Hazing Prevention Act Now in Force: What Louisiana Colleges Need to Know

In May, Governor Jeff Landry signed House Bill 636 into law. Known as the Caleb Wilson Hazing Prevention Act, the law is named for a Southern University student who died in February 2025 following an alleged off-campus hazing ritual. The Act took effect on August 1 and expands expanding hazing prevention, reporting, and accountability requirements at Louisiana's postsecondary educational institutions. Schools, student organizations, and their advisors should act now to understand and implement the new requirements.

What Does the New Law Change?

The Act amends and reenacts La. R.S. 17:1801 and repeals R.S. 17:1801.1, consolidating and strengthening Louisiana's hazing framework.

Key changes include:

• Expanded definition of hazing. The law defines hazing as any intentional, knowing, or reckless act directed against another individual where the actor knew or reasonably should have known the act endangered physical health or safety or caused severe emotional distress, when was associated with pledging, initiation, affiliation, or membership in any organization.
• Broader definition of "organizations." The Act extends its coverage beyond fraternities and sororities to include athletic teams, bands, spirit groups, clubs, service groups and any similar group whose members are primarily students. Critically, it also captures national, regional, or parent organizations affiliated with a local chapter at the time of a hazing incident. Under the Act, these are covered broadly as “organizations.”
• Mandatory education beginning fall 2027. Starting in the fall semester of 2027, all students must receive annual education on the dangers of and prohibition on hazing. New students must receive this information during orientation. If a student is a minor, the information must also be provided to the student's parent or legal guardian.
• Strengthened reporting obligations. Organizations must report hazing incidents to both law enforcement and the affiliated school. Failure to report subjects the organization to institutional disciplinary action. The law expands the existing requirement for institutions to report hazing incidents to law enforcement, requiring that they forward all information, including the unredacted names of all individuals alleged to have committed hazing, to law enforcement.
• Online public disclosure. Postsecondary educational institutions must maintain a public website disclosing conduct findings and disciplinary sanctions imposed on organizations, including the name of the organization, the policies violated, a brief description of the violation, the date or academic term, and the sanctions imposed. The website must be updated at least once per academic semester and additionally as new violations are adjudicated.
• Comprehensive hazing prevention policies. The state’s Board of Regents, in consultation with postsecondary management boards, must establish uniform policies addressing hazing prevention and reporting. Institutional policies must include online anonymous reporting systems, good-faith reporter immunity, amnesty for students who report hazing in good faith, false reporting sanctions and mandatory training requirements.
• Training mandates for organizations and advisors. Organizations must complete at least two hours of annual hazing prevention training and submit completion reports to the institution. Advisors to student organizations must complete at least one hour of training annually.
• Penalties for noncompliance. An institution that does not comply with the new law may be barred for two years from receiving authorization from the State Bond Commission to incur debt. Organizations in violation of the law face disciplinary action including suspension, expulsion, deactivation, or loss of recognition. If a hazing violation results in death, the institution must permanently ban the organization and prohibit it from re-chartering, re-establishing, or operating under any name, alias, or affiliated organization.

What Should Institutions and Applicable Organizations Do Now?

With the law now in effect, Louisiana's public postsecondary education institutions should review their existing hazing policies and begin updating them to comply with the Act's comprehensive requirements. Specifically, institutions and organizations should:

• Review and update hazing prevention policies to reflect the Act's broader definition of hazing and its new requirements.
• Create or improve online anonymous reporting systems, including reports made on someone else’s behalf.
• Develop training programs to meet the law’s requirements: two hours for student organizations and one hour for advisors.
• Create or update public website pages that disclose disciplinary findings and sanctions involving student organizations, as required by the law.
• Prepare educational programs for all students before the fall 2027 deadline for mandatory prevention education.
• Establish procedures for documenting incidents and reporting them to law enforcement to comply with reporting requirements.
• Review and update student conduct codes to include amnesty protections for individuals who report hazing in good faith and immunity provisions required by the law.

Institutions and the organizations operating on their campuses should treat compliance as an urgent priority given the severe consequences for noncompliance, including the permanent ban of organizations responsible for a hazing death.

Please reach out to Andrew Albritton, Rebecca Sha or any member of the Phelps education or labor and employment teams with questions or for assistance.