Amid the controversy surrounding hazing allegations within Central Bucks High School West’s football team, victim advocates hope to see the community respond in a manner that sets the tone for victim support and leads the way for other victims to come forward.
Superintendent of Central Bucks School District David Weitzel announced Tuesday, following the conclusion of their internal investigation, a decision had been made that Head Coach Brian Hensel, “will no longer coach the Central Bucks High School West football team.”
Last month, Weitzel suspended the West football program after “an internal investigation into allegations of improper conduct by numerous Central Bucks West football team members, and the failure of the coaching staff to properly supervise activities.”
“Our inquiry determined that students new to the team were expected to participate in several initiations that were both humiliating and inappropriate. The most personally invasive activity required a rookie to grab another player’s private parts while fully clothed . . . I want to be clear that these activities did not result in physical harm, but were not harmless . . .,” said Weitzel in an email sent out to those in the Central Bucks School District community.
According to Mandy Mundy, director of education and training at NOVA, changing the culture of school bullying and hazing in youth sports begins at the leadership level. NOVA, or Network of Victims Assistance, is a non-profit, community-based organization that advocates for victim’s rights, provides short-term counseling for victims, and provides safety educational programs to youths and adults in schools, community centers and professional settings.
“What’s going to decrease these incidences is when NOVA, as an agency, can train key community members. And those key community members, based on those trainings, then change their attitudes, behaviors, beliefs. And then they can impart that on the youth that they’re working with,” said Mundy.
Dr. David Hall, a North Penn teacher who runs a bullying prevention graduate program at Delaware Valley College, said he believes in a research-based training program that goes beyond bullying prevention and “changes the culture to reduce bullying.”
In addition to the training he offers, Hall said The Peace Center and NOVA each have exceptional programs.
One of the programs NOVA offers is training for coaches, in which they help coaches learn ways to communicate positive and healthy messages to their athletes.
“The idea of a coach’s training is if we can change the beliefs, behaviors and attitudes of the coach—the way they talk to and treat their teammates, and their level of tolerance—then incidences where coaches know what’s happening, hopefully won’t happen,” said Mundy. “And that’s the ripple effect; it’s really about changing the community by integrating those behaviors into the community through the key leaders.”
“We need to have these multiple, ongoing programs integrated into the community that change up, not just the individual level, but the relationship level also. So this coach program is one of those types of primary prevention programs,” she said.
“It’s part of this national and state-wide movement for victim service agencies to embrace primary prevention efforts, not just these individual changes.”
Mundy described the distorted messages within sports that foster a culture of violent behavior, citing the recent allegations of domestic violence among certain NFL players.
“Look at the NFL, obviously within our sports we can very easily create a feeling of inappropriate manhood. They’ve grown up in sports, so that message has been integrated into their lives.”
“If we can change our youth at the elementary-level, by the time they’re NFL players, maybe we’ll have a different culture,” said Mundy.
According to Hall, “The question becomes how do we create a culture that prevents this in the first place.”
A critical part that needs to be examined is the bystander piece, according to Mundy. She explained that bystanders are part of the problem. To be part of the solution, there needs to be more of what she calls “upstanders,” or people that stand up for the victims.
“The idea behind changing a culture is turning those bystanders into upstanders,” said Mundy.
However, many people hesitate to speak up when confronted with bullying or hazing out of fear that¬¬ they will be ostracized or targeted themselves.
Mundy said this is why their anti-bullying program really emphasizes the “upstander” piece.
“It’s about teaching kids there’s strength in numbers,” said Mundy.
“Chances are it was a few people who were the direct aggressors, in this specific incident. But there were many more people who were the bystanders. So, if we can teach those bystanders the mentality of group intervention, and sometimes that’s just one leader, then that strength in numbers idea comes through,” said Mundy.
“It’s about teaching kids how to have a voice,” she said.
“In this case, it sounds like the bystanders just stood there,” said Hall. “If just one person had said stop, this could’ve ended a long time ago.”
NOVA is contracted with Central Bucks School District to provide bullying prevention programs, but Mundy wasn’t able to comment on whether the school district has reached out to NOVA for support in this specific case.
“I can say I do believe that Central Bucks and NOVA have a good working relationship. They understand NOVA’s services and the support that’s available for victims.”
Mundy explained how important it is to consider the impact on the victims in cases like this.
“I think victims need to hear that this is not their fault and that they’re not alone, and that they’re believed. Those are the three key messages we need to give to our youth,” said Mundy. “And then, they need to be provided the opportunity for support, whether that’s by meeting with a guidance counselor, being referred to NOVA or a private therapist.”
Mundy said it’s also important to remember that this happens everywhere, and it would be naïve to think this is an isolated incident.
“Right now our community is in the headlines nationally, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if that national news helped a student, in some other town, come forward and report what’s happening to them,” said Mundy.
Hall said he feels the district responded to the incident appropriately, sending a message to victims that, “when it comes to someone speaking up, they are going to be heard.”
The conversation around the victim is so essential, according to Mundy.
“We should be telling the victims, ‘I am proud of you for coming forward. Maybe you helped somebody else from being victimized.” Mundy added, “Maybe this won’t happen again next year because of those individuals who spoke up.”