A Little Hazing Goes a Long Way

Within my first three weeks at St Andrews, I would frequently pass a first-year friend walking down the pavement clutching two precious items to their chest: a bottle of Tesco Finest wine and a glass receptacle. The subsequent interaction would go as follows: 

“I love it!” I would call out, which was always met with a laugh and a pained shrug. 

“On my way to go get hazed!” they’d say (it’s 11am). 

“Haha! Have fun!” I’d reply. 

And that would be that. 

The mention of hazing — a typically uncomfortable conversation topic, especially given recent headlines regarding American fraternities — would be thrown into a sentence with effortless familiarity and indifference. Because at St Andrews, hazing is just the plan for a typical Tuesday night. 

If you’re looking to join an academic family, you expect some kind of induction ceremony. These ceremonies fall on a spectrum: on one hand, a first-year student can join a family that spends their Raisin Weekend drinking Baileys hot chocolate on the beach (swimming optional) before regrouping over a wholesome pancake breakfast. At the other end of the spectrum, students can expect to be violently awakened at 4:30am with both hands duct-taped to bottles of wine, which must be finished within two minutes. This is to be followed by a dignified swim on West Sands — that is, of course, if you’re physically capable of making it to 7:30am. 

The same applies to Wednesday night socials, a ritual in which sports teams and societies can choose whether to participate. Some might welcome their new members over a chill pub night and a couple of name games, or perhaps they choose public humiliation and drinking games. 

As I said, it’s a spectrum, none of which I would ever take part in, of course (hi, Mum!). 

At this point in my first-year Martinmas semester when I’ve found an academic family, sports team, and a few societies in which I happily participate. I experienced full-body numbness on West Sands, I’ve played a lot of ‘don’t f**k your brother,’ and, with an open wound on my knee, I went for a swim in the East Sands harbour — yes, that green, stagnant body of water near the Cheesey Toastie Shack. In the end, I left Raisin Weekend with an empty stomach and a not-unlikely case of tetanus. 

An external viewer might advise that I seek help, but I couldn’t be happier.

Hazing bridges the gap between older and younger students, creating academic, athletic, and social families that fall wherever they please on the spectrum. I now know multiple third- and fourth-years I can turn to for academic and social advice, which has been invaluable while finding my footing. Plus, the St Andrews ‘hazing’ activities often carry some historical weight, especially on sports teams. Team chants and drinking games create camaraderie that connects first-years to a lineage of St Andrews alumni who were once in their shoes. In some cases, current students can cite the same ‘hazing’ chants that a 70-year-old alumnus could — how cool is that?

Although the ‘hazing’ spectrum may seem concerning to an outside viewer, I’d argue that, at St Andrews, we engage in ‘optional hazing,’ a valuable tool that creates a greater sense of community within our university’s social groups. In fact, I am thriving — all thanks to hazing.

Illustration by Wikimedia Commons