In military-ruled Thailand, this is how university hazing is handled. The offence: a video posted online that showed a half-dozen fully clothed freshman doing an erotic couples dance as upperclassmen cheered. Social media dubbed it a “love-making dance.” The punishment: three days of boot camp for a new type of disciplinary punishment known as “attitude adjustment.”

 The military junta that seized power over a year ago pioneered the idea of “attitude adjustment” as a technique to silence critics. The junta summons politicians and others who voice dissent to military bases where they are typically incarcerated several days, interrogated and made to “confess” to their transgressions and sign a contract to not repeat them — a practice that has been widely criticised by human rights groups.

 Now there are signs that the mentality of military rule is being applied to civilian issues — like college discipline.

 For the students from the film school of Bangkok’s Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, a three-day boot camp included reprimands, public humiliation and a grueling endurance test.

After a 2-hour bus drive northeast of the capital to the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, a 33-square-kilometer facility surrounded by mountains, the students’ cellphones were confiscated to ensure no outside communication and primarily to prevent more videos.

 The drill sergeant, Sergeant Major Kongsak Klaeiklang then led what he called an “ice-breaking” session that bore close resemblance to hazing: An overweight female student was singled out as a “hippopotamus” as others were told to “dance like hippos.” Team games ended with the losers ordered to “walk like elephants,” bent over in a human chain, clutching each other’s hands between legs.

 “The idea is to break them down. Break down their ego. Humiliate them. And then we build them back up,” Kongsak said, as soldiers led small groups on an arduous 5-kilometer jungle trek that included scaling rope ladders and balancing on swinging logs to cross a river.

 The boot camp incident sparked little public uproar in a country where the education system has always had a militaristic streak — public schools have mandatory uniforms, hair must be kept short and some teachers still wield bamboo canes to enforce discipline through secondary school. Problem teens in violent high-school gangs have been sent to boot camps in the past.

 But using the military to punish university hazing is a new approach, which commentators say sends a chilling message that the military is needed to solve society’s problems even at institutions of higher learning.

 The former army chief who led the coup, Prayuth Chan-ocha regularly lashes out at those who question his authority and warns the public to stop asking for elections, which he says won’t be held until 2017.

 Hundreds of politicians, journalists, professors and other critics have been hauled in for “attitude adjustment” in the name of maintaining peace and order.

 Social commentator Sanitsuda Ekachai called it a sign of the times that the rector of a university chose to resort to military-style “attitude adjustment.”

 “When someone in his position believes that militarism is the answer ... it explains why the military still retains a strong grip on society,” Sanitsuda wrote in a column for The Bangkok Post. In a separate column, she wrote that educators who rely on military discipline are sending a stifling message: “Those who resist will be punished. The country is heading full force toward being a military state.”