Funny Things You've Done to Loosen Up Pledges..
 

What have you done when your pledges are stressed out?

For this pledge class it was pretty stressful for them and we were seeing that they really needed something to cheer them up. Well, the pledgemistress and I decided to collaborate with one of the campus policewomen for some fun :D

We were "arrested" on drug trafficking charges!

We had the police come down to one of the parking lots where we were all going to meet before we took the girls out on activity. Well, the cop got there and put her lights on, put the spot light on us and then parked beside of us. (By the way, this was around 9:15-9:30 at night) The cop came out of her car and called for me and "C", well, she then put us back in the cruiser. she then went over to our girls (some actives did not know we were doing this..hehe) and made all our pledges get in a line while shining her light on them. She then informed everyone that "c" and I was being arrested for drug trafficking charges and that they and all of our vehicles were going to be searched! Well, I'm surprised they couldn't hear us laughing in the cruiser because dag on, everybody outside was white as a sheet!! They we're scared to death! :D Then the cop couldn't help it any longer and was like, "Gotcha!" and we ran out of the cruiser, oh man..we were laughing pretty hard. After everyone got over at being upset at us, they all thought it was pretty funny :D

Stressed?
 

Really, this is on the edge of some definitions of hazing.

I heard that the Sig Eps at FL took their pledges to a nearby quarry, and two officers, wearing robes, demonstrated their faith by diving into the quarry. They were busted for hazing, even tho no pledge did anything but watch.

If you're a loocal, I guess you make your own rules and definitions, so good luck.

THAT'S MY LIL AND MY LIL LIL!!!!!! Way to go girls! Only wish I could have been there to see that!:D :D :D

As a new member I was never stressed out. In the years I was a collegian I've never seen any of our new member classes stressed out. Now as an alumna, I expect the same treatment of the new members by our current collegians.

I guess my experiences were just different than yours.

Ok I just must be old here, but am I the only one who was aghast at this??? Totally hazing! Shocking and scaring the crap out of your pledges to loosen them up???????? If you would have done that to me, I would have passed out, hit my head, been rushed the hospital AFTER I wet myself! When I came to, I would have run the other way. Who needs that kind of adrenlin shock?!

Loosen up your stressed pledges with an evening out, a visit from a massage therapist to learn relaxation massages, encouraging notes and inspirational gifts, downtime without over programming, movie night with snacks, ANYTHING that won't get their pulse out of control!!

Yeah see, I'd definitely shit my pants.

Considering the activity was conducted in the presence of campus police, then clearly they were violating no rules of the campus.

LOL! Well it was campus police...ummm...

I'm surprised the campus police went along with this at all! Our campus police were really, really strict and even went overboard most of the time. Students always said it was because most of them couldn't hack it in the LAPD and were bitter.

Me personally? I would have depledged if someone pulled a stunt like that on me. I don't think its funny to tell someone that their friends are being arrested for drug trafficking, and that they and their cars will be searched too.

But that's just me.

I certainly wouldnt have de-pledged for that....woulda thought it was more funny than anything. kinda "Punk'd" haha

k good... i am glad i am not the only one who though the prank was a bad idea.

I don't remember any of my pledge class or the subsequent classes being stressed, but we did get an awful lot of presents, so that may have made a difference! A window decal one week, a picture frame the next, a plastic cup with turtles on it the week after...man, it was great. :)

This was a hazing incident. The university police are just as responsible as the initiated sisters for hazing of the new members, and it should be reported to the university director of campus life.

Even if you are not an NPC, local Greek groups are also accountable for hazing activities.

Just as a reminder for everyone who can't see the big honking letters in Kayla's sig :rolleyes: this is not an NPC or IFC group or under FIPG, so the hazing rules espoused by those groups DO NOT APPLY.

As Senusret said, if it was conducted in the presence of the campus police, obviously it did not violate campus rules. I'm not sure who it would be "reported" to.

Great stuff! Anyone who says this was wrong should remove the stick from their a$$

Check the Law
 

Georgia law says
§ 16-5-61. Hazing


(a) As used in this Code section, the term:

(1) "Haze" means to subject a student to an activity which endangers or is likely to endanger the physical health of a student, regardless of a student's willingness to participate in such activity.

(2) "School" means any school, college, or university in this state.

(3) "School organization" means any club, society, fraternity, sorority, or a group living together which has students as its principal members.

(4) "Student" means any person enrolled in a school in this state.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to haze any student in connection with or as a condition or precondition of gaining acceptance, membership, office, or other status in a school organization.

(c) Any person who violates this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.


So....any organization better check out their own state's laws to see if it is a serious offense. IT IS IN GEORGIA AND YOU WOULD HAVE A CRIMINAL HISTORY.

