Hazing

This week, we began the topic of hazing. Surprisingly, hazing is very prevalent in fraternities and sororities today. Hazing often leads to injury and even death. It has been identified as criminal activity and many perpetrators have been punished. Suspects charged with felony hazing could have anywhere from 1-3 years in jail. This week, we focused on several articles about hazing as well as a movie called Haze. After reading and watching, I learned how drastic fraternity pledging is. Many freshmen hope to join fraternities/sororities to fit in and establish a name for themselves. They are willing to do whatever it takes to get into the fraternities/sororities even if it involves injury. Some freshmen join because their relatives had once been a part of the fraternity or sorority. Others join to simply fit in. And still others join because they feel without those fraternities, they can’t achieve success in the real world despite what grades or activities they have. As a Dartmouth Sigma Alpha Epsilon member puts it, “Having a 3.7 and being the president of a hard-guy frat is far more valuable than having a 4.0 and being independent when it comes to going to a place like Goldman Sachs. And that corporate milieu mirrors the fraternity culture”.

An often popular method of hazing a pledge is to force pledges to consume large amounts of alcohol in order to prove their worth. This is often what results to the serious injuries and deaths of pledges. Many pledges are left alone by fraternity members because they ‘don’t want to bother them’. These members are often afraid or not in the right state of mind to call an ambulance for the sick pledges. Many universities have programs called medical amnesty that allow students to call 911 for medical emergencies without fear of being punished by the school. This creates an atmosphere where more students are willing to call for help when they need it. However, universities are worried that this policy does not punish students who behave inappropriately.

Personally, I think hazing is a very serious issue facing the American youth. I think that kids are more likely to listen to their peers than adults. Their peers are often the ones that pressure them into doing stupid things. Fraternities are often to blame for incidents of pledge abuse, and I think universities should be working to eliminate these abusive behaviors. I believe that fraternities should continue to exist but without all the extreme hazing rituals implemented by the superior fraternity members. Though I do not know what previous generations went through in fraternities, I can assume it was not as serious as the rituals now. In conclusion, I think it is up to administrations, the students, the fraternities and the parents to prevent future tragedies from hazing.