This past week, during officer onboarding training sessions required for clubs to stay registered with the Student Association, the Office of Student Conduct delivered a presentation which detailed their recent release of a hazing transparency report for SUNY Oswego, a document which is available to the public through the school website which states that “in accordance with the Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA) and section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the University publishes a report of any student organization that has been found responsible for hazing.” 

The release of this information in this manner is relatively new and was found to be surprising to faculty members such as Professor Eileen Gilligan from the journalism and communication studies department who asked “Did anyone know about all these hazing violations?” She followed up this inquiry by saying “I didn’t, but I don’t know how I would other than word of mouth.” This sentiment is backed by other members of the campus community who were also unaware of the scope of the issue, but have heard rumors from their peers. 

The report only goes back for a few years, since Brandon Bennet, the recent director of Student Conduct has been in office. Bennet presented the information regarding this new report at the student training event, notably starting his statement with, “now you don’t need to keep going off of rumors,” mentioning that the “Hazing Transparency Report holds information on all hazing incidents within my last four years here at Oswego, in explicit detail, including what the university has done about it.” This novel transparency by the university reveals a pattern of abuse within many trusted student organizations, of which only some have been permanently unrecognized, but not disbanded entirely, while others have faced temporary suspension for a short period of time. 

One of the earliest instances listed on the report refers to the now reinstated Oswego State Cheerleading team, which held joint hazing operations with both the Sigma Gamma and Kappa Sigma fraternity chapters back in October, 2022. The description of violations from these incidents included: degradation by forcing members to crawl on their hands and knees with pacifiers, forced simulation of sexual acts, drawing genitalia on member’s faces, and confiscating new members’ mobile phones before abandoning them at fraternity houses. Although all three of these organizations were involved, only the cheerleading team was noted as having abused drugs or alcohol illegally while Sigma Gamma and Kappa Sigma were not, leading to much lower 

*initial suspension sentences of a few months for the fraternities in comparison to the three year suspension term for the cheerleading team. **Although Kappa Sigma has now been permanently expelled from the university as an organization due to a subsequent incident in March 2026 when they made threats of violence towards potential new members and were listed as abusing alcohol or drugs illegally.

The most recent incident in the report discusses the Psi Phi Gamma fraternity hazing incident from September of 2025, which made national news last year when a former member exposed the violence they experienced during initiation. The fraternity accepted responsibility for paddling members numerous times with a wooden paddle, sleep deprivation, and forcing members to dance in women’s clothing in front of an audience of sorority members. The sorority mentioned is not listed or named in the report and the Psi Phi Gamma fraternity was given a four year suspension.

There was an additional mention of a type of procedure instituted by the Office of Student Conduct meant to encourage more students to report hazing sightings: “We have our own amnesty policy for hazing. Even if you are involved or a witness you will not be subject to conduct sanctions, [if you report it].” Bennet closed his presentation by saying that “they may still operate and charge you $5 at the door, but that is your decision.”