Well I know at VSU the campus police were the only ones that could handle stuff that went on at the houses. The local police would not and have refused to respond. If her campus is the same way the campus cops wouldn't do nothing since they particapated.

When ANY fraternity or sorority - NPC, IFC, high school, or otherwise, hazes, the ENTIRE SYSTEM SUFFERS. What part of that is so hard to understand?

Re Georgia law says...
 

Whose physical health was endangered?

eta: She's in Ohio but regardless lets assume similar laws. :)

Re: Re Georgia law says...
 

It does say "likely to endanger." What if one of the students had a health problem (as was suggested earlier in this thread)?

Counselling needed?!
 

It would have to be SOME seriously sensitive heart condition or something to place someone in jeopardy like that preciousjeni! Even if that were the case there was a trained (campus) police officer who would have full access to emergency services, be fully trained in first aid and resuscitative techniques etc. Hazing is a real and important problem but if we're suggesting because it might give someone a shock that this was 'reckless endangerment' etc than by that same token taking them to see a movie like 'The Ring' as a fun night out (it certainly made me jump a lot!) would be 'likely to endanger' in the event they had a health problem which could be triggered so easily as that.

I think this would be considered Harrassment Hazing.

It would only be hazing if someone got hurt, and even then maybe not.

Hazing is as much a crime of perception as anything else.

I am going to start giving out the Dean Warner Award for Greek Self Hating soon lol.

In my humble opinion... I think is the real problem with this thread is that a PNM or a GDI, who might not be able to recognize that this sorority is not a NPC or know the difference, will read this. Besides the fact it perpectuates a negative stereotype of greek life.

That is one of the most condescending things I think I have seen someone write! LOL

Up until that staement I thought that you were an intellegent, perceptive person with insightful comments that thought outside the box.

Please tell me within the elements of the law how what she did was hazing?

Wow! Now that was a pretty negative comment about my opinion.

I never said I stated that it was hazing, I just didn't think it was something that I could ever imagine doing to a fellow sister. I don't know if you think that the NPC or non-NPC comment was condescending, but we all know that locals have a lot more freedom (in general) when it comes to what is considered hazing especially after reading some of the things that have been posted by this poster before. My problem was that a post like this could shape negative opinions for a naive high-schooler or a college student thinking of greek life, which I would like to believe goes against what GC tries to be. I would be a little more than scared if something like this happened to me in my initial stages of joining a house when I have barely begun to form ties to the sorority. This is a time when pledges should feel welcomed not vunerable. I just think that there are better ways of bonding or "loosening up" pledges than this that nurture a strong and sisterly bond than scaring the s**t out of people.

Like I stated this is my own opinion and I'm regret if anyone thinks it is rude because I generally like to sit on the fence here on GC.

I'm sorry, James :)

Re: Re Georgia law says...
 

According to the laws in Ohio looks like actionable case of hazing to me.

The Ohio Statute

§ 2307.44. Civil liability for hazing.

Any person who is subjected to hazing, as defined in division (A) of section 2903.31 of the Revised Code, may commence a civil action for injury or damages, including mental and physical pain and suffering, that result from the hazing. The action may be brought against any participants in the hazing, any organization whose local or national directors, trustees, or officers authorized, requested, commanded, or tolerated the hazing, and any local or national director, trustee, or officer of the organization who authorized, requested, commanded, or tolerated the hazing. If the hazing involves students in a primary, secondary, or post-secondary school, university, college, or any other educational institution, an action may also be brought against any administrator, employee, or faculty member of the school, university, college, or other educational institution who knew or reasonably should have known of the hazing and who did not make reasonable attempts to prevent it and against the school, university, college, or other educational institution. If an administrator, employee, or faculty member is found liable in a civil action for hazing, then notwithstanding Chapter 2743. of the Revised Code, the school, university, college, or other educational institution that employed the administrator, employee, or faculty member may also be held liable.

The negligence or consent of the plaintiff or any assumption of the risk by the plaintiff is not a defense to an action brought pursuant to this section. In an action against a school, university, college, or other educational institution, it is an affirmative defense that the school, university, college, or other institution was actively enforcing a policy against hazing at the time the cause of action arose.


§ 2903.31. Hazing.

(A) As used in this section, "hazing" means doing any act or coercing another, including the victim, to do any act of initiation into any student or other organization that causes or creates a substantial risk of causing mental or physical harm to any person.

(B) (1) No person shall recklessly participate in the hazing of another.

(2) No administrator, employee, or faculty member of any primary, secondary, or post-secondary school or of any other educational institution, public or private, shall recklessly permit the hazing of any person.

