Hazing has a long history on college campuses, and in recent times is mostly associated with fraternity rites in which pledges submit to serial humiliations or outrageous acts as part of their initiation. But in the early days of Stanford, hazing was common in men's dormitories, especially Encina.
Usually perpetrated by sophomores upon freshmen, a typical example was "tubbing," which involved pushing the victim's head under water until he was so desperate for a breath that he "bubbled," opened his mouth to gasp. The violence associated with tubbing escalated as freshmen fought back.
In December 1905, Professor Rufus Green, chairman of the student affairs committee, wrote to President David Starr Jordan describing an incident that illustrated the problem. "About 10 days ago a serious disturbance occurred . . . in which about 20 students attempted to break into a room to capture a freshman. The freshman and his roommate barricaded the room and resisted with the result that two transoms with their frames were broken and the room was damaged in a number of ways . . . The freshmen in anticipation of hazing now frequently abandon their rooms for the night and combine four or six in one room armed with clubs for the purpose of repelling attacks."
The introduction of hall monitors did little to diminish hazing, which persisted even after the 1906 earthquake brought a sobering sense of propriety to the campus. That spring, freshman William Miller left school three weeks early because of a severe illness, and by June he was dead. He had been subjected to several episodes of tubbing, resulting in a series of colds, which his mother claimed contributed to his death by weakening his constitution. In a letter to President Jordan, Caroline Miller asked that tubbing be banned "and perhaps save other mothers the heartbreak that is my portion."
By 1911, according to a report from the student affairs committee, tubbing had virtually ceased on campus, and in 1916 incoming president Ray Lyman Wilbur spoke out strongly against hazing, calling it "a combination of cowardice and bullying." A remodel of Encina that same year finally ended tubbing once and for all—bathtubs were removed and replaced by showers.
