Colleges

Former Ntl. President of Delta Sigma Theta, Congresswoman Fudge, Introduces Bill to Track Hazing on a National Level

Credit: Cleveland.com

Former Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. National President and current U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 11th congressional district, Marcia Fudge has introduced a bill that would require universities by federal law to include the hazing incidents in their yearly crime reports.

Fudge and her co-sponsor, Pennsylvania Republican Patrick Meehan, believe that tracking college hazing will allow authorities grasp the practice’s prevalence and figure out how to reduce it on a national level.

“The bill would require schools that participate in federal financial aid programs to disclose hazing incidents, arrests and disciplinary referrals in their yearly security reports and to implement a hazing education program for students,” Cleveland.com states.

“We cannot act only after an unfortunate incident occurs,” Fudge said in a statement. “We need a strategy that will address hazing at its core. Accurate college reporting will provide the data we need to develop legislative solutions for administrators and faculty and protect our nation’s college students.”

Fudge is a Past National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she served from 1996 to 2000 and is a member of the Greater Cleveland Alumnae Chapter. She has also served as the co-chair of the sorority’s National Social Action Commission. Last year, after the leak of internal documents from the Democratic Party that forced Debbie Wasserman Schultz to step down, Rep. Fudge served as the chair of the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Rep. Fudge’s hazing bill has been endorsed by Pennsylvania State University, where Timothy Piazza, an engineering student, died earlier this year from of injuries sustained while pledging Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Rep. Marcia L. Fudge leads Press Conference on Anti-Hazing w/ Rep Meehan at the US Capitol https://t.co/70zLbwifr0

— Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (@RepMarciaFudge) July 13, 2017

The bill is currently being endorsed by organizations including the National Panhellenic Conference and the North-American Interfraternity Conference.

“The likelihood is very good that we are going to get it passed. It is a bipartisan bill and I think we are going to be great. I think they are going to pass it because everybody knows it is a problem.” Marcia said when asked if she thought the bill was going to pass by Cleveland.com reporters.

Deltas in the U.S. House of Representatives: Congresswomen Marcia Fudge (seated) and her peers, Yvette Clark and Joyce Beatty. #DSTVegas pic.twitter.com/LD9pv0TDFA

— Delta Sigma Theta (@dstinc1913) August 7, 2017

Marcia Louise Fudge has served as the U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 11th congressional district since 2008, a district that includes most of the black-majority areas between Cleveland and Akron. Fudge was initially elected to Congress in November 2008. She was the first African American and the first female mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and an original co-chair of the Democrats for Public Education. She is active in the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, Congressional Military Family Caucus, STEM Education Caucus, Children’s Caucus (Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Taskforce on Childhood Obesity).