According to Sports Illustrated, the Central Bucks West High School Football Team is under investigation for hazing
In a story broken early Friday morning, it was announced that a Pennsylvania high school has cancelled the rest of their football season amid hazing allegations.
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The school, Central Bucks West, is located in Bucks Country- about half an hour or so north of Philadelphia. The students involved in the investigation include both those who participated in the hazing themselves and those who knew about it, but chose not to report it. According to school officials, both parties are guilty of breaching the school’s Code of Conduct.
It was announced by the Central Bucks School District superintendent, David P. Weitzel, that the school would forfeit their final two football games of the season. In addition, multiple varsity and junior varsity coaches will be suspended, due to ‘improper conduct’ on the part of what the letter says was a majority of the players from both teams during preseason team-building.
The charges, which were raised on October 14, claim that the behavior did not cause any physical harm to students- but the charges also stress that despite the lack of physical harm, the actions taken against the team’s rookie members were ‘not harmless’.
They involved touching other players’ genitals [over clothes] in front of groups of other students, among other activities.
Hazing has become one of the largest topics of controversy in recent years, both in high schools and in universities. The line between ‘initiation’ ceremonies and outright hazing can get blurry, and therefore very rarely do we find clear-cut cases of hazing that deserve swift punishment. This is a far stretch from the student at my university who got waterboarded during a pledging event, yet it is also a far stretch from blindfolding younger team members in anticipation of a welcoming ceremony.
At the moment, there are no further details confirmed regarding the incident. Fansided has no confirmation of whether or not the school district will conduct a criminal investigation against any of the students or teachers- a far cry from the alleged hazing case in Sayreville, New Jersey.
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