June 10, 2025 | 3 minute read

A recent federal law requires higher education institutions to take several new actions in 2025 to address incidents related to hazing.

The Stop Campus Hazing Act, enacted on December 23, 2024, modifies Clery Act reporting requirements and establishes minimum standards for institutions of higher education to prevent, track and report hazing. The new act establishes hazing as a reportable offense under Clery, and mandates that institutions publicly disclose hazing violations by student organizations. At a high and non-exhaustive level, the Stop Campus Hazing Act introduces three major obligations:

  1. institutions must begin including hazing as a reportable offense in their Annual Security Reports (ASRs);
  2. institutions must implement evidence-based hazing prevention training programs for students, faculty and staff; and
  3. institutions must create and maintain a public Campus Hazing Transparency Report (CHTR) which lists student organizations that the institution recently found responsible for hazing.

According to the statute, these measures are designed to improve transparency, increase institutional accountability and reduce the risk of harm to students.

Definitions

Importantly, the Stop Campus Hazing Act provides definitions of “hazing” and “student organization” that apply differently to ASRs, training programs and CHTRs.

  • Hazing — Any intentional, knowing or reckless act committed by a student, or a former student, of an institution of higher education, whether individually or with others, against another individual when both of the following apply:
    • the act was committed in connection with an initiation into, an affiliation with, the maintenance of membership in, or a prospective membership in an organization affiliated with an institution of higher education; and
    • the act contributes to a substantial risk of physical injury, mental harm or degradation, or causes physical injury, mental harm or personal degradation.
  • Student Organization — A group or organization that is affiliated with an institution of higher education, including a fraternity, sorority, association, corporation, order, society, corps, club or service, social, or similar group whose members are primarily students at such institution.

Key Provisions

Starting at the beginning of 2025, institutions should already have begun tracking hazing-related incidents to include in their ASRs. Among other requirements, institutions must report incidents received by campus security authorities or local law enforcement, document investigations and update Clery-compliant reporting processes.

Institutions must also implement hazing prevention and awareness training programs. These programs must be evidence-based, address hazing identification, prevention and reporting, and be made available to all students, faculty and staff. The training must include specific information on how to recognize hazing, how to report it and what institutional resources are available for victims and reporters. Institutions must ensure that training content is up-to-date, accessible and broadly disseminated. These programs are required to be ongoing (not one-time) efforts, and institutions should track participation for compliance purposes.

The act also requires institutions to complete a CHTR, which must be posted on the institution’s public website. Among other requirements, the CHTR must list student organizations found responsible for hazing violations and include details about the nature of the violations, penalties imposed and relevant dates. The first CHTR is due near the end of 2025 and must be updated every six months with any new incidents. Further, some states may impose additional CHTR requirements on institutions.

Important Deadlines and Non-Compliance Penalties

  • January 1, 2025 — Begin tracking hazing statistics for ASRs.
  • June 23, 2025 — Hazing policies must be in place.
  • July 1, 2025 — Process developed for documenting standard of conduct violations for hazing.
  • December 23, 2025 — Publish first CHTR.
  • Every six months thereafter — Update the CHTR with any new incidents.
  • October 1, 2026 — 2025 hazing statistics included in 2026 ASR.

Non-compliance may result in the loss of federal funding and the potential imposition of fines for Clery Act violations.

Next Steps

Institutions of higher education should act immediately to align their policies, programs and reporting practices with the requirements of the Stop Campus Hazing Act, which includes many nuances beyond its overview described in this alert. For assistance reviewing your institution’s policies and assessing what, when, where and how your institution must now report hazing information and implement hazing prevention programs, legal counsel should be contacted at your earliest convenience to avoid possible penalties and violations.

For more information about how the Stop Campus Hazing Act may affect your institution, please contact the authors, or your regular Lathrop GPM attorney.