The following post was written by Jocelyn Nerney, StopHazing social media intern. In addition to her role at StopHazing, Jocelyn is a Third Year Mass Communication major and staff writer for The Maine Campus. 

Allegations have come out that recently crowned Miss America, Kira Kazantsev, was kicked out of Alpha Phi sorority at Hofstra University in April 2013 due to severe hazing. During this time period, she was head of recruitment at Alpha Phi. According to a source, she and another Alpha Phi sister made recruitment “a living hell” for the incoming pledges. Kazantsev claimed on Good Morning America that she was hazed as an incoming freshman, and was under the impression that hazing was ok. She said that she hazed the pledges on Good Morning America, but that it wasn’t too bad, and they only had to do menial tasks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA9tZW_eYhw

However, she and her friend were expelled from Alpha Phi after an investigation. According to Jezebel, “Under Kira’s supervision, according to the source, pledges in the incoming class were called names, berated for their perceived physical flaws and imperfections, and made to perform physical tasks to the point of bruising and exhaustion.” In her Good Morning America interview, Kazantsev claimed that she did some hazing, but not the severe hazing that she is accused of by Jezebel and others. She also said with regard to the hazing incident and young people looking up to her as a role model that “It’s ok to make mistakes.”

Hazing is not a little white lie or a quick mistake you can brush off and apologize for. Hazing has long lasting negative affects on people that won’t just go away, like a regular “mistake” would. Hazing is extremely hurtful and not ok in any form. Someone with such power and role model potential needs to realize just how awful hazing is, and that it isn’t something she can just make go away.