OPINION & EDITORIAL
Casual initiations lead to serious acts
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by Emily Friedman
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Here's a report from The Associated Press: "Four fraternity members pleaded guilty in the death of a college student who was forced to drink large amounts of water during an initiation rite."
The dateline of this article is Oroville, Calif., where the Chi Tau fraternity once resided on the sunny campus of California State University in Chico, Calif. The four students face extensive prison time and probation. Fraternities and sororities have been banned at Chico.
It is impossible to believe that anyone would sanction hazing that yields death. Why would people intentionally make others physically sick or suffer pain?
The Wisconsin Hazing Law (948.51) states, "No person may intentionally or recklessly engage in acts which endanger the physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with any organization operating in connection with a school, college or university. Under those circumstances, prohibited acts may include any brutality of a physical nature, such as whipping, beating, branding, forced consumption of any food, liquor, drug or other substance, forced confinement or any other forced activity which endangers the physical health or safety of the student."
The section continues by outlining the consequences of violating the law, "[It is] A Class A misdemeanor if the act results in or is likely to result in bodily harm to another. [It is] A Class E felony if the act results in great bodily harm or death to another."
In addition, the University of Wisconsin Greek website posts information on hazing policies. In a letter written by Fraternity and Sorority Program Advisor Barb Katz, parents of incoming UW students are informed about hazing in the Greek community.
The letter states, "Hazing practices are a criminal violation of Wisconsin state law, and strictly prohibited by campus and organizational policies as well. New members joining an organization will participate in a number of different activities designed to build teamwork, learn more about themselves and others in the group, as well as learn the traditions and history of the organization. These activities are intended to be beneficial to the student as well as the organization. Instances which can be construed as hazing are not tolerated within this community. It is our goal to provide the best possible experiences for fraternity and sorority members on campus."
Hazing, although commonly associated with alcohol-driven events, is also defined by some campus chapters as instances where students are forced to wear certain clothing, carry certain objects, or generally do anything that makes them stand out as "pledges" against the rest of the chapter.
So, some questions: Why is it that I see girls in overdone blue eye shadow and bright pink lipstick on campus? Why are there girls carrying their books to class in shopping bags? What is it with the socks and heels and tapered sweatpants? Why have I seen groups of girls walking down Langdon Street wearing all white?
Why have I heard that a freshman girl showed up in class carrying a live goldfish? Why are certain groups of girls and boys avoiding walking on State Street like the plague? How about intricate scavenger hunts set up by the older members of the chapter? Are XXL T-shirts a new fad? Why have I overheard hysterical girls on their cell phones wondering how they will able to study for their exam tomorrow when they have to stay up all night at the sorority? Why are there boys in shirts and ties on certain days of the week? Why do certain boys reek of onions after a night at their fraternity?
It doesn't sound like any of this is life threatening, but it leads to another question: how many steps away are we?
Emily Friedman (ecfriedman@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in journalism and legal studies. She is a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
Anonymous (November 3, 2005 @ 1:35pm):
Emily, this is your worst article to date. First, you made no effort to check facts and printed information which is simply false. "Fraternities and sororities have been banned at Chico." Really, when did this happen? Where did you find this? Check out http://www.chicogreeks.com/, it looks to me like there are currently 9 fraternities and 5 sororities. Nice research. Also, you said "The four students face extensive prison time and probation." Actually, they already were sentenced, with the strictest punishment being 1 year in prison for one of the 4 defendants. Pretty "extensive." Next time, if you base your column on an article you find, you should actually READ it. Unbelievable.
Next you complain about incidents of hazing here, such as girls wearing extra makeup and large shirts and not being allowed to walk on State Street, and fraternity pledges being forced to wear shirts and ties. All this after mentioning the Wisconsin hazing law that prohibits acts "which endanger the physical health or safety of a student." Somehow, you are claiming that these fairly benign acts which are done in good fun will lead to the moronic practices of the Chi Tau fraternity in California and other dangerous practices prohibited by Wisconsin law. How exactly will this happen? Why will this escalate? What are you basing this "argument" on?There is no logical basis to think that it will take the next step to this level. You didn't even attempt an explanation. What kind of journalism is this?
This is a poorly researched, poorly written piece of garbage, which doesn't even attempt a logical, coherent argument. The Badger Herald is better than this. Emily, save yourself future humilation and give it up.
Anonymous (November 3, 2005 @ 3:24pm):
Fraternities and Sororities have NOT been banned at Chico State University. They have new rules and regulations, but are quite alive and running.
Anonymous (November 3, 2005 @ 3:30pm):
She is a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
--
as if we didn't know lol
Anonymous (November 3, 2005 @ 9:12pm):
sad
Anonymous (November 4, 2005 @ 9:52am):
Great article.
Anonymous (November 4, 2005 @ 5:45pm):
I think Emily Friedman's article about hazing was very stupid. Just because a boy wears a tie on tuesday does not mean he is any closer to being hazed then someone in chemestry class. I just want to say that I feel she never menetioned anything that if taken out of the context of the article would even closely be associated with hazing or even the greek community for that matter. I am not in a fraternity but really I hated this article!
Anonymous (November 4, 2005 @ 7:17pm):
As a member of the Greek community I take seriously stories of hazing, but Emily has tried to raise alarm bells with nothing more than innuendo. Her title "Casual initiations lead to serious acts" is backed up with nothing more than examples of, well, casual initiations. So if casual initiations lead to more serious ones, then we would be seeing an increase in hazing over the decades, right? Wrong. If you talk to older people, you will hear that hazing has declined sharply on campuses. I personally get flack from alumni because we are too "soft" on our pledges. Benoit Denizet-Lewis, who wrote an article for the New York Times magazine about fraternity life at Northwestern, noted that hazing had declined sharply as well.
So how many steps away are we? A LOT.
It seems that the accusations of hazing are not based on evidence, but rather a witch trial mentality. Some benign activities have now been painted with the broad brush of hazing. Let's name a few: Requiring pledges to interview the actives is not hazing. I had some of the deepest conversations with the people I now call brother. Road trips are not hazing. I had a blast during the trip, and have some of my fondest memories there. Quizzes do not constitute hazing. It is important to know some basic history about any organization that you are joining. It is also a way to filter out the people who only want to drink.
The fears of being branded for hazing have gone so far that some sororities aren't even allowed to refer to their pledges as pledges. They use the term "new members." I'm sorry, but when you're a pledge you're not a member yet.
The fear of hazing on campus is so ridiculous that in my fraternity last year, as the semester progressed, the pledges feared hazing more and more simply because we HADN'T hazed them yet. The logic was that because we hadn't done anything bad, we must be storing up something awful right near the end.
So let's be rational about the whole specter of hazing, and not let our preconceptions and fears get the better of us.
Anonymous (November 6, 2005 @ 10:54am):
Emily,
You said absolutely nothing in this article. Half of the words printed were cut and paste from rules and regulations, and the other half was you asking questions. Where is your insight of opinion on this story? Isn't what this page is all about, stating your opinion?? Next time, either say something in your article or don't write anything at all.
Anonymous (November 6, 2005 @ 9:26pm):
please choose option 2
Anonymous (December 19, 2005 @ 10:31pm):
Did I understand correctly that you said fraternity and sororities are banned at Chico State? Excuse me, but where the hell did you get your information from? I'm in a national sorority at Chico State and we aren't going anywhere!
