A few years ago I was hired as a coach of a High School soccer team as a non-teacher. During tryouts, I was astounded to arrive one day to see 3 seniors holding down a much smaller sophomore while one of them pulled down his pants and underwear and proceeded to sit his bare butt right on the kids face. I immediately dismissed the offender from the team. While I had backing from my Athletic Director, I caught a lot of heat from teachers and other parents who kept asking for me to reinstate the psycho who thought this was an acceptable ritual. They came to me with all sorts of excuses:"He has good grades", "He has a broken home", "He's viewed as a prankster", etc.
I stuck to my guns---but it remained a distraction for the entire season.
For the record, this was NOT something that was a regular occurance as initiation in years prior. For teachers to defend and excuse that behavior is a statement of our culture today.
Every day teachers excuse and pretend not to see assault, harassment and bullying. Perhaps they're afraid of not being 'popular' or afraid the bullies will turn on them. I'm glad you stood up to the system.