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Tom, you and i and all of the GCers know that as Alums and Active members, that drinking will go on!
People go to college to get out on their own for the first timme and spread their wings. Guys want to meet Girls, Girls want to meet Guys and see what life is really about without being under the thumb of the protective parent. I got sick in a bar one night and was asked to leave for that reason, not because I was drunk, but somthing about losing his mother of which I had not tolong before that! i left the bar and and went with our designated driver to pick up guys who had the sense not to drive! After Initiation we had a new Brother start chugging a bottle and I stepped in on that!1 There is nothing wrong with social drinking, but there is when it is taken to extremes! |
Ok guys . . .
So why are all our best stories usually about how either we or someone we know was on a mission and went over the bend, crossing over from social drinking to Urban Legend?
Like the time I was too drunk to drive my own car home, but was sober enough in my own mind to answer the dare from the pretty girl in the backseat, and climb out the window and on to the roof of my car(we were only doing about 50mph) and ride in a straddle for a few miles( the sun roof made it easier to grip but don't try it at home kids). Of course had I fallen off, especially during the tricky: climbing out and in the window part, it would have been a tragic and probably (hopefully) fatal accident.;) But Gods, it was fun at the time! A lot of our stories are like that . . . had something gone wrong it would have been tragic or unpleasant, but I would hate to lose my stories. They are cool to tell, and add some depth to me as a person. Woe to those that live life without Risk circumscribed by fear and trepidation, because they are already dead. I think there was a thread a while back in Chit Chat that had some crazy stuff in it. |
James,
What's even more fun is figuring out how to embellish them as time goes on. Did I ever tell you about the Delt Regatta? Well, there was this river that used to run by the Delt House. Both have since been moved... And on and on... |
'tis true, some people are really good at embellishment, or are just better story tellers . . .
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For some reason I can't seem to cut and paste or copy this article, but I think it's important, so I'm going to re-type the whole damn thing. Excuse the typos please...
"Fraternity drinking a thorny problem... Recent deaths shine spotlight on issue... By John Meunier Herald-Times Staff Writer Dangerous drinking is not unique to fraternities at Indiana University. Hundreds of students living in dorms and apartments are arrested each year. IU has disbanded dorm floors in the past to break up groups of students who can't be controlled. But it is the fraternityy parties that appear to most often display the ugliest underside of the collegiate drinking culture. Two deaths since 1998 are the starkest examples. IU's dean of students doesn't know of any similar deaths among the rest of IU's student body. An IU sophomore getting a stomach full of Jim Beam whiskey pumped at Bloomington Hospital Sept. 17 is the latest example. IU and the fraternity's national headquarters are investigating Pi Kappa Alpha over the hospitalization. A judicial hearing will take place next week. While fraternities at the national and local level talk about curbing the influence of alcohol. some observers hold out little optimism for deep changes in the fraternity culture. Jim Arnold, an administrator with the University of Oregon system who wrote his doctoral dissertation at IU on fraternity drinking, campares Greek organizations to alcoholic individuals. "They say one thing because it is what everyone else in the world wants to hear and they continue doing what they have been doing," he said. Arnold's dissertation followed a fraternity and its members over a four year period. He found that nearly every event in the life of the chapter was focused on alcohol. One example was the dad's night ceremony in which pledges were paired with older members. After a night of being blindfolded, yelled at and told they were no good, the pledges' blindfolds were taken off and they were handed beers by their fraternity dads, Arnold reports. The message: Welcome to the group, have a drink. National and local surveys show that fraternity and sorority members -- especially those who live in their chapter houses -- drink more and drink more heavily that the student population in general Popular expectations about what it means to be in a fraternity -- which reach into high school -- perpetuate the drinking culture. "When you look at the expectations of these people, it's more about getting drunk and getting laid than it is about anything else," Arnold said. Calls to several chapter presidents of IU fraternities went unreturned this week. Ben Schmidt, an IU senior and president of the Interfraternity Council, thinks fraternity members don't have a special claim on dangerous or abusive drinking. The real difference between fraternities and off-campus apartment parties is one of scale, not attitudes, Schmidt said. "You've got up to 100 guys living in the same place, and when you hold a social function and there is alcohol there, it makes it hard to regulate," he said. He thinks the real problems are caused by a minority of the members. "When you look at your chapter's pledge class, you can immediately point out the guys who are going to get it, those who are going to take a little longer and thse who are in it for their own purposes and those are the guys