Hazing isn’t just a problem within Greek organizations. It can play a part in any large organization, even on Creighton’s small campus.

In order to spread that message, as well as how students may experience hazing, Greek Standards Board and Interfraternity Council put on Hazing Prevention Week from Feb. 22-26.

Eric Immel, assistant director of student activities for Greek life, hopes the week highlighted how the topic of hazing can be related to almost all organizations on campus, not just Greek ones.

“Hazing isn’t specific to Greek-lettered organizations,” Immel said. “It’s in tons of other cultures and tons of other institutions. I mean, high school and middle school hazing. There’s tons of hazing on athletic teams, for example. There’s hazing in the military. There’s hazing in the workplace. A big part — is to broaden the scope of how we consider hazing.

“Any time there is a group of people who are organized, there is potential to create situations of discomfort for new members of that organization.”

Greek Standards Board also wanted to use the week as a source of education to prevent hazing.

“Our goal for Greek Standards Board was to be more proactive about the risks that we have in the Greek community and more focused on the educational programming rather than dealing with risks after the fact,” said Arts & Sciences junior Mike Nella, chair of Greek Standards Board.

Although the week is celebrated nationally in the fall, because Creighton’s recruitment is deferred until January, Greek Standards Board and Interfraternity Council decided to hold the week when there are the most new Greeks on campus.

“I think there has been a lack of attention paid to hazing issues on campus over the last year and a half,” Immel said. “When is hazing really going to be an issue for our chapters, if it’s an issue? Well, when you have the most new members in our community, and that’s in the spring.”

Last year, Creighton did not hold Hazing Prevention Week, partly because it fell completely to Interfraternity Council to put on and it didn’t have the time or ability to do so. Now it mainly falls to Greek Standards Board, where Immel thinks it fits better.

“We’ve really been [planning] hard this semester,” said Business sophomore Tyler Langnes, one of two educational coordinators for Greek Standards Board. “We were supposed to have it sooner but — if we were going to do this we were going to do this well.

Greek Standards Board sponsored events throughout the week. On Tuesday, there was a table in the Skutt Student Center as well as a Delta Zeta banner open for anyone to sign to pledge that he or she would not haze. Immel also held a history of hazing presentation. On Wednesday, Greek Standards Board showed the documentary “Haze,” which highlights the link between alcohol abuse and hazing on college campuses. To round out the week, Greek Standards Board sponsored a pub quiz at Billy Blues on Thursday as a way to bring people together for a fun, safe night. Students could also buy T-shirts that said, “hazing is stupid.”

Langnes said the message was a unilateral one for campus, and he wanted to expose people to the idea of hazing itself at Creighton.

“We’re promoting something positive,” Langnes said. “I think a lot of people are going to be like ‘Oh, there’s no hazing.’ I think to an extent there’s hazing in every organization in school. I think it’s really an eye-opener people need to see.”

By exposing people to the reality of hazing, Nella hopes to continue holding Hazing Prevention Week in future years.

“I think it’s an overlooked concept that we tend to overlook as well, so we’ll hopefully set a precedent for Greek Standards Board,” Nella said. “A lot of people don’t really see it as a reality, but hopefully once we present the issues, they can see it more once you present it to them.”