The recent women's soccer player hazing incident is just another example of a pointless tradition that needs to be stopped. When members of the MSU women's soccer team decided to initiate a freshman player, covering her body in adult diapers and spraying her legs with red and white paint to transform her into a human tampon, they succeeded in providing another example of the senselessness of the practice of initiation.

People who find themselves in these types of initiation ceremonies should evaluate why they would want to participate in the first place.

Perhaps to the player, it really wasn't all that big of a deal. Maybe she felt threatened that she would lose her place on the team. Or, perhaps, the intimidation of wanting to fit in with upperclassman teammates overcame her sense of protecting her personal dignity, which is so often the case in hazing.

Luckily, this incident did not cause any physical harm.

But the emotional impact of the humiliation on a person cannot be measured. The hazing tragedy that took place in Northbrook, Ill., when five high school juniors were hospitalized after being covered in mud, paint and feces proves all too well that these events can take a dangerous turn and most certainly have lasting psychological effects.

This practice needs to be stopped instead of encouraged as a light-hearted tradition, because too many times it turns into a situation that goes too far.

Coaches should also be playing a bigger role in preventing upperclassmen from bullying the new kids. These situations should not be taken lightly.

And the MSU women's soccer team, along with other sports teams across the country, might want to go back and relearn the lesson in the golden rule and realize the impact their actions could have on people.

There is enough bullying in high school. It doesn't need to show up in college as well.