who are going to cause the problems," he said. Chapters don't do a good job of weeding the troublemakers out, Schmidt said. Chapters need to do a better job of getting their older members to provide good role models for the younger ones. Expecting alcohol to disappear from a fraternity or the wider campus scene is unrealistic, he said. "Just like social life after you graduate from college, alcohol plays a big part in that," he said. IU education professor George Kuh said there is a difference between social drinking and being part of an organization that is "lubricated by alcohol." Fraternities have for decades been drinking clubs, he said. "What is different today is the large numbers of students coming to college who already have binge drinking under their belt," Kuh said. While that is true of college students in general, Kuh said, fraternities add elements to this mix. "A big part of this is wanting to belong," he said. "We know the groupthink mentality. This is groupthink which is magnified four five and tenfold. You also have this leftover machismo as well. I can handle anything that you put forward." No one sets out to hurt another person, but the combination of attitudes about drinking, implicit peer pressure and imparied judgements lead to a dangerous mix. "You talk to enough undergraduates, you know Thursday night they're goint to get a buzz n," Kuh said. "Once you get that buzz on, you tend to lose your sense of proportion." While the individual students bear responsibility for their own actions, Kuh thinks the universities need to do more. "Learning how to use alcohol is a part of coming of age," he said. "The queston is, are we doing as good a job as we can?" IU Dean of Students Richard McKaig believes IU is doing at least a better job. The prototypical frat party of the past has been eliminated. It used to be commonplace for four or eight Greek chapters to gather for a party, with dozens of kegs of beer open and freely available to everyone. There are still big parties in chapter houses. IU freshman Seth Korona died after attending a party in January at which several beer kegs and other forms of alcohol were widely available. Nonetheless, things are better, McKaig said. "That doesn't mean that you are taking the fifth of alcohol or six-pack of beer out of the second floor of the house," he said. If he could change one thing abut the fraternity system, it would be to keep men from joinging chapters until the second half of their freshman or their sophomore years. "There are some men's chapters that are not well prepared to welcome new students in the first semester," McKaig said. But he is not in favor of elimninating the fraternity system. "We're only looking at the fraternities through the lens of the alcohol problem," he said. "From another view, there are many, many positive aspects." My personal thoughts and comments: This is a good article that tries to show that alcohol is not only a Greek problem, but, as every national study I've seen shows, is bigger in the fraternity system than the rest of college. Not that they always work within my own fraternity, but we do have a couple of good ideas. One is the "no common container" rule which bans kegs, etc. I know of one chapter that lost it's Hugh Shields Award (the highest award given to Delt Chapters) when a keg from a party off campus was brought to the Chapter house after the fact. We're real serious about this. Second is the "Delts Talking About Alcohol" program which is NOT an anti drinking effort, but rather tries to show how to drink responsibly and the potential consequences when that responsibility is not exercized. Specially trained Delt undergraduates travel to each of our chapters yearly to teach DTAA. Every Delt attends at least once. We need to be more careful about the people we pledge. If the IU IFC President is to be believed, chapters are pledging and initiating men who the recognize as potential problems. What sense does that make? We need to be more selective. That's particularly true given the comments about the numbers of binge drinkers we inherit from high school. Finally, the IFC President's comment about drinking being a part of social life after college doesn't hold up as well as it would have several years ago. I think that most business professionals will tell you that the notorious "Three martini lunch" is pretty much a thing of the past. You simply don't see that much alcohol in business situations anymore. Many big companies have made their buildings non alcoholic workplaces -- including things like holiday parties. That certainly is not meant to imply that people don't stop for a drink after work -- but it is not the "badge of honor" that is used to be. I see a lot of unfortunate truth in the article. I also see a compilation of a lot of thoughts and ideas that have been stated in many of these threads before. So, what do we do about it? DeltAlum |
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I also wish there was a better way of rush, for guys and girls, but other than my zillionth push for deferred rush, some intellect higher than me will have to come up with that one. p.s. DeltAlum - if you think three martini lunches are a thing of the past - I guess you don't work with insurance people much, do you? :p |
hmmm 33,
No wonder my rates keep going up. All those insurance folks out there DUI. |
According to "Fraternal News" today, the Pikes at Indiana University have been expelled by the Fraternity/Sorority Judicial board -- consisting of nine fraternity and sorority members. The Vice Chancellor agrees with the decision and says that Pi Kappa Alpha Nationals also agrees and will work with the University.
