How Sports Hazing And Abuse Affects Insurers

There seems to be no shortage of hazing and abuse incidents in the news lately. Earlier this month, a Miami University student was allegedly hit “with a paddle with spikes and grooves,” forced to drink large amounts of alcohol and smoke marijuana in a hazing incident. Closer to home, six youths were charged last year in connection with a group sexual assault at St. Michael’s College School in Toronto. In 2017, in Dearborn, Mich., there were reports of an after-school hazing incident involving several varsity football players in the locker room; some labelled it “rogue hazing,” others called it sexual assault. “I kind of grew up in a sports environment and it was certainly there, but hazing in general in schools — like a rite of passage — is big,” said Neil Mitchell, president of Player’s Health Insure, in an interview with Canadian Underwriter. “It’s bigger than I thought it was.”