Congresswoman Wilson to Introduce Federal Anti-Hazing Bill in January

Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.)

Tuesday December 27, 2011

Washington, DC – Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) announced today that she plans to introduce a federal anti-hazing bill when Congress reconvenes in January. A staunch fighter of bullying and hazing during her career as a school principal and school board member, Rep. Wilson decided that action is needed at the federal level to combat hazing incidents like the tragedy that claimed drum major Robert Champion’s life at Florida A&M University in November.

“Hazing is demeaning, dangerous, and, sadly, deadly,” said Rep. Wilson. “It’s time that we put an end to this horrible and humiliating ritual once and for all, so that no more students suffer the way that Robert and others have.”

Rep. Wilson fought hazing throughout her four-year reign as the South Atlantic Regional Director for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first sorority founded by black students on the campus of Howard University in 1908. Rep. Wilson was nicknamed by a Miami Herald reporter as “THE HAZE BUSTER” because of her very public stance to stamp out hazing on college campuses.

“I am having policy discussions now with presidents of historically-black colleges and universities, band members and presidents of Greek-letter organizations so that we will be able to craft a strong bill for introduction next month,” Rep. Wilson said.

Rep. Frederica Wilson's hazing bill may include penalties for bystanders of rituals

Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson plans to introduce a federal hazing ban when she returns to Congress in mid-January. Details of the bill aren't yet ironed out, though she is consulting officials from the (United States) Justice Department and universities to figure out how far she can go, she said.

"I've been toying with different scenarios," she told (Miami) Times/Herald. "I want it to be broad enough to affect a lot of people so they will stop." 

She wants her bill to target the people who haze, the person being hazed and those who are present for the ritual and "don't report it or intervene."

READ MORE

Rep. Frederica S. Wilson is a first-term congresswoman representing the 17th District of Florida, including Northern Miami-Dade and Southeast Broward Counties. She is a former state legislator and school principal and the founder of the 5000 Role Models for Excellence Project, a mentoring program for young males at risk of dropping out of school. Wilson earned her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Fisk University in 1963 and her Master of Science in Elementary Education from the University of Miami in 1972.