There are several posts above which detail this situation. Unfortunate. |
Delt Alum,
Could you please tell me where I could find a copy of Fraternal News? Is it something that can be viewed on the net? I'd be interested to read it. Thanks! GLG |
You're correct DeltAlum - LXA has returned to Iowa and is going strong already. As of now, theyre still a colony, but they picked up 36 new members during rush - which is fabulous here! There were closed, I want to say about 5 years ago for an alcohol related death of a pledge named Michael. My understanding is that the parents are still pursuing a case against national.. not sure though. Anyhow, my friend Ben is a pledge of LXA here, and all of the guys know the reason why they closed and are confident that they are a new group and have no connection to the old. IFC and Pan Hel along with all of the other houses on campus have been extremely supportive of them returning - which i think is fabulous!
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Greeklawgirl,
I get it via e-mail from fraternalnews@yahoogroups.com It generally comes 2-3 times per week. I think you could e-mail them. I think there is a way to check it out on the web, but I'm not sure how that's done. |
Delt Alum,
I found it and subscribed! Thanks so much! GLG |
I strongly urge everyone to subscribe to and read Fraternal News.
It's sobering -- with no pun intended. The last two or three digests have been particularly disheartening. fraternalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com "When will the ever learn, when will they ever learn?" -The Cruel War Peter, Paul and Mary DeltAlum |
another closing
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DeltaBeta... is this the infamous shaving incident?
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No, unfortunately I don't think the press ever got wind of that one.
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As pertains to the comments above, I hope you understand that I take absolutely no pleasure in bringing this news -- but as a division officer and alumni advisor who is concerned about the future of the Greek System, I think someone needs to sound the wake up call.
There's just too much to post in this single issue, so here are the headlines. If you're interested, subscribe and read. Two thoughts on the content of the articles. First, forced drinking/hazing causes big problems. Second, in number 10 a former pledge is sueing a fraternity and sorority for their part in getting him drunk and an allegedly related auto accident. There are some good things, too, from Northwestern, Auburn, Virginia and Berkley. All of this is from Fraternalnews: To subscribe to this free group, send an email to: fraternalnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: fraternalnews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are 12 messages in this issue. Topics in this digest: 1. Skit prompts UW-Whitewater to impose sanctions on fraternity From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 2. Univ. of Michigan fraternity investigated for sexual assault From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 3. Arkansas State suspends fraternity until 2005 From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 4. CU investigates sorority after alleged hazing From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 5. Charges pending on Penn State SAE chapter From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 6. Second alleged rape at U. Michigan party reported From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 7. U. Illinois Phi Delta Theta charter revoked From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 8. UC-Berkeley sorority hopes to spark junior high Latinas' interests in college From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 9. Northwestern U. students plan to build campus' first Asian sorority From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 10. UCLA student sues fraternity over drunk driving accident From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 11. Slowly, color line blurs in Auburn U.'s greek system From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> 12. U. Virginia greek program aims to ease race relations From: Fraternity/Sorority Newsclips <doug.case@sdsu.edu> |
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Of course, this is awful, but the first thing I thought was that maybe they would lease us some of their parking spaces. After it set in, though, it is really pretty sad to think of the house behind us being empty. Oh, and fraternal news can be read at Fraternal News on Yahoo |
DeltAlum--
I logged on and read my copy of the fratneral news, and I nearly threw up. I can't BELIEVE that there were so many incidents in this issue. Especially alarming is all of the alcohol involved. It's frightening that brothers and sisters aren't looking out for each other, even if they are new members. I strongly urge everyone to subscribe to the newsletter! |
Shadowkat,
I know what you mean. Every time I receive Fraternalnews, I dread the possibility of seeing a Delt chapter named. So far, it has only happened once, and it was a good article, thankfully. We try very hard to instill good things in our undergraduates, but I am smart enough to know that all of our chapters aren't made up of choirboys, and that, sooner or later... Well, I'll hope for the best -- and for some sanity from my brother and sister Greeks. |
