Five East High School students were suspended and four cited by police after an incident some are calling a hazing.

The students, all boys and football players, allegedly surrounded another student in a school hallway during lunch Nov. 20 and punched the student's arms, chest and back as part of a practice some call "mobbing," said Jason Olsen, Salt Lake City School District spokesman. No one sustained serious injuries in the incident, which Olsen said was possibly a hazing.

No victim ever came forward, Olsen and police said. Olsen said an adult hall monitor reported the incident. The district prohibits hazing, and four of the boys were cited by police for committing unlawful acts in the school, said Lara Jones, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City Police Department.

"Anything like that is not allowed," Olsen said. Olsen said students use the term mobbing, though the term makes the event sound worse than it is as those involved usually don't aim to cause serious injury. Olsen said he hasn't heard of other mobbing incidents in the district for several years.

"The tough thing we're seeing with this is sometimes hazing rituals and rites of passage … are accepted by a community," Olsen said. "We need the community to stand up with us and say, in this day and age this should not happen."

Jones said police do not regard the incident as a mobbing -- a term police consider to be gang-related. She said everyone involved seemed to be a willing participant.

Jones said students need to learn hazing is not acceptable. Neither Olsen nor Jones were able to say what the incident was about.

"This is a lesson that needs to be taught over and over," Jones said. "This is not acceptable behavior and this is not how civilized people act."

Earlier this year, a former East High football player was convicted of sexually hazing his teammates. Other hazing incidents at other schools -- involving paddling, shaving and nudity -- have also made headlines in the past 15 years.

Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley said the district hasn't had any recent hazing incidents, and, like the Salt Lake district, doesn't tolerate hazing. Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams said Davis also doesn't tolerate hazing and has even been criticized in the past for being so strict as to punish students for hazing incidents that occurred outside of school.

Paul Caldarella, a psychologist, said students sometimes model hazing behaviors off of things they've seen at school, in the media or even on the Internet. Caldarella is the director of Brigham Young University's Positive Behavior Support Initiative, which partners with area elementary and middle schools to create positive school environments and identify children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders.

"We often assume that students know what's appropriate and inappropriate behavior to engage in, and we're often surprised as researchers working with schools that students don't always know what's appropriate and inappropriate," Caldarella said. "Oftentimes we need to directly teach the appropriate behavior and then reinforce those behaviors."

Jones said she hopes the incident provokes discussion.

"If we could take away one positive thing from this, it's the opportunity to talk about this openly and educate kids that this isn't the proper way to behave," Jones said.