Is Hazing making a comeback?
 

Maybe I am just naive, but I felt like we had made a real dent in the amount of hazing going on in our collegiate chapters. However, lately, I feel like there are more and more incidents of hazing being reported in the media. I'm also hearing more from NPC groups about "paper" pledging. Do you think hazing is coming back, or has there been a low level of hazing continuously that we are just now starting to hear more about with internet access?

This.

Plus I think groups are getting more creative with their hazing. Pushing that line further and further and being sneakier about it rather than doing it almost publicly.

:eek:

wooooooooow

You think it ever went away?

What is this?

I think, if it is an increase in hazing, it could be as a response to the 'everything is hazing!' policies out now. Some chapters could be thinking that if you're going to get your charter pulled for a scavenger hunt, you might as well go the full nine yards.

I will never understand that logic. That's like saying, "Well, if I'm going to be arrested for smoking pot, I might as well smoke some crack."

There has been controversy in the NPHC community about whether or not you "deserve" to be a member of your GLO if you just signed a paper to get initiated rather than having to go through "pledging" (i.e hazing.) If you look around comments on JC about hazing, you will see multiple comments referring to this. I had never previously heard NPC groups complaining of the lack of "pledging" so I was surprised.

Naively...yes! But then again, I previously only had experience with my own chapter that NEVER hazed. I take that back. A small group of initiated sisters did some silly "hazing" one year, they got in so much trouble with the chapter because of it. We had a zero tolerance policy without any input from alumnae. The chapter culture was such that we had completely abandoned any past hazing "traditions."

Just for clarity, pledging and hazing are two different things. Both are forbidden in my fraternity, but they will get you different sanctions.

Then.. what do you classify as "pledging"?

In the NPHC world, those may be two different things, but for the purpose of NPC groups, any "pledging" being discussed by these chapters is essentially hazing. Trust me, they aren't discussing the predetermined New Member education programs of their organizations!;)

Hazing = the crime as defined by local laws
Pledging = pledging

lol

Sorry I can't be more precise than that. :)

I understand that.

If the distinction was made between hazing (as a crime) and organizational membership infractions, then we wouldn't be in the mess we're in with "everything" being considered hazing.

Each organization should have the power to determine their own rules without essentially watering down the meaning of hazing.

I blame Hank Nuwer and them, too.

One of the main problems is that universities don't distinguish between the two. You can get kicked off campus for both, so GLOs don't have the opportunity to handle these things internally.