unrelated to hazing... involving alcohol/poor judgement
Published Thursday, November 8, 2001
UM freshman's drowning wasn't hazing, police say BY SARA OLKON solkon@herald.com An 18-year-old University of Miami freshman and fraternity pledge who drowned Monday morning had been drinking but did not die as a result of hazing, Miami-Dade County police say. Chad Meredith, 18, from Indianapolis, went swimming in the campus' Lake Osceola at about 5:30 a.m. Monday with UM Kappa Sigma president Travis Montgomery and fraternity brother Timothy Williamson. Meredith went under water and never resurfaced; his body was later found by police divers. ``They said they were drinking,'' Miami-Dade Homicide Det. Charles ``Buck'' McCully said, referring to statements from survivors and other witnesses. ``There was no hazing or initiation going on.'' The lead investigator's statement jibes with reports from university officials and the fraternity president, who said the swim was not a fraternity-sanctioned event. ``We do not haze,'' said Montgomery, 20. ``This has nothing to do with our fraternity.'' Before the swim, McCully said, the men had been at an off-campus party where some people were playing a drinking game called ``hockey.'' Meredith did not take part, McCully said. ``He wasn't doing heavy drinking,'' the detective said. He said three Budweisers were found near the spot where they left their clothing. His father, William, recalled a man of quiet confidence. He, too, said his youngest son was not the victim of a hazing ritual. ``He wasn't influenced easily,'' William Meredith said. His father described his son's last night: After attending part of the on-campus, outdoor concert by rapper Ludacris, he returned to his dorm to catch some of the final game of the World Series. His loyalties were torn: The former high school pitcher was rooting for the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens. In his last call home at about 10 p.m. Sunday, Chad talked to his father about his grades -- he said he was getting all A's -- and said he had just finished a paper about his dad's military service in Vietnam. He told his father he didn't have classes Monday because of the tropical storm warning and was planning to go out for some food later that night. William Meredith said his son's credit card showed he bought something at a Wendy's. Montgomery would not comment further on what happened. He said the fraternity would issue a statement in the coming days. McCully said the department was awaiting toxicology reports before officially classifying the death as accidental. Still, ``nothing has popped up to make us suspicious of anything,'' he said. The drowning is the second at the lake since 1980, when another UM student died. Swimming in the lake has since been prohibited. On Wednesday, UM president Donna Shalala and vice president of student affairs Pat Whitely met with about 30 fraternity leaders to discuss ``making positive choices.'' The meeting had been scheduled before Monday's tragedy. Family members said a funeral was planned for Saturday. |
I strongly urge that you all read this entire story from Digest 99 of Fraternal News because it also covers a number of good points about the Greek system including high GPA's, philanthropy and future benefits of Greek membership. While it centers on the University of Michigan, it also touches on other schools in the Big Ten.
Unfortunately, the crux of the story is about the following from the Detroit Free Press: "In the last 10 years, 10 U-M fraternities have closed because of violations related to alcohol and hazing, and 10 more have closed because of low membership. Four sororities have closed because of low membership, and two have closed as a result of hazing violations in the same period, according to U-M data. "We need to re-evaluate where our social environment is going," said Hustvedt, president of U-M's Interfraternity Council and a member of Theta Chi fraternity, which will become the fifth alcohol-free chapter on campus in January. But Hustvedt, 22, of Concord, Mass., knows it's not easy to change a decades-old tradition. A 1999 study by U-M's Substance Abuse Research Center found that 76 percent of U-M students living in fraternity or sorority houses had engaged in binge drinking within a two-week period, compared with 62 percent of students living in residence halls." Some other comments: The number of chapters closed because of alcohol and hazing is staggering. The overall closing figure is worse -- twenty-six in ten years. The Michigan study on binge drinking roughly parallels other studies on the subject I've seen -- confirming that this isn't just a Greek probem, but that it is substantially more serious in the Greek Community. Delt Alum |
Pardon me, but DUM DAM DUMB DA!!!!:mad:
These are suppose to be the Future Of Our Country?:confused: Hell put a big fu----- gun to my head as we are in trouble if this is becoming the more normal thing to do! DUMB, DAMN DUMB:( |
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Having grown up in that part of the Midwest, I guess I never think of Michigan (or any of the other state supported schools for that matter) as particularly liberal -- or conservative either for that matter.
