The Truth about Pledgeship
 

I just want to shed some light on the real situation facing fraternities in the South and especially Texas. I know that some moderator might delete this because the essence of this issue does not want to be realized. Although fraternities say that they do not "haze" anymore, this is a huge myth. I was told that I was rushing a fraternity that did not condone hazing, and guess what, the first meeting they are checking us for wires and then it comes. 8 weeks of hell, including an actual hell weekend. This is a serious issue, and the national organizations are turning there back. I know that every IFC fraternity at my University "educates" as they say now there pledges and I dont care if people dont believe it, it is the truth. Furthermore, I am of a firm belief now that education between pledge brothers builds that sense of brotherhood that you cannot obtain with a different process. Lets face it, the common roots of fraternities hazed, and today it is not nearly as harsh as it was back then, however, it still exists. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, and also, does anyone want to anonymously admit that their chapter educates? I hope this is a beneficial forum for this highly important issue in greek life.

O_o

Moving along...

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=81903

LOL!! Sorry, that part just killed me over here...

You didn't get checked for wires when you came to your first pledge meeting? SKATER! :p

Only because wireless devices were not around when I pledged. But they did check to make sure I did not have one of these in my backpack:

http://www.heyokay.com/images/Ghetto%20Blaster.jpg

We were just told to bring toner *confused*

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To the OP -- this isn't news. We know that some chapters of some organizations still haze. I would advise against saying "ALL THE FRATERNITIES HAZE," though, as you only had experience with one.

Read through the Risk Management thread.

Ummm, so about that... *backs out of thread*

Let me see if I have this straight...your fraternity hazes, and you think this is awesome. Is there a question in there somewhere?

*gasp* Don't judge me!

Ok I'm calling Troll here LOL

Looks like my old block when I was young in NYC before I moved to Jersey ...guy might be a realtive... Tio tico?

That was my response as well. I would dispute that it is more prevalent in the South or Texas. But whatever. The checked for wires thing was pretty funny.

I can agree that hazing exists widely throughout the the South but not necessarily in the most severe forms. For example, I can say that most of the chapters on my campus haze in some form or another, having pledged one group and knowing several guys in the other chapters.

Just because it exists in one region doesn't mean that it isn't a problem or even as bad of a problem elsewhere. It would be interesting to see a study comparing statistics of chapters closed in the Southeast to other regions for hazing.

I would also dispute that.

People go based on personal experiences, what they see (and how they interpret it), and/or word of mouth (pillow talk and loose lips sink ships). Those don't mean much at the aggregate-level.

I like, "the plural of anecdote is not data," myself.

For the record, if this was a designed study on hazing, singular and plural anecdotes could be used as qualitative and quantitative data. That doesn't mean that what is found at the individual-level can instantly be aggregated and generalized, which is what I was saying. :)

Stop killing one of my favorite lines with your contrasting and your specificity! There is no place for that here.

My bad. :)

ETA: I never understood why some people liked that supposed quote. A Google search reminded me of why I never understood why some liked that supposed quote. LOL.

Eh, it's a quick way to shut down the "Buuuuuuuuuut in MYYYYYY experience..." where they continue to point out an extreme exception that though it did occur doesn't represent reality, or statistical probability. Sure, it can happen but it's an outlier even if it were part of qualitative narrative data. You can't just take things you've seen an extrapolate them to the whole. Or, you can, but you shouldn't expect valid results.

But you know that. I just like it because it's laconic.

Yes, I know that. :)

However, "the plural of anecdote" isn't the same thing as saying "buuuuuut in myyyy experience." The real issue is not whether singular or plural experiences are data (they can be) but whether they are generalizeable (singular are not).

I'm more amused that people were debating over who said the original quote, what the original quote was (i.e. the claim that it really is "the plural of anecdote is data"), and yada yada yada.

This made me chuckle:
http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/04/...l-of-anecdote/

*back to eating my pineapple Chobani*

The South is a very big and, popular imagery to the contrary notwithstanding, diverse area. Unless you're familiar with Greek life -- in all its manifestations, not just NIC -- throughout the South, you're better off doing what others have suggested and speaking just to your personal experience without assuming it applies throughout an entire region.

I'm not assuming that every greek chapter in the South hazes, but rather saying that hazing is spread across the region and exists in different forms. It's the same thing someone could say about the United States as a whole, but I'm not claiming that because I don't know may people east of Arkansas, or north of Kentucky and Carolina.


Having friends in different organizations in schools in almost every southern state, has given me that perspective. I'm not claiming omniscience here, just stating what I have observed in the past four years of being in school and around greek life, particulary IFC and NPC orgs, in the South and not just on my campus.

You said it is spread "widely" across the region. Others challenged you on that, and I think your "widely" is an overgeneralization that implies "pretty much everywhere."

Moreover, why was this thread created and why is it titled "the truth about pledgeship."