Opción A - 1 · Inglés PAU Navarra Ordinaria 2023

Opción A

NO MORE UNIVERSITY HAZING!

(¡NO MÁS NOVATADAS!)

It’s Thursday night. Twenty students meet on a vacant lot near Madrid’s university area to initiate first-year students into college life. The roles are clearly defined. The veterans are well dressed and armed with cartons of cheap wine. The first-year students are wearing costumes and are already drunk. In one corner, a new student is on his knees vomiting while five others egg him on: “You’re going to keep on drinking until we see your dinner diced!”. As September comes around again, so does this supposed rite of passage. A few years ago, the controversy over these initiation rituals surfaced once more in the wake of a viral video of an aggressive punch from a veteran boy to a first-year student girl during one such session. Both parties, who were living at a student residence in Madrid, were suspended for two weeks.

Laura Croas, a psychologist specializing in issues related to bullying, believes that hazing persists for two main reasons: “Firstly, at that age belonging to a group is extremely important and you accept humiliations because you’re scared of the consequences if you don’t. Secondly, the victims believe that they will be the hazers further down the line. They accept being the victim of hazing because later they will be the veteran”. Croas explains that, although some of the rituals seem harmless, hazing plays on the victim’s emotions and can leave its mark as an adult. She also sheds light on the veterans’ role and why hazing tends to go too far. “In group therapy, we can clearly observe our capacity as human beings to abuse power in an assumed role. It’s an erroneous way of channeling the rage we carry inside us. We experience what is known as a ‘power rush’, which comes with a thought: I was once a victim but now I have climbed higher”.

Madrid’s Complutense University has launched its annual ‘No more hazing’ campaign in a bid to phase out the practice, with an anti-hazing meeting point where established students help the newcomers. “The students feel more comfortable with one another,” says the vice-rector, and she gives a piece of advice to the new students “Remember: quitting the group when you are being hazed takes character, courage, and integrity. No one has the right to humiliate you. You have to show assertiveness and self-confidence. You can enjoy the university atmosphere and make good friends, but not at any price”.

1. Answer these questions about the text. Use your own words wherever possible (2 points, 1 each).

a)

According to Laura Croas, why does hazing persist?

b)

What is the aim of the anti-hazing meeting point and what advice does the vice-rector give?