Students may have missed out on information about alcohol and hazing as Brittany Meding, peer education coordinator, started her presentation with one attendee.

Chuck Eberly, Professor of Counseling and Student Development said he was surprised that Eastern has over 10,000 students and only one was in attendance.

Although Meding may not have gotten the turn out that she had hoped for, she spoke confidently as she presented.

Meding opened her presentation with statistics and afterward a short quiz was handed out to see what people already knew about hazing.

Meding weaved into her presentation short videos, a pre/post test to measure knowledge about hazing, interactive games and myth and facts about hazing. She also spoke about the Illinois law and university standard concerning hazing.

Many students may be surprised at what can be considered to be hazing.

It is important to be self-aware because there are laws in Illinois about hazing. If found guilty of hazing, the person could face a class A misdemeanor or a class 4 felony if the hazing event results in great bodily injury or death.

“I didn’t realize that hazing was against the law,” said Micki Addison, Nutrient Education Coordinator.

Meding was part of the Gamma Chi sorority at Elmhurst College, where she received her B.A. in physical education.

“People don’t know any better and feels it’s apart of tradition,” said Meding.

However, she said her sorority was able to find positive alternatives.

Dean Harwood, director of Fraternity and Sorority Programs, said he believes hazing affects a small amount of chapters and students. Since he has only been in the position here at Eastern since August, he does not have any thoughts on hazing on the Eastern campus.

Meding said during her presentation that Harwood is working on new protocols to prevent hazing on Eastern’s campus.

Addison said the most important lesson that she learned from the presentation was how serious of a crime hazing really is.

Students may have the chance to understand how serious hazing is if Meding moves forward with her plans to run her session again due to low attendance.

Desiree Morris can be reached at 581-7942 or at

dnmorris2@eiu.edu.

All but three seats remained empty during the Peer Education Session held in the Buzzard Hall Auditorium on Monday night. The session focused on hazing on college campuses (Jordan Boner

(more…)