State's bullying law falls short of what's needed, advocates say.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

FLORENCE - A 2001 law requiring school districts to adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation and bullying is a "toothless tiger," according to a founder of Springfield's Ribbon of Promise National Campaign to Prevent School Violence.

Founder Dennis Murphy criticized the law for not mandating that schools get tough on school violence. The measure merely "encourages" districts to include definitions of the prohibited behavior, statements of consequences, procedures for reporting it anonymously and investigating such charges.

Meanwhile, the state's hazing law addresses only incidents occurring on college and university campuses - not secondary schools.

But the issue is gaining attention nationally.

After a hazing incident in 1998, Alfred University, a 2,300-student school in Alfred, N.Y., directed the first nationwide study of college and high school hazing.

Researchers sent surveys to 20,000 high school students. Of the more than 1,600 who responded, nearly half said that they'd been hazed. Most were unaware that hazing is against the law in most states.

Norm Pollard, who directs the counseling center at Alfred University, said the study did not ask about sexually oriented hazing, but some students reported anecdotally that their harassment was sexual.

"Many students did include that they were forced to have sex with another teammate as a way of initiation onto the team," Pollard said.

Newspaper reports of sex crimes indicate an increase in sexual hazing, Pollard said, though it's impossible to know whether that's a result of more media attention, more reporting or more incidents.

It's possible that students are increasing the severity of hazing, Pollard said, from roughhousing to full-blown sexual assault. They may not realize that their activity could result in criminal charges.

"Sophomores are the ones who haze rookie players, so they tend to ratchet it up a notch to make it much more humiliating and gross than what they went through," Pollard said. "It may have started off as something fairly minor and tame."

It's important for school officials, coaches and parents to seek out safe rites of passage for adolescents, such as camping trips and Outward Bound-type experiences, Pollard said.

"They need some type of initiation, and if there aren't adults involved in doing that, they're going to invent their own," Pollard said. "They'll pick it up from the media, Fear Factor, MTV."

In Oregon, hazing crimes are prosecuted under statutes not specific to hazing, Pollard said, as state law deals only with universities.

ON THE INTERNET

For more information about hazing, go to www.stophazing.org. On school violence, visit www.ribbonofpromise.org.