The Role Of Hazing In Sororities And Fraternities

Hazing in Fraternities and Sororities
For many college students, fraternities and sororities have been a place to find family like bonds and close knit communities. What if it meant great humiliation and forced tasks in able to be a part of these communities? For the past few decades, interest in Sororities and Fraternities interest has declined because of the increased reports of cruelty and hazing related to initiation. Hazing is involved during the initiation of the pledges because the current members of the house want to see how far the pledges will go to gain acceptance into the house. Some reports of hazing have been so serious, that it led to the death of a student. Hazing has become a dangerous act in the Greek system. The hazing that
Humiliation is the least harmless out of the three reasons as to why hazing must end. If hazing was just humiliating girls with light fun, such as shout outs on social media about the members or exchanging secrets, there would be no problems. A student from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Brooke Donelson, has experienced minimal hazing if any. “For Big, Little [an event where the pledge is paired with a member of the house once initiated] I was given a costume that was to correspond with my big. The big would always have the better costume to try and degrade the littles but it wasn’t a big deal,” Brooke says. “We never really had a lot of hazing.” However the fraternities are not as humane. In fact the Landa Kai Alpha chapter at SMU, was recently kicked off campus due to being caught in the act of hazing their pledges. “Allegedly they were forcing their pledges…to eat habanero peppers” (Donelson). Hazing can be as simple as walking around in a costume to a situation so severe that it puts the pledge in harm’s way. Andrew Lohse published in the Dartmouth student paper about the cruel humiliation the pledges had to endure. He wrote, "made its pledges swim in a kiddie pool of vomit, urine, fecal matter, semen and rotten food; chug
Many colleges, including Rutgers University, have started programs to prevent hazing among the Greek community. Gregory Blimling, the university's vice president of student affairs, said, "When we hear about [hazing] issues, we move aggressively to stop them. Rutgers has a no tolerance policy. Every student organization is required to go through an anti-hazing workshop and sign a pledge saying they will not participate in hazing" (Crowder). Another way we could end hazing is to not continue the harsh treatment in the generations to come through college. “Students can stop hazing in its tracks now by refusing to participate, and by demanding more and better of the groups they aspire to join” (Murphy, Skorton). With new pledges denying to proceed with the hazing brought on them, fraternities and sororities would be forced to think about a break in tradition. Hazing whether it be teasing, drinking, or physical abuse has become a serious issue on many college campuses. This practice should be outlawed on all campuses and by all Greek organizations. Failure to do so could lead to more injury or death. Wanting acceptance to any group is something most people will have to face at some point in their life, but shouldn’t have to risk their life, but you shouldn’t have to risk your dignity, body, or life to gain