Towson Cheerleaders Hazing with Alcohol and Adult Diapers

Cheerleading at Towson University sat out this school year after members of the team were suspended for hazing, but the details of what led to he award-winning team’s suspension have just recently come to light in a Baltimore Sun story.

So how exactly did the team that took home the championship title at the National Cheerleaders Association collegiate championship in April 2013 get suspended for the 2013-2014 school year?

According to The Baltimore Sun, the freshmen team members were taken to an off-campus apartment, where they were given the choice to drink beer out of a funnel or take a shot. The new cheerleaders were blindfolded, given adult diapers to wear over their shorts, then led into the living room where the blindfolds were taken off and each girl did a dance. Not all members of the squad were present.

The actions violated Towson’s student code -- serving alcohol to minors and endangering student safety with beer funneling.

“Although it may have seemed that this evening had a negative impact on the freshmen, the intent was to bring the team closer together,” team members wrote, according to the Sun. “There was no goal in mind to make anyone feel uncomfortable or inferior. . . . All team members made choices they were comfortable with.”

“I think it’s really important for our students to understand that hazing is not tolerated on this campus,” Jana Varwig, Towson University’s vice president of student affairs told CBS Baltimore last August when the hazing first came to light.

Students expressed mixed feelings about the suspension.

“I don’t think that’s really fair,” Samantha Damare, a Towson junior at the time, told CBS Baltimore. “I only think the girls that did it should be suspended.

Christina Perez-Alard, a TU sophomore at the time of the report, didn’t quite have the same opinion.

“I don’t think hazing’s the right thing to do for any group,” Perez-Alard told CBS Baltimore. “So if you’re going to do it, you should probably go through the punishment for it.”

The team was originally suspended for the entire 2013-2014 school year, but penalties were softened, according to the Baltimore Sun. Members of the team were allowed to have practices once they completed 650 hours of community service during the 2013 fall semester, participate in educational sessions outlined by the university and did not participate in any university or off-campus events. Towson sports teams had to do without their cheerleaders at games.

Things seem to be looking up for the team. Head cheerleading coach Edy Pratt recently posted on the Towson Cheerleading Facebook page that the new team roster is available on the Towson Cheerleading website.

>>>Read the full Baltimore Sun story here.