Places like Antioch at Yellow Springs, Ohio were way off the chart, but I never thought Michigan was anything but pretty normal. |
Isn't Antioch the one where they have that bizarre social policy, where you have to ask "do you mind if I hold your hand, do you mind if I kiss you, etc" so it's not considered rape? If so...that would not only be off the chart...the chart would be in another building. :p
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The Daily Campus
University of Connecticut November 16, 2001 4 pledges arrested for hazing at U. Connecticut say it was a misunderstanding By Matthew Monks, The Daily Campus On Nov. 7, four pledges to Sigma Chi fraternity were arrested for hazing. According to University of Connecticut police captain Warren Gilmour, Thomas Valeri, Daniel Lapolla, Adam Goff and Jeffrey Weeden were pulled over in Goff's Ford Explorer after driving the wrong way into the driveway to the information booth on the south side of Mirror Lake. After interviewing the students, the officer discovered that a brother of Sigma Chi, who wished to remain unnamed for the purposes of this story, was bound with duct tape in the vehicle. The officer arrested the four pledges for hazing and immediately released them on a written promise to appear in court. According to the student handbook, hazing means "any action which recklessly or intentionally endangers the health or safety of a person for the purpose of initiation." According to Goff, all five people involved in the incident are friends and that what they were doing was in good fun and at no time was anyone in danger. Valeri, Lapolla, Goff and the brother all live on the first floor of Litchfield Hall in North Campus and Valeri and the brother are roommates. "We are all friends and still are friends and were not trying to hurt each other," Goff said. "But I understand that the police officer was just trying to reinforce that." The brother said that the four pledges were going to throw him into Mirror Lake but everything, including being duct-taped around his calves, was done with his consent. "At no point in time did I feel my safety was in jeopardy," the brother said. Lapolla said that the arresting officers knew that the four pledges were no real threat to the brother because the pledges were not detained after the incident. "If it was a clear and present danger to his safety. Š Then why did they send him home with us?" he said. The brother said that his fraternity commonly performed activities like "kidnapping," but that pledges did not have to participate in order to get into the fraternity. "It's like a fun activity for the pledges. Š That's why the university's pissed, because we condone something like this," he said. Ross Siegel, president of the UConn chapter of Sigma Chi, said that the four pledges are the only pledges to the fraternity this semester. He said the incident is currently being investigated by Greek Life and that all pledge events will be postponed until after the investigation. When asked if he knew beforehand whether the pledges were going to detain a brother and throw him in Mirror Lake Siegel said, "We didn't know they were going to take him from the library." According to Judy Preston, coordinator of student organizations and Greek Life, the victim was in the library when he was apprehended by the four pledges. Preston said the incident will be reviewed by a judication board at an unspecified date. The board will determine first if hazing occurred and then whether Sigma Chi as a whole or only the individuals involved are responsible. "What needs to be determined in this case - was there any suggestion from the chapter that this could be a good act [or] was this something they concocted on their own?" Preston said. If it is determined that Sigma Chi is responsible she said that possible penalties may include Sigma Chi having to sponsor a speaker who will discuss hazing, the redesigning of the chapter's current pledge program and lastly, loss of registration. She said that if Sigma Chi loses its registration as a university- recognized student organization, the national organization of Sigma Chi may take the UConn chapter's charter away. Preston said that this incident does not appear to be hazing because it was four pledges apprehending a brother. Usually, she said, hazing is something that brothers inflict on pledges, not the other way around. "That's your traditional [view] and that's what has a lot of folks perplexed," she said. Lapolla said that media coverage of the arrest has been overblown and inaccurate. "I saw it on channel 4 and Channel 8," Lapolla said, "It was in the Willimantic Chronicle and they said we were brothers." Lapolla specified that they were not brothers but pledges. Lapolla said that it was really a small incident. They all went home together and at no time was anybody in danger. "The way they worded it is, if the police didn't intervene [we] would have left him duct-taped and thrown him in the lake. We would have left him to drown," Lapolla said. Ted O'Brian, secretary of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, said that "kidnapping" is a game that some fraternities often play. He said that that his fraternity does not permit "kidnapping" because they realize the possible legal ramifications of doing so. He said he was familiar with the Sigma Chi incident and that his fraternity was looking to avoid any similar problems. "We had the big fight this semester," he said. "We don't need an extra headache with the police." |