(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of hazing, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.

Thank you PM Mama, this was exactly what I was trying to stress.

from stophazing.org
 

Myth: It's difficult to determine whether or not a certain activity is hazing--it's such a gray area sometimes.

Fact: It's not difficult to decide if an activity is hazing if you use common sense and ask yourself the following questions:

Make the following inquiries of each activity to determine whether or not it is hazing.

1) Is alcohol involved?

2) Will active/current members of the group refuse to participate with the new
members and do exactly what they're being asked to do?

3) Does the activity risk emotional or physical abuse?

4) Is there risk of injury or a question of safety?

5) Do you have any reservation describing the activity to your parents, to a professor or University official?

6) Would you object to the activity being photographed for the school newspaper or filmed by the local TV news crew?

If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," the activity is probably hazing.

Adapted from Death By Hazing Sigma Alpha Epsilon. 1988.

Well why should you even need to "loosen up" your pledges??! Our pledge period is fun, and the girls love it. The only thing they get stressed about is the membership exam (a national requirement). All the other stuff we do is fun.

I can't even believe you would even CONSIDER doing that to your pledges. Scaring the crap out of girls you call sisters, and then laughing in their faces, doesn't sound very sisterly to me. :rolleyes:

I'm just glad when I pledged SAI that my sisters respected me a little more than that.

I'm trying to make one little point here, but I think it may need a bit of explanation. My main problem with that situation is that these girls had no choice as to whether they were involved in that situation.

In many situations that have been specifically identified as hazing, and many situations that are debatable (such as this one, obviously) there is still an element of free will that these girls didn't really have. Using the most common example, let's say a pledge is told to drink excess amounts of alcohol. Or screamed at by a pledgemaster type person. In these situations, those pledges could have presumably chosen to leave the organization then and there. I'm not saying that makes it ok for the organization to do, and I definitely think in many cases the pledges could be so psychologically and/or physically worn down that their thought process isn't what it would need to be to make a rational decision. But anyway, there's still an element of choosing to participate.

The girls in this example, however, did not ask or expect for that to happen to them. They didn't have a choice, and I'm sure that (most of them at least) didn't feel they had many options to get out of the situation. I personally would have pissed my pants and been absolutely furious that anyone would subject me to that- but I'm kinda sensitive and so I can see how someone else could get a laugh out of it.

So in some ways I guess, I feel like this is definitely an issue of hazing because it crosses a line that many other verified hazing incidents have not even crossed. I can see how a legal definition might exclude it (although I think it could qualify as causing mental pain), but I think that's something to consider.

i don't think what she did was wrong- considering that it was in the precence of the campus police... i think that it might of been a little overboard- but i know people that have done things a lot worse and they were hazing.... i think her joke was in fun...

we've loosened up pledges by just taking them to one of our houses or the house and watched movies- hung out- gone out and gotten stuff to eat with a big group of us- we had our 75th birthdya party in october and all of us were freaking out b/c like 500 alumni were there- after it was over we all went to my best friends house- climbed into any available beds and couches and passed out for a good 3 hours- that was some good therapy and then we got ice cream and junk food and pigged out- the pledges weren't just pledges- they were becoming sisters- that was a great afternoon:)

So these people got mental suffering? How does the law detail what mental suffering is? Tons of people on Judge Judy always sue for suffering; none win.

-Rudey

Whether it's hazing or not (who really knows with some many rules nowadays) I think it's a bad way to de-stress your pledges.
How does scaring the crap out of your pledges loosen them up? If anything they were probably more tense aftwards and will ontinue to be tense because they don't know if and when you're going to pull another practical joke on them.

There have been a lot of good suggestions given in this thread for relaxation. I suggest that you use one of them instead of pulling practical jokes on your pledges.

Regardless of our opinions of hazing laws, the fact stands that this is hazing according to the rules. It doesn't matter if the group is not affiliated with a national group since hazing laws are enforced everywhere (including workplaces, high schools, etc.) This really is just the thing a university needs to see to finally get rid of Greeks altogether. And if you think it hasn't happened in the past, you're living in Never Never Land!

It was a prank not an organized function, and you are talking in might-have-beens versus what actually happened.

The way that prank was set up and with the harmless results, its not going to incur a hazing charge.

Even its intent was not hazing.

Now if someone had stroked out, everyone would have been sued.

But let me assure you, you could be having a sleep over and if someone strokes out, law suits are going to rumble. Mostly because of the knee jerk attitudes and law-suit happy people on this thread.

Not everything that happens in the world requires litigiation. Despite what lawyers and wanna be lawyers (eeew thats even worse than a rat, a wanna be rat) tell us.