Law of The Land: Hazing allegations at Ursuline High School

High school sports can be an incredibly formative time for students—building teamwork, bonding and leadership skills. But what happens when camaraderie turns into hazing?

Hazing is when someone is expected or forced to do something that hurts or humiliates them, in exchange for acceptance into a group.

Monday on the "Sound of Ideas," we're looking at the legal aspects of this issue, including who is responsible when hazing happens, and when is a school required to step in.

This installment of our "Law of the Land" series is in light of four separate lawsuits that were recently filed against Ursuline High School, a Catholic school in Youngstown, all of which accuse the school of looking the other way, in three instances when members of its football program allegedly assaulted and harassed each other, and other students, and in one instance involving an alleged pre-planned attack on a student on school grounds.

After the lawsuits came out, Ursuline High School made staff and oversight changes, which we'll discuss, and also suspended the football season for most of this year, acknowledging that students violated their code of conduct and did things that they called morally wrong.

We'll also talk about how hazing culture occurs, how to respond when accusations are made and how to keep students safe from attacks in the first place.

We invited leaders at Ursuline High School to join us, but they declined and instead shared a statement made jointly with the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.

Guests:- Subodh Chandra, Attorney, Chandra Law- Jeffrey Herman, Attorney and Victim's Advocate, Herman Law- Zach Slates, Head football coach, Minerva High School- Doug Ute, Executive Director, Ohio High School Athletic Association

Meet Cleveland City Councilmember-elect Tanmay Shah

Later in the hour, it's a new installment of our series "Get to NEO a Leader," where we talk to officials from across the 22 counties in the listening area that we cover.

We'll meet Tanmay Shah, who was just elected as the Cleveland city councilmember for Ward 12. At 29, he's set to become the youngest member of council—and the only newcomer this fall to unseat an incumbent.

Shah defeated Councilman Danny Kelly by a razor-thin margin, just nine votes, and ran as a democratic socialist. We'll talk with the councilmember-elect about his win and what he hopes to bring to City Hall.

Guest:- Tanmay Shah, Cleveland City Council, Ward 12

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