More than 70,000 signatures for the protection of victims of university hazing
"Screams, threats, blows, coercion, haircuts in which you partially shaved your head." So Manuel summarizes his arrival at the college when he moved to Madrid to start the University the last course. A traumatic experience that has led him to initiate a petition that It already gathers more than 70,000 signatures to protect the victims of university hazing.
The beginning of the stage in the University It is a very important moment in the life of any young person, something that is experienced with special intensity if the new university student must move out of town to start this phase of his life. A very important stage, yes, but that can be truncated if the young people meet the dreaded hazing: some welcome They are not always as pleasant as they should be.
As Miguel recalls, the initiator of the initiative, every September thousands of university students start their stage, many of them "subjected to hazing not only in schools, but also in residences, schools and faculties and university campuses", a reality that has been documented and denounced for years through the association 'No más novatadas'.
Violence in hazing
"They are submitted to a type of violence that young people get to normalize and society to accept, and that in no way would be tolerated in other areas, "laments the driver of the collection of signatures, which ensures that there are also sexist and sexist acts that also "are part of the so-called" welcome " which, sometimes, lasts for several months. "
Manuel tell your story in the letter in which he asks for the support of soda society: "the sleep was interrupted with pounding on the doors and shouting calls for meetings with 'veterans' to make the hazing they imposed on you, "he recalls." The hazing used to last until the wee hours of the morning, which prevented a proper follow-up of classes at the university, "he continues.
This way, this young person assures that the hazing occupies great part of the daily journey: during the mornings the calls to these meetings "are continuous" and the hazing "heavy and sometimes extremely hard" all "in order to subdue the newcomer".
"I have become afraid to go down to eat in the dining room for all the discomforts and humiliations that were carried out there with total impunity, without the intervention of the people in charge of ensuring good coexistence; with effects on my physical, psychological and social health ", regrets this university student, who assures that this happened" day after day, week after week ".
NO to hazing
Fortunately, in his case he planted himself: "I decided to refuse to submit to hazing". That yes, this did not remain in anything: "as a consequence, I suffered the isolation on the part of which they would have to be my companions, and a brutal physical aggression for which I had to receive medical attention", laments as a way to draw attention to the harshness of the hazing.
In his case, he assures that as a victim he was found "in a situation of total helplessness". "Neither truthful information, nor channels of denunciation, nor confidentiality, nor effective actions, nor measures of protection, nor accompaniment," he enumerates. Finally his decision was to leave the college where he was living and suffering the hazing.
After his experience, this young man has strong reasons to understand that hazing "is harmful and they produce a lot of suffering in solitude. " "If you do not submit, you are excluded from the group," he says, which is why he has decided to launch this measure to denounce "helplessness and impunity" because "nobody dares to take action."
Protection for victims of hazing
These are the requests that this victim of hazing asks the Government to face in this situation. You can join them through Change.org.
- Centralized information and guidance phone for victims.
- Clear reporting protocols with confidentiality guarantee.
- Full refund of the reservation of the place in case of having to leave a center for not submitting to being mistreated by hazing.
- Clear regulations on the part of the university authority: ensure compliance with the Statute of the University, equal rights to recently admitted and former university students, etc.
- Prevention programs in ESO and Bachillerato centers.
- Awareness campaigns promoted by the Ministry of Education.
Angela R. Bonachera
