With less than a month left in office, the president signed dozens of bills into law on Christmas Eve.
Here’s what we know now: Joe Biden’s legacy
Three political reporters share what Joe Biden’s presidential legacy will be – including his biggest lasting downfall.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday enacted the first federal anti-hazing law, marking the end of a yearslong push by victims’ families for more transparency and accountability on college campuses.
The Stop Campus Hazing Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in September and the U.S. Senate this month, requires universities to start collecting hazing statistics to include in regular public reports.
These requirements could kick in as soon as next week and impact many campus groups.
Under longstanding federal statutes, colleges and universities must disclose crimes that occur on their campuses each year. Yet despite the sometimes violent and fatal nature of hazing, schools have never been required by the federal government to disclose statistics about how often it happens, especially within fraternities and sororities that target their new members.
While nearly every U.S. state has an anti-hazing law, the measures vary in scope and impact, according to the advocacy group StopHazing. Prior attempts to put a federal law on the books have fizzled out in Congress.
After the law’s passage on Tuesday, many colleges will have to reconcile their existing protocols with the new federal requirements. The law also pushes schools to implement comprehensive hazing prevention programs and identify which student groups are found in violation of anti-hazing rules.
Julie and Gary DeVercelly Sr., whose son died in a fraternity hazing incident at Rider University in New Jersey in 2007, commended Biden on Tuesday.
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“We’ve been pushing hard for this for a very long time,” they said in a joint statement. “No parent should have to bury their child, especially not for something preventable like a hazing death.”
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.
