Help: Examples of Reform After Hazing Charges
 

I am an alumni of a fraternity that has been found guilty of hazing for infractions such as pouring beer on new members and requiring them to wear hoods while moving between initiation stations. The judiciary committed believes that expulsion for 10 years is the only punishment appropriate for any type of hazing no matter the degree. They believe no reform is possible. I hope to contest this believe by compiling examples of fraternities that were able to improve themselves and move past charges of hazing.

Does anyone know of any cases where a fraternity was disciplined for initiation practices and were able to successfully reform their new member programs? If you are a member of such a fraternity, could I use yours as an example? I am sure many cases exist, but I am having difficultly finding specific documentation on them. The newspapers love to publish the cases of fraternities getting in trouble, but not cases where the succeed in improving themselves.

If you prefer not to post such information to the forum, please private message me.

Thank you very much for your help,
Matthew

QFP

Telling us how you hazed your pledges just sounds like you're bragging.

I disagree.

The OP probably felt the need to share the specifics in order to compare and contrast respondents who might have done worse and their penalties.

OP, sorry that I can't provide any specifics. I think most organizations take the stance that active hazers cannot be reformed. Unless there was a way to prove that not everyone in the chapter was actually there, you might be out of luck. Otherwise, you're part of a culture of hazing and therefore a liability to your organization/campus until you're gone.

Ehh, I feel like he could have asked for examples of varying degrees of punishment for different hazing activities if that's the point he was trying to get across. Asking for stories of people being reformed doesn't seem to warrant hazing details.

Not only did you haze, you wasted beer. Epic fail.

Knight Shadow: I gave some specifics such that people could understand the level of severity involved. You are right that the details are not absolutely needed to answer the question, but I wanted to make sure people knew I was interested in all examples of reform, not just ones after extreme cases of hazing that lead to serious injury etc. Sorry if it came off as bragging. That was not my reason and I have absolutely no desire to do that. I am ashamed of the practices my fraternity were caught doing. Thank you for your reply.

Senusret_I: I am mainly interested in hearing about examples of reform because they are very difficult to find online. Newspapers love to write about the actions that a fraternity did to get into trouble and the punishment they received, but an article about a fraternity doing well four years after sanctions is not going to sell papers. Thank you for your reply.

I think that the pouring of beer (or other liquid or food items) onto people is ridiculous. I can't imagine that something like that has any symbolic significance in a formal initiation ritual. I can see something akin to a "baptism" of some sort, but throwing food or beverages on people (and worse) is just degrading. It falls into the "break them down, build them up" mindset.

As for the hoods - that gets a little sketchy. I imagine the purpose is something like sensory deprivation (to heighten the mood and solemnity of the occasion), to prevent initiates from viewing items or their surroundings before they are "revealed" or used, or to shield them from being recognized.

The problem is that sensory deprivation or covering of the face/head can lead to a person getting hurt, embarrassed, scared, etc. So the act may be deemed hazing. If the hoods are part of a formal initiation rite in your organization, something that is unlikely to change, then there is no "reforming".

If I am off the mark, I apologize. That's just what comes to mind.

I don't think that using evidence other groups' ability and success at changing is going to help you.

Were these charges made by your school or your national headquarters? If these are from the school, does your national organization back you? I'll approach this from the standpoint of the school issuing this. Is this the only trouble your group has been in? I have doubts that if the school automatically defaulted to a 10 year suspension you guys didn't have other serious issues in the past.

To answer your question:

'Reforming' the current members is not an option. This will not happen. The culture is already in the members.

In my opinion, the best thing to do is negotiating with the school to leave campus for 4 years, until all current members graduate, and then request to have your national headquarters come in and do recruitment. Also bump up community service and campus involvement.

But in all honesty, the attitude I get from your post is that the things that happened are not a serious hazing issue and the school is overreacting. If this is how you come across to the school, good luck having a future at the campus. If the school doesn't feel like there is cooperation, they will make sure you don't return (One fraternity that was suspended from my campus would have to, literally, kill the Greek Life Advisor and Judicial Affairs Head to get back onto campus now because of how the group is acting post-suspension)

I don't know if this was made clear in this thread, but this chapter is a local fraternity, so there are no nationals to come in and help with recruitment. Just the local/recent alumni.

The current ruling (4 year suspension) also comes with the caveat that the IFC and the Greek Life office will be required to work with the chapter to overhaul its New Member Education program and its Initiation Rituals.

Is the school public or private?

Private

You're kind of at the university's mercy then. One thing to consider would be offering to affiliate with a National. National organizations are attractive to universities because they have internal controls, supervise their groups and have pretty decent liability coverage.

That might not be an option. Some schools purposely keep locals out so they have all the power over the groups and can discipline them whenever/however they want. Grove City is your basic example, along with many religious affiliated schools.

This is so sad. The only ones at fault are you and your fraternity brothers. Not for the hazing, that is a tradition that will continue no matter how hard the universities and schools push for non-hazing laws, but for getting caught and allowing it to be discovered by the school. No offense, but if the worse is they got beer on them and had to wear hoods, and one of them ratted ya'll out, you may have mistakenly given bids to a bunch of sorority girls. Like the others have stated, you are at the mercy of the school. But seriously, this is just pathetic. Any pledge who ever said anything about hazing would be balled, blacklisted, and a social outcast at the school.