On Friday, former Greater Latrobe Area Junior High wrestling coach Cary Lydic was acquitted of child endangerment and failure to report abuse in suspected hazing.

The verdict was issued without explanation. There was no statement to say whether Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger felt the prosecution hadn’t met the burden of proof in the case or whether Lydic’s defense pointed out inconsistencies. A jury trial frequently ends with such black-and-white decisions, but judges can be more clear when they illustrate the law. Krieger chose not to do so.

Such a comment could have been helpful because of the importance of the issue.

Hazing — the kind of “trial by fire” that can be used to initiate new members into a group — has been an historic gray area. Some rites are seen as tradition, but it is easy for them to escalate to physical, psychological and even sexual abuse. Pennsylvania has seen ugly things happen with hazing at some of its most venerated institutions. The latest update to state hazing laws came after the 2017 death of Penn State sophomore Timothy Piazza in a fraternity ritual at Beta Theta Pi.

What allows a benign bonding ceremony to turn into a vicious hazing assault is a combination of silence and darkness. There is no condemnation of or protection from what isn’t heard or seen.

In the Greater Latrobe case, the accusations are that members of the team were pinned to the floor and jabbed in the buttocks with a wooden device called a “rape stick.” Security video showed Lydic confiscating the stick at one point and being handed it after another incident later. Lydic testified he reported incidents when he was made aware.

But the issue is less about the case that has just been through the courts than it is about the next kid who faces a similar encounter. Whether in junior high or high school or college, on a sports team or in a fraternity or another organization where someone is broken down to be built again in the group’s image, there is only one way that hazing can disappear.

People have to turn on a spotlight and show it when it happens. People have to speak up when it happens to them and speak out when it happens to others. If perpetrators are afraid they will be outed as abusers, they might think twice about participating. If adults and authority figures have more to lose by staying silent than by reporting what is going on, they might get loud.

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