In recognition of National Hazing Prevention Week, Managing Director Alyssa Bernhardt interviewed Lindsey Long (Alpha Pi) about her chapter’s “Anti-Hazing Week” service project that won the 2020-2021 University Community Area of Service Award.
Q: What led you to plan this project to promote hazing awareness and prevention on the WVU campus?
A: In 2014, a student (Nolan Burch) was the victim of a hazing incident that ended up costing him his life. The university, in partnership with the Burch family, created the documentary “Breathe Nolan, Breathe” that included real footage of the incident and how his “brothers” handled the situation. They also included interviews from doctors that were involved in the case at our university hospital. There were testimonies from his parents that helped get the message through to the students about the dangers of hazing and the potentially fatal consequences.
Q: What impact did this service project have on you?
A: I was personally able to speak to the Burch family before we had our seminar and it was extremely humbling to meet with them. It was truly a situation where you don’t truly understand the impact until you can experience it yourself. I was truly moved by being able to speak to his family and hear everything they had to say about the situation and how they created a movement out of their own tragedy. As a college student, I’ve been becoming more aware of my surroundings when I find myself out. As a nursing major as well, it’s almost second nature at this point to be looking out to see if anyone is in distress and needs serious help.
Q: What impact do you believe this project had on other members of your chapter?
A: Our sisters were moved by our presentation as well. We even had a couple of sisters that cried listening to the testimonies from Nolan’s parents about how they noticed certain changes in their son before his death. We did this event in light of two other hazing tragedies at BGSU and VCU. Both of those students had similar stories to Nolan, and we even had a sister who knew the victim from BGSU. I feel that having his parents talk to us really helped the message get through as well. I feel like we were almost able to picture our own parents having to deal with a situation as heavy as this which helped the message sink in.
Q: What impact do you believe this project had on members of the university community?
A: We had 80+ participants from different organizations at WVU attending the presentation who all voiced thanks and even some personal stories at the end of the presentation. I was able to work with another member who ran our Instagram to DM our fliers for our presentation and Mountaineers Don’t Haze campaign to almost every Greek Life organization on campus. A lot of other organizations made their own graphic for our campaign and either posted it on their Instagram account or story. We saw a really good turn out and had a lot of organizations participate.
Q: Other chapters are often interested in learning more about the planning of big projects. How long did it take you to plan the events associated with this project?
A: It didn’t take much time at all! I think maybe about two or three weeks.
Q: What was your biggest challenge in planning this service project?
A: The biggest challenge was timing. It’s always difficult to plan a project where most of the sisters can participate, but we were also working off the Burch family’s schedule. They were absolutely wonderful to work with and were so flexible with us. They truly wanted to help which made this challenge much easier to handle.
Q: What advice would you give other chapters who want to plan a large university community project?
A: You definitely have to be persistent in recruiting with other organizations to participate. Omega Phi Alpha is a member of the Professional Greek Council here at WVU which is a different branch of Greek Life here from our social sororities and fraternities. We don’t necessarily get the same recognition around campus as the social organizations which makes reaching out to the rest of campus harder. Getting our office of Greek Life involved definitely helped with participation numbers since they have a bigger presence in regulating and managing the rest of our organizations. For the most part, I think we definitely had some organizations who were really interested in hearing what the Burch family had to say. You can lead the horse to water but you can’t make it drink right? We were very persistent and we wanted to get the community here to know OPhiA and what we were about which definitely made this a lot easier. We actually built some good relationships with Greek Life officers and other organizations here and we’re partnering with them for some service projects!
Q: Anything else you want to share about hazing prevention?
A: Hazing is 100% preventable. I understand the fun of college and wanting to be involved in Greek Life, but being aware and putting safety above everything is so important. Look into any medical amnesty policies that your university has and educate yourself on the bystander effect and how it can lead to situations like this. I would encourage people to watch the documentary “Breathe Nolan, Breathe” and witness the lasting effects a tragedy like this can have on people. In the end, we have to lookout for each other and have the courage to say something if you see something. There’s no brotherhood or sisterhood that’s worth putting your life in danger or requiring others to put their lives in danger just to belong. Greek Life is fun, trust me I love a good party more than the next guy, but just look out for your brothers and sisters. No family should have to mourn the loss of their kid just because they were pressured or coerced to belong.
Omega Phi Alpha takes any allegations of hazing seriously and complies with all federal, state, local, and university laws and regulations pertaining to hazing. Any reports of hazing should be made to the National Standards Board at nsb@omegaphialpha.org.
For more information about Hazing Prevention and resources for preventing hazing, visit https://hazingprevention.org.
For more information about the Nolan Burch Foundation, visit their website: https://nmbfoundation.com/en/.