 2023. Of those:

• 38 cases were dismissed for insufficient evidence.
• 7 cases had charges dropped.
• 4 are pending investigation.
• 1 organization was found not responsible.
• 2 organizations were found responsible.

First Pacific Northwest Anti-Hazing Summit planned for June

Salemme’s role is itself an outgrowth of Sam’s Law. The UW created the position following the law’s passage.

Sam’s Law has ushered in other changes at UW, including:

• Annual training for all staff and faculty on hazing prevention.
• New programs, workshops, and presentations about hazing aimed at all students.
• A new cross-campus commitment to hazing prevention that includes student leaders, health educators, student activities staff, the athletics department, and resident advisers.

“We have good buy-in, and it needs to be a campus-wide approach and getting everybody on the same page to change the culture,” Salemme said. “We still have a long way to go, it’s not perfect. But there’s a lot of positive momentum.”

Not every Washington campus has the resources to dedicate a full-time staff position to hazing prevention like the UW, Salemme said. At smaller schools, it may not be clear whose job it is to oversee hazing reporting and prevention activities.

Salemme said he has worked to position UW as a leader in hazing prevention across the nation. On June 24, UW will host the first Pacific Northwest Anti-Hazing Summit for campus professionals from 10 Western states. More than 60 people have registered to attend.

Prevention means so much more than “We don’t haze”

Eastern Washington University (EWU) in Cheney, WA, has also seen an increase in hazing reported by students since Sam’s Law went into effect. The school has publicly reported two hazing incidents since 2022 in its online hazing transparency report.

Sam’s Law has led to other changes in EWU’s response to hazing, said Elise Brehmer, EWU’s assistant director for sorority and fraternity life.

As part of her hazing prevention work with students, Brehmer said she often shows an episode of the CBS program “60 Minutes” featuring Sam Martinez’s family discussing his hazing death with reporter Anderson Cooper.

“When I think of prevention, it’s so much bigger than just ‘We don’t haze,’” Brehmer said. “It can’t just be a one-off workshop. Our approach is … how are we building healthy organizations and students so they know how to identify unhealthy behaviors and they’re not perpetuating those behaviors.”

The updated definition of hazing under Sam’s Law has helped EWU focus on a broader range of behaviors that can be considered hazing, she said, and the school’s new Hazing Prevention Committee required by the law means “it’s not just me alone working on this” but part of a more comprehensive campus approach, she said.

She also appreciates that sororities and fraternities must now notify the university if they initiate a hazing investigation, information that wasn’t always shared in the past.

An unintended consequence of the law: Less oversight?

It remains challenging to get students to report hazing for fear of being ostracized or getting themselves or other students in trouble, Brehmer said.

Organizations found responsible for hazing may lose their recognition by the university, meaning they can’t formally recruit new members or operate with the approval and backing of the university.

Those organizations may end up with less oversight, even while some continue to operate informally.

“In practice, that has taken away some of our ability to provide corrective action immediately,” Brehmer said. “We don’t want to deter students from reporting it or hiding those behaviors, and we don’t want organizations to exist that jeopardize student safety.”

Overall, Brehmer said she feels encouraged about the conversations on hazing prevention that are happening now, especially with the recent passage of the federal Stop Campus Hazing Act requiring all US colleges and universities to publish a Campus Hazing Transparency Report on their websites by December.

“We’re not there yet. There’s still under-reporting occurring. But I think we’re moving in the right direction,” she said.