Some examples of suburban hazing cases
August 1996 — A group of Buffalo Grove High School freshmen were sprayed with condiments and cat litter, and at least one student had a hair-removal product put in his or her hair, after being summoned by older classmates to Nickel Knoll Golf Course in Arlington Heights. According to some accounts, the younger students also were splashed with urine. The event, later termed “an extreme case of hazing” by school officials, led to the suspension of more than a dozen students and the resignation of the sponsor of the BGettes drill team.
October 1996 — Three Prospect High School students are accused of holding down a teammate on the school’s freshman football team in the locker room and sexually assaulting him with an object. The boys later were expelled from school and faced charges in juvenile court.
May 1997 — Four members of the Naperville Central High School track team are suspended for hazing a freshman classmate. They were accused of repeatedly slapping the stomach of the younger runner, leaving red marks and drawing blood.
April 1999 — A member of the Hinsdale Central High School baseball team is kicked off the squad and two others suspended after they were charged with battery for hazing a younger teammate. The players were accused of holding down a sophomore student and cutting his hair.
August 1999 — Four varsity football players from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire are accused of hazing members of the sophomore team by making them perform “atomic sit-ups,” which involve tricking the younger players into making indecent contact with other boys’ buttocks. The older players later were charged with battery under Lincolnshire village ordinances. A victim later sued the football players.
October 2001 — More than a dozen Buffalo Grove High School students are suspended for a hazing incident that involved upperclassmen taking younger students from an evening bonfire at the school to a parking lot off school property. While in the lot, the older kids smeared substances, including chocolate syrup and mustard, on the younger students, officials said. Some of those responsible were affiliated with athletics, including the football team, but did not represent only one organization.
May 2003 — Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook gains national notoriety after a video recording of hazing incident at an off-campus “Powder Puff” football event is aired by numerous media outlets. The video shows senior girls throwing paint, urine, feces and animal parts on junior classmates. Some younger students also were kicked and punched. Several students needed medical care afterward. Fifteen students later were charged with misdemeanor battery and 32 were suspended from school. Two students’ mothers were charged with supplying alcohol to minors.
March 2010 — Five wrestlers from Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake are charged with misdemeanor battery after allegations surface about repeated incidents of hazing among team members. Reports indicate several wrestlers participated in hazing activities that included restraining teammates while they were slapped and groped through their clothing, according to police.
October 2012 — Six boys soccer players from Maine West High School in Des Plaines are charged with misdemeanor battery on allegations they hazed younger teammates. A lawsuit later claims older players sexually assaulted an underclassman, and that the team’s coaches were aware of hazing activities. The claims led to others stepping forward with allegations they were hazed at the high school.
November 2012 — Hoffman Estates High School cancels three boys basketball games after finding that players had been hazed by teammates off-campus. Officials said the hazing was not sexual in nature, but involved several players piling atop a clothed player and engaging in “grabbing horseplay, slapping, and hitting the targeted player in areas that included the buttocks and sometimes in the groin.”