More from FraternalNews:
Subject: WKU suspends SAE Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was tagged Monday with a one-year suspension after an investigation by Western officials uncovered hazing violations and other infractions. Student Organizations Coordinator Charley Pride said Monday that SAE will not be recognized by the university as a student organization again until Jan. 1, 2003. Western’s investigation revealed that members of SAE, which established a chapter at Western in 1965, had committed a number of violations including hazing pledges and damaging property owned by “a member of the university community,” Pride said. He declined to name whose property was damaged. He said the fraternity had “created a dangerous environment that led to inappropriate behavior and the injury of a pledge” and that the chapter had required pledges to dedicate too much time to the fraternity. Western began looking into the activities of SAE after receiving word of an October incident where a pledge was hit in the head with a wooden paddle during a fraternity ritual where pledges attempt to “kidnap” an active member, Pride said. A campus police report filed Oct. 15 said Robert S. Ryan, a pledge, suffered a light concussion and injuries to his arm after being hit with the paddle. He was taken to UrgentCare for treatment. Lee Ann Phelps, a nurse at UrgentCare, notified campus police about the incident. SAE must adhere to a number of stipulations during its suspension. Pride said SAE is barred from using any building at Western for fraternity functions, participating in university-sponsored activities as SAE or taking part in activities with the Interfraternity Council. SAE President Matt Larson said Tuesday chapter members were “extremely disappointed” in the university’s decision to levee the one-year suspension. “... But we have every confidence that we’ll come back a year from now an even stronger and better chapter,” said Larson, who graduates in December. Larson said SAE has been ordered by Western to improve its pledge program before it is reinstated next January. Despite the penalties against the fraternity, current pledges to the chapter will be initiated soon, he said. The SAE national office in Evanston, Ill., has yet to issue a decision regarding the violations according to Alex Redmond, coordinator of publications for the national office. “The university does not condone that type of behavior,” Pride said. “That is what (the penalty) shows.” Redmond said his office fully supports penalties brought by Western officials. However, it has not established a timeline for deciding about its own possible penalties. He said any decision would be made by local SAE alumni in Bowling Green. “Typically, we like to let alumni come up with solutions because they are those closest involved with the chapter in that location,” Redmond said. Gene Tice, vice president of Student Affairs and Campus Services, said Tuesday a group of SAE alumni have requested to meet with university officials. Tice said he does not know what the group plans to discuss when the meeting might take place. “We just need to start a discussion and go from there,” Tice said. Redmond said SAE members will be allowed to stay in their house at 1410 College St. during the one-year suspension and display the SAE letters out front. However, they will not be allowed to take part in any university social events under the SAE name or accept any new members. Larson said he was told by a representative from the fraternity’s national office that the body does not plan to issue further penalties beyond the university’s. SAE is the second fraternity at Western within the past year to be penalized for hazing violations. Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity was hit with a three-year suspension from the university last semester after an investigation found the chapter had hazed pledges. Pride said KA Psi was given a stiffer penalty than SAE because they set up fraternity events with the intent to harm pledges. “The SAE event or events were not set up to bring harm, but due to the nature of the events, someone got hurt,” Pride said. Ps. at other university's do you think they would have gotten more the pres of our university is an alum of the chapter. and it sounded from the article that the local alumni will hand down sanctions instead of nationals but why would they be harsh if this was going on when they were there which it probably was. Note: It is true that this type of thing was probably going on when the President was an active member of the chapter. It is also true that people tend to learn and mature as they grow older. Perhaps the president and local alumni simply realize now that hazing has no place in the modern Greek System if the system is to survive. |
Well the more I hear about these stories the less faith I have.
Do you all think a National Organization should automaticallly close a chapter in cases of hazing(found by the school or just by the organization) or should they try to reorganize with new members? |
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I don't believe in automatic closure. I think that is the tendency, though. It's difficult to fight the negative publicity battle and also the liability and insurance fight. In some cases, (where the violation is questionable or very slight, I would like to see the national organization stand up for its' members and chapter. If the violation is clear and/or serious, there is little or no choice except closing.
