UNSW students should reintroduce the practice of hazing

Many students are finding it difficult at UNSW to integrate into the student community. There is a need for young students to find mentors who can help them grow into employable graduate adults.

Mentoring programs dreamed up by our Faculties are stilted, artificial and ineffective. This is because mentors who sign up are encouraged to be friendly.

What should happen is a reintroduction of hazing. Senior students should be given free rein to perform humiliating initiation rituals at the expense of new students, both for the enjoyment of the senior students and the naturally following emotional and social connections that are created by this shared experience.

This policy creates a contractual relationship between students: the new ones provide entertainment in consideration for a strong social bond that leads to tips on how to pass exams, where the good casual job vacancies are, who to play Streetfighter II with at the Roundhouse, etc. It is particularly important for Asian students, who have great difficulty making friends among non-Asian English speaking local students on their own.