The hazing laws in Virginia are exceedingly vague and stringent. According to statutory law, a student guilty of a hazing incident resulting in bodily harm must face expulsion.

But the law makes no meaningful distinction between a hazing incident in which one scrapes his knee running a mile and one in which the hazed person is assaulted. Clearly, these acts are of a substantially different character, yet the law treats them as the same, applying the same punishment to both acts. In some cases, therefore, the punishment is disproportionate to the crime.

That’s why the governor and the General Assembly ought to consider adopting a clearer standard. Let’s call it The Cavalier Daily test for punishable hazing. Punishable hazing should be defined as commanding someone, with the backing of a nontrivial threat, to do something that could forseeably induce substantial bodily harm. No test will be perfect or will be able to offer a level of exactitude that’s ideal, but this test would be a major improvement on the currently vague standard. Let’s pick apart the test to demonstrate its usefulness.

Some hazing is reasonable. Bosses order around their subordinates. Teachers command their students. Commands in themselves do no harm. But when those commands could lead to actual harm, that is when commands (in the form of hazing) become perilous, the situation is different. So there must be a forseeable risk to the person who is hazed. This is reasonable: Bosses can ask their secretaries to do office jobs, but they can’t ask them to endanger their bodies by handling toxic waste.

The command must induce substantial bodily harm. This is important. This rules out such bodily injury as rug burns and paper cuts. Of course, what substantial means remains a matter of ambiguity, but there are classes of bodily injury that don’t count as substantial. That makes this distinction an improvement on the definition we currently are working with.

Hopefully, the governor and the General Assembly can find an appropriate definition. But The Cavalier Daily test is a good blueprint from which to work.

That’s not gonna fly

Two fired America West pilots pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of operating aircraft under the influence. Their blood alcohol levels were .091 and .084 - both over the legal limit of .08 for operating vehicles in Florida – two hours after the flight was scheduled to depart. America West has even tighter rules regarding blood alcohol content than Florida law does.

These pilots, through their callous disregard, could have committed a mass murder.

In a time of panic in the skies, these pilots only have intensified the fear of flying. People already perceive that they’re unsafe because of external threats in the air. Now, they will worry about those who are supposed to protect their safety when they are so vulnerable.

Therefore, these two pilots should be punished as severely as the law permits.