What seems to happen most often is the GLO suspends the chapter and then recolonizes in anywhere from two to four years after the chapter leaders have graduated. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. We have recolonized at the Unviersity of Colorado a couple of times, and the same problems persisted. We may have done a bad job of recruiting, or the Greek culture and/or university administration on the campus may have doomed the efforts in advance. Who knows? A lot of things would have to change there before we try again. |
EVERYONE should read the last part of this story.
The Orange County Register December 15, 2001 Collegian says hazing left him hospitalized UCI pledge is suing fraternity and 13 members over allegations including assault and battery. By EMILY BITTNER The Orange County Register A UCI student who hoped to join a fraternity is accusing his prospective brothers of hazing him so badly during an initiation ritual last year that he had to be hospitalized and alleging that fellow initiates had to beg members to call an ambulance. Jeff Warden, 20, is suing 13 members of Beta Theta Pi and the fraternity's national organization. He is seeking damages on allegations of assault, battery, emotional distress and negligence. "These guys were to me people that I could see myself being friends with for life," Warden said in his lawyer's office in Lake Forest. "That weekend, I was scared for my life. I thought I was going to die." Both the fraternity's national organization and the University of California, Irvine, are investigating the allegations. Warden's lawyer said police were not notified, so a criminal investigation was never pursued. One fraternity member named in the lawsuit denied that any hazing occurred that weekend or before. "That has never happened," said Cory Halbardier, a senior mechanical-engineering major who said he was in Big Bear that weekend. "If it did, I wouldn't have joined." Other fraternity members named in the suit, filed last month in Orange County Superior Court, did not return telephone calls. The national fraternity has published guidelines against hazing, but Warden's lawyer, David J. Salvin, said: "They seemingly took the guidelines against hazing as a blueprint for what to do." Warden, two other pledges and several Beta Theta Pi members left the UCI campus for a retreat at Big Bear on Friday, Dec. 8, 2000, Salvin said. During the next 28 hours, the members forced Warden and the other initiates to drink alcohol, denied them water, deprived them of sleep and made them simulate sexual acts with each other, Warden said. Warden, who celebrated his 19th birthday during the initiation weekend, said friends told him that he lost consciousness and was twitching on the ground after exposure to low temperatures, excessive exercise and alcohol. One pledge said he had to "beg" fraternity members to call an ambulance and that they left Warden unconscious on the ground for at least half an hour. Medical reports from Bear Valley Community Hospital, where he stayed overnight, said he suffered "continuous seizures" that Saturday night. Warden said he lost his driver's license because doctors are required to report any seizure victims to the Department of Motor Vehicles. For the past year, he has spent about $10,000 getting medicine, MRIs, EKGs and CT scans from neurologists to prove that he could drive again. Warden said he has no prior history of seizures and has suffered none since the initiation. "I was put through terror that night and those days," said Warden, a sophomore film-studies major. "It took me a long time to talk to anyone about it. ... Now it's hard for me to let people get involved in my life." If the allegations are true, the UCI chapter could be sanctioned or closed and individual members expelled from the fraternity, said Stephen Becker, administrative secretary for the national fraternity. Beta Theta Pi has yanked about 15 chapters from U.S. universities in the past three or four years because of hazing incidents and alcohol violations, Becker said. Forty to 50 hazing incidents a year are reported to Hank Nuwer, author of four books on the subject. He learns about the cases mostly from campus security or news reports because school officials often handle the incidents privately, he said. Since 1971, 65 people have been reported killed in hazing incidents. Of those, 41 were related to alcohol and the vast majority involved fraternities. "It's all group-think. They deceive themselves and the people around them and they're not aware of the consequences," Nuwer said. "This (hazing) is terrible behavior, but they thought it was ordinary. No one should think this is ordinary." Warden said he hopes to help put an end to similar hazing incidents. "Someone should never have to go through that," he said. "I could've died, and I almost did die." |
What a wimp, not only must it suck to go through such a bad experience, but it must suck to have to admit to everyon that you were such a little bitch you let people do this type of stuff to you. . .
Wow, what ever happened to self-esteem and confidence? If they had tried that type of stuff with me there would have been some broken and bleeding fraternity men on the floor. |
Yeah James I see your point...a pledge had to "beg" brothers to call an ambulance? Hello, it's called grab the cell phone and call 911, or if they are withholding it from you, overpower them with the rest of the pledges. That's not groupthink, it's @$#%ing stupidity.
