FOI_26-257 Sports society initiations and misconduct

Date of response: 16 October 2026

We have now considered your request of 05 October 2026 for the following information:

Question 1. The total number of formal investigations conducted by UEA into alleged initiation ceremonies, hazing, or sports club/society social misconduct between 1 September 2023 and 31 December 2025.

Our response:

Zero.

Question 2. The number of incident reports logged by UEA campus security relating to complaints of initiation ceremonies / Hazing or Sports/society misconduct relating to forced activities as part of Freshers initiation

Our response:

3. There were three reports made by/to Security which included terms such as ‘initiation’, or ‘sports society’. These reports include suspected initiations or social misconduct (such as large group gatherings) for the requested period. These are suspected incidents at time of reporting and were not proven at the time of the reports being logged to be initiation ceremonies, hazing or sports/society misconduct relating to forced initiation.

We also cannot confirm whether the reports were ‘forced activities’ as part of initiations during welcome week. The University do not use the term ‘freshers’ and do not record incidents as ‘freshers’ initiations.

Question 3. And following both of request a breakdown of the outcomes of these investigations (e.g., formal warnings, individual student suspensions/expulsions or fines).

Our response:

Not applicable.

For the three security reports, actions taken at the time of the suspected initiations/hazing or society misconduct were to disperse the group of individuals and no further action was taken against the noted individuals involved.