This year, National Hazing Week at Kansas University was marked with a little more intensity than in years past.

This past week, a former football player spoke to students, and students signed a no-hazing pledge on campus and participated in a week’s worth of activities. In the past, said Jane Tuttle, assistant vice provost for student affairs, KU might have offered some programming for greek organizations, but this week’s efforts are targeted to groups of all sorts around the university.

The activities are among other new KU efforts to curb hazing. A hazing prevention task force with representation from around the university and a new student conduct officer have worked to make new inroads with student groups and others. A website, preventhazing.ku.edu, now allows anyone to report hazing anonymously.

Hazing is a nationwide problem, university officials say, and they acknowledge that KU certainly isn’t immune.

“I think it goes without saying that the University of Kansas has had some incidents in the past that have been quite public,” said Nick Kehrwald, now in his first fall semester as student conduct officer after beginning in January.

KU placed its chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity on a two-year probation after an investigation revealed hazing occurred at the fraternity’s annual island party last year. At that party, KU freshman Matt Fritzie was left paralyzed after diving into a makeshift pool.

The university also found its Interfraternity Council committed hazing violations related to paddling each other in February.

Kehrwald has spent time speaking to student groups, parents and alumni about the issue. The university has expanded its focus from greek organizations to many other student groups, including athletic teams and student bands.

“I’m basically meeting with anyone who’s interested and willing to listen,” he said, though it’s not always an easy message to get across. “The most difficult aspect to address is why hazing is problematic.”

In many cases, all the group members, including those who are being hazed, agree to participate. And it does have some functional uses, he acknowledged. Hazing can create, for example, a sense of bonding and unity.

“Yes, it does that,” he said. “The reason why it’s not allowed is because of the cost-benefit analysis.”

In many cases, he said, groups can accomplish the same goals without the risky and hurtful behavior, the large alcohol consumption or the demeaning and humiliating actions. And it’s still against the law and university policy, he said.

He still deals with many people who don’t think hazing is a major issue, he said.

“There are better ways to do it that don’t place our students and your children at risk,” he tells parents.

Groups can attend events together, for example, or participate together in outdoor activities, he said.

Earlier this year, Cornell University moved to ban pledging practices at fraternities and sororities in the wake of a student death. Cornell’s president, David Skorton, directed greek chapters to develop a recruitment and initiation system that doesn’t involve students having to perform “dangerous or demeaning” acts as a condition of membership.

Other universities have faced similar issues.

Matt Araiza, a senior from Plano, Texas, and the president of Delta Lambda Phi fraternity, serves on KU’s hazing prevention board. He said he’s enjoyed working to create a larger campus discussion about the issue.

“We want to think we’re perfect,” he said. “We’re not, and there’s always room to improve.”

Still, Kehrwald said, it’s a long-term fight.

“This isn’t something you can spend a week focusing on and fix it,” he said.