What began in 2016 as an effort to make a history methods assignment more engaging has evolved into research on a difficult but important topic: the history of hazing in American universities.
Dr. Rebecca Mancuso’s project started as a case study using BGSU’s own institutional records, tracing significant changes in hazing practices and policies over decades. When COVID-19 closed physical archives, she pivoted to online research, and the project grew far beyond its original scope. In 2021, the death of a BGSU student added urgent motivation to complete this vital work.
Dr. Mancuso realized that our society is unaware of how long hazing has been an issue at universities. Only a few scholarly works examine the history of hazing specifically, and these lack a solid working definition or much depth in coverage. Drawing on diverse sources and her deep institutional knowledge, Dr. Mancuso is creating the first comprehensive historical framework for understanding this phenomenon that is common to nearly all educational institutions in the country.
Her work thus far traces hazing’s evolution through distinct eras: 1930s freshmen initiation rituals, then WWII through the 1960s social hazing during a period of cultural awakening, and the 1970s shift when hazing became publicly recognized as harmful, spurring policy changes and litigation.
Her research was never intended to criticize BGSU or other institutions of higher education. Rather, she wants to help the public, university students, staff and administrators understand how hazing has become embedded in university culture over a century.
Dr. Mancuso’s work on this topic includes an article entitled “‘And Everybody Had a Good Time’?: A History of Hazing at Bowling Green State University, 1920-1955” (Ohio History, Vol. 131, No. 2, Fall 2024). Her article was one of four winners of the 2025 BGSU Center for Archival Collections Local History Publication Awards, and she is working to turn this scholarship into a larger manuscript.
Dr. Mancuso is also a Faculty Fellow speaker with BGSU’s Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, where she will be giving a public lecture about her work on March 19th, 2026, from 6:30-8:00pm at Wood County Library.