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im a phi delt at UCI, and the guy who filed the suit was a rushee of ours too before he decided to go beta. To James how can you call that guy a wimp. There were 3 pledges to 13 actives, some how i dont see them overpowering all those guys. Its like blaming him for what happened. That's the biggest load of crap ive ever heard. I hope if it turns out to be true the guys who did it get what they have coming.
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That is a fair response, I was being a little sarcastic but I was also pointing out a lack of emphasis on personal responsibility. Peer pressure only goes so far. Especially when the results are obviously going to be severe.
Also peer presure is not a good defense when it comes to the committment of crimes. If the group egged you on to kill someone and you did, you are facing a world of trouble. And yet in many hazing incidents there is an element of personal choice that becomes confused in the person's mind with the pressure to get in. That is why I mentioned confidence and self-esteem. Its unlikely that a very confident person would let that happen to themselves to someone else around them. I am aware of the realities: most people do not have much confidence or self-esteem; The desire to belong can overpower a lot of people's ability to distinguish between right and wrong, etc etc. But this will always continue unless we emphasize personal responsibility and give proper models of behavior for unusual situations. But perhaps people disagree that personal responsibility is important? Or that maybe, some pledges should just say no? |
I agree with James in principle.
However, (putting on my old fuddy duddy hat) at college age many, I would dare say most, people have not developed a huge amount of self confidence and maturity. Those things take a long time and a lot of experience to grow. I've lived through it myself and have three children ages 17 to 25 who I'm watching fight all of these same battles, so I have the advantage of hindsight. Peer pressure is something that many young people find impossible to fight. Groupthink is a fact of life. The people who have enough self esteem and confidence to fight it are fortunate indeed. That's part of the reason that the Nationals have the unhappy and unwanted job of being the "Hazing and Alcohol Police." It's not a job that anybody wants. |
This is a bit Random Delta Alum but I remember reading a passage in the book Dune where the one of the leaders said the goal of leaders is to maintain the level of the individual, without enough individuals, the group reverts to a mob (group think).
Group think, and even consensus, seems to always drop down to the lowest common denominator. I have noticed that in dealing with male fraternities that there is a lack of operational integrity. Usually the leadership manuals aren't very good, the alum officers are not trained nor have access to a lot of leadership resources, and theres no standardization of chapter procedures and operations. Any leadership consultant would be horrified and not at all surprised at the fact that a lot of chapters go off the deep end. Also many of the National's take the uneducated approach of listing what a chapter cannot do rather than what they can do. This is despite the literature which over the years bears out that you cannot live your life by only knowing what you don't want. It leaves you with no going towards goals. . . If I were giving a Risk management seminar, I wouldn't sit there and just go over the manual, we College students are semi-literate its insulting. But what I would do is give the seminar with a phonebook and before I left there would be a little chapter manual of third party vendors and places, with a contact name, and prices. As well as several different FUN events that require a chapter's resources and diminish liability. Its moronic to sit there and just drone on and on about non-alcoholic events etc when we know the culture. The trick is to present viable alternatives that are relevant to the chapter and assist them in making plans. Sometimes we are asking the social chair (which is usually a sophomore level position, which it shouldn't be) who may never even have made a frigging dinner reservation to find, call, and arrange an event with a thirdy party vendor at a location that needs to be contracted. Hello, if you don't hold the person's hand the first couple times it probably won't get done correctly. Ok temporary ceasation of rant. |
I see your points about personal responsibility. Perhaps he should have done more to defend himself, but still i think for the most part when people are pledging its a different mindset than normal. You might be willing to do things you normally wouldnt do and when things spiral out of control it would be harder to protest than from the beginning, but i still feel the most responsibilities lies with the actives. As for peer pressure as a defense, its true it is a poor one, but for the victim? Alone with 2 other pledges against 13 guys, perhaps they should have said no, but if these guys left him unconscious on the floor for half an hour what would have happened had they said no? I can hardly see how the situation would have ended better.
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James,
Your last post was one of the better things I've read and, although alumni and officer resources and training vary widely, pretty much true. Your comment about the sophomore social chair is right on. I really like your phone book idea. Very creative. Applause, applause. |
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