assaults at the University of Sydney colleges occurs during a single week of the year — O-week).

But hazing culture is linked to sexual assault in other ways, too.

Alcohol is a common factor in both, as it increases vulnerability. They both involve the abuse of power and control, both occur within asymmetrical power hierarchies, and both are designed to degrade and humiliate.

In hazing, as in sexual assault, victims may believe they are consenting because they haven't said "no", but this fails to take into account the complex ways in which expectation, peer pressure and coercion, and fear of ostracism factor into the situation.

So while forcing drunk fresher students in academic gowns to crawl down stairs (while holding onto the ankles of the fresher in front of them) may seemharmless to some, it is these sorts of activities that set up the culture in which more egregious things can take place.

St Paul's College, at the University of Sydney, where hazing has allegedly taken place. ( Supplied )

In another example, I also heard from former college students at the Australian National University who had participated in a O-week game where each student was required to wear a wig for as long as possible.

Those caught without their wig on would be eliminated. Again, many found this a fun game.

However, it quickly led to male students barging in on women in the shower, the toilet, or having sex to "check" if they were wearing their wig.

And this is how the initiation culture can contribute to the systemic erosion of a