The chair of the Rhode Island House Committee on Education plans to submit a bill in the 2026 legislative session that would craft a new, statewide anti-hazing policy after two recent incidents in Newport and Smithfield.
Rep. Joseph M. McNamara, a Warwick Democrat, announced Tuesday that he has “pre-filed” a bill which would create a zero tolerance policy for hazing and set up clear disciplinary standards for student athletes who engage in such behavior. The possible punishments for hazing include suspension from a team and potential cancellation of a team’s season as appropriate, according to a press release on McNamara’s current draft of the proposal.
“As a retired educator, coach and former student athlete, I can state without reservation that hazing is degrading, abusive and dangerous,” McNamara, who once served as the director of the Pawtucket School Department’s Alternative Learning Program, said in a statement.
“We’ve all worked hard to make schools safer, more welcoming and more inclusive,” McNamara continued. “Athletics should not be an exception to that rule. Regardless of what form it takes, hazing creates an environment of trauma and humiliation, and we have to take it more seriously.”
McNamara cited two high-profile cases of hazing this school year, both involving football teams, as the impetus behind the bill. In late September at Smithfield High School, a freshman player was trapped in a locker room bathroom and allegedly sprayed with aerosol cleaner. Amid accusations that the hazing also included antisemitic slurs, players who participated in the hazing were suspended but later reinstated.
At Newport’s Rogers High School in late November, four football players were arrested and the team’s season canceled after a student with special needs was assaulted in the locker room, an incident which was recorded on students’ phones. The Newport School Committee met in closed session on Nov. 26 and voted to hire an independent investigator of the incident.
James Dring, the Newport School Committee’s chair, confirmed in an email Wednesday that the committee has hired retired Rhode Island State Police Superintendent Steven O’Donnell to carry out the investigation.
“He started his investigation on Monday and we hope to have it wrapped up by the end of this month,” Dring said.
The Newport police department’s own investigation is ongoing, Newport Police Capt. Joseph C. Carroll said via email Wednesday. He said there were no further updates at the moment.
“We need a statewide policy where every student-athlete, coach and administrator will understand that these behaviors will no longer be acceptable and there will be consequences to both athletes and teams,” McNamara said in his statement.
Legislators can pre-file bills ahead of the upcoming Jan. 6 legislative session from Nov. 15 to Jan. 5. McNamara intends to submit his bill in January.
Larry Berman, a House spokesperson, said in an email Tuesday that around 200 bills have been pre-filed in the past several years. The bills typically hit the floor of their respective chamber within the first few weeks of the new legislative session in January, he added.
Pre-filed bills are not usually highlighted publicly ahead of the legislative session unless they involve high-profile issues. Pre-filed bills publicized in the past have included legislation related to reproductive health care, insulin prices, hit-and-run accidents, and extending the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.
The state does not have a specific statewide policy on addressing hazing, Victor Morente, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Education, said via email Tuesday. But there is a policy called the Safe School Act, which, according to the act, seeks to “ensure a consistent and unified statewide approach to the prohibition of bullying at school.”
Morente added that Rhode Island General Law prohibits hazing at educational institutions across grade levels, including colleges and universities. The law allows for misdemeanor charges for hazing and, with conviction, potential fines of up to $500 or imprisonment between 30 days and one year.
Morente said that the education department will “carefully review the proposed legislation” which McNamara submitted in draft form to the agency.
McNamara also sent the bill to the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, with whom he intends to collaborate to craft the bill’s final version. The Interscholastic League is the non-governmental body responsible for regulating scholastic sports in Rhode Island.
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