The students, Michael Morton and Jason Harris, were convicted for their role in hazing a pledge for their fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi. The victim suffered a ruptured eardrum and injured buttocks after being beaten with boxing gloves and a wooden paddle.,”

Last week, two Florida A&M University students were the first to be sentenced to prison time under Florida's anti-hazing law, which was passed two years ago.

The students, Michael Morton and Jason Harris, were convicted for their role in hazing a pledge for their fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi. The victim suffered a ruptured eardrum and injured buttocks after being beaten with boxing gloves and a wooden paddle.

"The initial reaction was very much surprised that this type of incident would occur after so much work had been done on campus to prevent it," said Calvin Ross, chief of police at Florida A&M. "Unfortunately, hazing is steeped in culture with fraternities and other organizations."

According to Ross, Florida A&M has had a number of hazing incidents, but not an abnormally higher number than any other school.

Florida's anti-hazing law was passed in 2005 after a University of Miami student died in a hazing incident.

"The problem is, a lot of the time, hazing goes unreported. It takes place within bands, fraternities, sports teams and it's even down to the high school level now," said Frank Allman, Florida assistant state attorney. "It's really out of hand nationwide, I think, and this is an attempt to stop it."

Before the law was in place, the institution where hazing occurred was responsible for punishing the hazers. Allman said hazing could only be prosecuted if the incident fell under other statutes that were already in place, such as aggravated battery.

Now, if hazing results in serious injury, it is considered a felony. If there are only minor injuries, it is a misdemeanor.

"Florida has made hazing a criminal offense and I think that's very positive," Ross said. "Prior to the statute, consent by the victim could be used as a defense and that hampered prosecution."

Ross said Florida A&M works very hard to make its students aware of the dangers of hazing and also tries to prevent incidents.

"We try to get as much information as we can," he said. The location of the incident is important, because we might have to involve other agencies outside of our jurisdiction."

Ross said he thinks the judge made the right call in giving Morton and Harris prison time.

Stephanie Quade, associate dean of student development at Marquette, said Marquette does its best to prevent hazing.

"We don't have that many incidents reported on campus, but there's a difference between what happens and what we find out about," she said. "If we have reason to believe there is hazing we ask DPS to investigate."

No matter where it happens, though, hazing is a serious offense.

"When I hear about these incidents I feel badly for all students involved," Quade said. "Hazing is a very serious situation, and it's a really rotten thing to do to take advantage of other students that way."

“