NATIONAL HAZING PREVENTION WEEK PLANNING GUIDE 2013 ABOUT NATIONAL HAZING PREVENTION WEEK National Hazing Prevention Week (NHPW) is organized by HazingPrevention.Org, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower people to prevent hazing in college and university student groups. NHPW is observed during the last week of September each year.
While National Hazing Prevention Week is observed in September, hazing prevention is a 365-day-a-year commitment. NHPW can be used to highlight year-round prevention initiatives or can simply be the kick-off to a series of conversations to develop a campus-wide prevention plan. This year’s theme is: Know. Decide. Act.
Dates for the observance this year are September 23-27. To assist with planning, we’ve provided you with this guide and the accompanying promotional products catalog. For ongoing support for your campus event, visit our new microsite at www.NationalHazingPreventionWeek.com
USING THE PRODUCT GUIDE The Planning & Product Guide is designed to spur ideas and give you some tools you can put to work for your observance of National Hazing Prevention Week. The planning portion of the guide offers an overview of event ideas and sample media tools. The product portion of the guide showcases some of the items you can order from CampusTshirt.com that might feature the NHPW logo, your logo or both. CampusTshirt.com is the official product vendor for NHPW and as such, is the only vendor licensed to use the NHPW logo.
What you see in this guide is just a sample of the items CampusTshirt.com offers. Visit their website at www.campustshirt.com to view all of their products. And continue to visit www.NationalHazingPreventionWeek.com for comprehensive NHPW planning, product and event information, 365 days a year.
PROMOTIONAL SUGGESTIONS Develop a list of media outlets (newspaper, radio and television) on your campus and in your community. Send news releases to them. Send public service announcements (PSAs) to radio and TV stations. The media relations professional on your campus or in your organization will be a useful resource for you. National Hazing Prevention Week is a positive event undertaken by students and staff on your campus or in your organization, so make sure your efforts get the attention they deserve!
Contact the University president, the vice president of Student Life, the senior Student Affairs professional, your student government, your fraternity/sorority councils, the local mayor’s office, city council and other elected state and federal officials and ask them to issue proclamations recognizing NHPW and your campus/organizational observance.
Use social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and others to let people know what you’re doing to observe NHPW.
Flyers, posters and imprinted products like t-shirts, sweatshirts, balloons, bracelets and other items are great ways to highlight your observance. Official posters for NHPW 2013 will be available this summer for downloading, customizing and printing at www.NationalHazingPreventionWeek.com. And don’t forget to order your NHPW logo merchandise from CampusTshirt.com right away. Order it with the NHPW logo, your logo, and/or with the 2013 theme: Know. Decide. Act. Only you can prevent hazing. Just be creative!
ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS NHPW observance activities typically fall into the following six categories; however, don’t be limited by this list. Use your imagination to develop initiatives that fit your campus or organizational culture. The NHPW website offers additional ideas of ways you can observe this week. Whatever you do, take pictures and send them to us with highlights of your observance using the “Contact Us” feature on the NHPW website. We’ll be sharing great ideas from campuses and organizations across the country before, during and after NHPW. Contests Contests are great ways to engage in sharing the message of National Hazing Prevention Week. HazingPrevention.Org offers three you can promote in your community: the NHPW Digital Pix & Composites Photo Contest; the NHPW CAMPUSPEAK Poster Contest, and; the NHPW Essay Contest, sponsored this year by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Each offer cash prizes for top winners. For the latest information about contest guidelines and deadlines, visit www.NationalHazingPreventionWeek.com. You can come up with your own contests. Just award significant enough prizes to encourage participation (like NHPW logo merchandise from CampusTshirt.com)! Fundraising Your observance is a great way to raise money for a terrific cause – to further the work of HazingPrevention.Org, the organizer of NHPW. HPO is a nonprofit organization so donations of all kinds are always welcome. During NHPW, we promote the National Campus FUNdraising Challenge. There’s a whole kit of Challenge information and ideas on the NHPW website. Basically, your campus or organization does something FUN to raise money to donate to HPO. And campuses that raise $1,000 or more receive a one-year Campus Membership to HPO with great benefits that last all year long. Set up a personal fundraising effort on the grassroots giving website, www.greeksforgood.org, and encourage your family, friends and fellow students to donate to your cause – HPO and hazing prevention. HPO also benefits from relationships with strategic partners who donate a percentage of proceeds back to HPO. One of those is CampusTshirt.com, the official vendor of NHPW merchandise, who donate 10% of sales back to HPO.
ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS (cont.) Personal Show of Support Anti-hazing buttons, ribbons, bracelets, t-shirts and personal pledges are all ways individuals can show their stance against hazing. CampusTshirt.com offers tons of imprinted items, and HazingPrevention.Org offers two pledge opportunities. You can encourage people to take the Hazing Prevention Pledge where they sign a pledge to not tolerate hazing. And, HazingPrevention.Org has teamed up with Greek101.com in a campaign to encourage members of the Greek community to Pledge to Put the Paddle in the Past. Greek101 is actually phasing out sales of the paddle – a symbol of hazing. How many pledge-takers can you bring on board during your NHPW observance? To learn more about both pledges, visit the NHPW website. Educational Initiatives Speakers, video/movie screenings and discussions, and panel discussions are all ways you can engage students in talking about hazing prevention. HazingPrevention.Org offers a webinar series during the month of September that you can register your campus/organization for at www.HazingPrevention.Org. HPO also offers past webinars for a nominal cost through the HPOnline Store, also on the website. A national hazing speaker from a college speaker’s agency like CAMPUSPEAK. Or, bring one or both of two programs that have partnered with HPO. The RAProject is designed to bring out the “everyday hero” in all of us by addressing bystander behavior. They offer an award-winning educational DVD package, a book written by Dr. Alan Berkowitz, two facilitator guides, a website, interactive workshop, and keynote program presented by Mike Dilbeck. The RA Project donates a percentage of sales generated by HPO and sales through the HPOnline Store and offers a scholarship to HPO’s Novak Institute for Hazing Prevention. RISE Partnerships’ innovative From Hazing to Health program was designed to give fraternity and sorority leaders the tools they need to replace hazing practices in new member education. Now, they’re reaching an even larger audience of college and university student groups facing the same issues. RISE donates a percentage of sales of its From H2H program generated through the HPOnline Store to HPO.
ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS (cont. 2) Interactive Social Media Initiatives and Printed Resources Three years ago, Sigma Nu and HPO teamed up for the fraternity’s 40 Answers Campaign about hazing on Twitter and it continues to go strong. Follow or join in the conversation this fall at #40answers. And watch Facebook as HPO and dozens of campuses and national organizations feature hazing prevention during NHPW. Some more traditional, but also effective modes of communication include print materials. Download and customize this year’s official NHPW poster when it becomes available later this spring after the winner of the poster contest has been selected. You can find it at www.NationalHazingPreventionWeek.com. You can also find a ton of resources – including table display packages, brochures, magnets, buttons and other items – at the HPOnline Store. Visit the store at www.HazingPrevention.Org. Public Displays of Support Candlelight vigils, marches and speak outs can give students other avenues where they can publicly share their opinions about hazing. PREPARE A MEDIA KIT You can use the following tools to put together your own media kit, then distribute it to your campus
media outlets and those in the surrounding community. Don’t forget to drop one off at key campus offices, including Student Life, Residence Life, Athletics, Bands, Fraternity and Sorority Life,
Intramural/Recreational Sports and Student Government. Deliver one also to the local mayor’s office
and send them to your state and federal elected officials. For national organizations, you may consider developing a media kit to distribute to the groups on the campuses where you are represented. Step 1: Work with city government officials, state officials, even your members of Congress to have them issue a proclamation. Place copies of the proclamations in your media kit. Step 2: Personalize your press release, adding specific details about your campus observance, then put a copy in the kit. Step 3: Personalize the PSAs and contact your campus and community media to encourage them to run them before and during NHPW. Step 4: Include a copy of any posters, flyers, etc., you produce to promote your campus activities in the kit. Step 5: Put everything into a pocket folder featuring your college/university or organization logo and distribute! The following pages contain examples of Proclamations, News Releases and Public Service Announcements.
