All across the nation, organizations are fighting the use of hazing, and this week, MU’s Panhellenic Association has brought the battle to campus.

National Hazing Prevention Week takes place during the last week in September. Through various activities, the Greek Life council has attempted to spread awareness about the issue of hazing in fraternities and sororities. PHA spokeswoman Crystal Richardson expresses her council’s desire to educate and protect the community throughout the week.

“Our goal is to create a safe environment on campus,” Richardson said. “We want our community leaders to see the seriousness of these issues that could potentially be fatal if we don’t prevent them from happening.”

Each council handles the issue of hazing differently, so PHA was in charge of its own events this week. The councils all operate under the Office of Greek Life, where faculty members advise them on events like recruitment and philanthropy.

One of the PHA activities this week was a showing of the movie, “Haze”. The movie describes the story of Gordie, a fraternity brother who loses his life in the process of hazing. The film was shown to the executive members of 14 different sororities, each of which decided after the showing if it wanted to show it to the rest of its chapter.

“The movie is truly an eye-opening experience that shows what could happen in a worst-case scenario,” Richardson said.

Anna Kuhn, PHA vice president of risk management, who was in charge of the movie showing, agrees with Richardson on the movie’s goal.

“We want to make sure people know, if they don’t already, that hazing is not OK,” she said.

In addition to the movie, Kuhn described the banner contest. Each sorority will make a banner about hazing prevention and display it in front of its house Friday morning. The banners are judged, and a prize of $500 is awarded to the philanthropic organization of the sorority’s choice.

Kuhn said there has been a lot of participation in the week’s activities.

“The prize really helps, but we had everyone come to the movie showing,” Kuhn said.

Richardson says that hazing is not common at MU, and the school are determined to keep it that way.

“Hazing is not a problem on MU’s campus,” she said. “However, in light of National Hazing Prevention Week, we are taking the right steps to prevent it from happening.”