Latest HS Hazing Incident: Utah Football Players Accused of "Mobbing" Younger Teammate in Hallway

Never heard of "mobbing?" Neither had we until this story came out. On one hand it sounds like stupid teen aged boys being stupid teen aged boys, but then again it could also be considered hazing. We'll let the administration at East High School decide. Here's more from the Salt Lake Tribune:

Five East High School students were suspended and four cited by police after an incident some are calling a hazing.

The students, all boys and football players, allegedly surrounded another student in a school hallway during lunch Nov. 20 and punched the student's arms, chest and back as part of a practice some call "mobbing," said Jason Olsen, Salt Lake City School District spokesman. No one sustained serious injuries in the incident, which Olsen said was possibly a hazing.

No victim ever came forward, Olsen and police said. Olsen said an adult hall monitor reported the incident. The district prohibits hazing, and four of the boys were cited by police for committing unlawful acts in the school, said Lara Jones, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City Police Department.

"Anything like that is not allowed," Olsen said. Olsen said students use the term mobbing, though the term makes the event sound worse than it is as those involved usually don't aim to cause serious injury. Olsen said he hasn't heard of other mobbing incidents in the district for several years.

"The tough thing we're seeing with this is sometimes hazing rituals and rites of passage … are accepted by a community," Olsen said. "We need the community to stand up with us and say, in this day and age this should not happen."