Sample Proclamation Whereas, National Hazing Prevention Week is September 23-27, 2013; And whereas, this year marks the fifth anniversary of the awareness week; And whereas, students, faculty and staff on college and university campuses across North America will mark this week with activities and events designed to raise awareness and educate their communities about hazing prevention; Be it known that on this (number) day of (month), I, (mayor’s name), mayor of (city), do hereby declare September 23-27, 2013, to be National Hazing Prevention Week in (city and state), and invite residents of our community to recognize the contributions these college and university students make to our community, and to support them in their efforts to empower people to prevent hazing in college and university student groups, every day of the year. Sample News Release For more information, contact: (name, phone number and email of campus contact) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (date) (College/University Name) TO PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL HAZING PREVENTION WEEK (College/University Name) will mark National Hazing Prevention Week, September 23-27, 2013, with activities and events designed to raise awareness and educate students, faculty and staff about hazing prevention. This year, at least one young adult in North America will die as a result of a hazing incident. Thousands of others will be hazed as they try to become members of campus organizations and teams. Most of them will bear the hazing silently as they’re told it’s “tradition” or “all in fun” or “paying their dues.” Most incidents will go unreported and unheard, but those students who are hazed, those who stood by and watched the incidents, and those who perpetrated the acts will be irrevocably changed. Not in the positive way young adults should be changed during their college years, but in a negative way that leaves them physically, mentally and emotionally scarred for life. National Hazing Prevention Week is an annual event, organized by HazingPrevention.Org. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to empower people to prevent hazing in college and university student groups, and it offers a variety of programs, webinars, resources and information designed to fulfill that mission. “(College/University) is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for our students,” (Name, Title) said. “Hazing is antithetical to that commitment, and we’re pleased that our students from all types of organizations have joined together to observe National Hazing Prevention Week and to consider its implications throughout the entire year.” HazingPrevention.Org encourages participation in National Hazing Prevention Week by all types of student organizations, from athletics, intramural, recreational and club sports to bands, fraternity and sorority life, residential life and other student organizations. With more and more types of organizations and an increasing number of campuses involved in the observance, HazingPrevention.Org has stepped up its efforts to continue growth. (Insert a paragraph about your campus activities/schedule.) For more information about National Hazing Prevention Week and hazing prevention, visit www.HazingPrevention.Org or www.NationalHazingPreventionWeek.com
Public Service Announcements Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are advertising on topics of public interest, aired at no charge by broadcast media. Following are some suggested PSAs you can use on your campus radio/television stations and on local stations in your community. 15-Second PSA (Background music) Every year, at least one college student in North America dies as a result of hazing at the hands of fellow students. Empower yourself to prevent hazing by taking part in National Hazing Prevention Week, September 23rd through the 27th, on the campus of (College/University). 30-Second PSA (Background music) Hazing is a serious health issue. It’s not acceptable. It’s not okay. In fact, it’s illegal in nearly every state. Hazing doesn’t build relationships. It breaks spirits and shatters dreams. Hazing scars both the hazers and the victims emotionally, and at least once a year in this country, takes a life. Join (College/University) as we observe National Hazing Prevention Week, September 23rd through the 27th with a variety of activities designed to empower people to prevent hazing. For information, contact (insert web address and/or email). 60-Second PSA (Background music) Somebody’s son or daughter, sister or brother, roommate or friend is touched by hazing every year on college and university campuses. Some haze. Some are hazed. Some just stand by and watch it happen. But no one is left unscarred by the experience. And at least once every year, a victim loses his or her life. Join the students of (College/University) as we work to empower people to prevent hazing with activities and events we’ve organized to observe National Hazing Prevention Week, September 23rd through the 27th. Students representing athletics, bands, fraternities and sororities, residential living and more have teamed up to observe this special week in September, but we’re committed to living what we learn all year long. For more information, visit or www.NationalHazingPreventionWeek.com or (insert your website address where people can find events).