Another reason to get rid of undergrads
 

You know, there won't be a frat if we don't act soon.

Ex-student at NSU sues frat, member over hazing
By LOU MISSELHORN, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 21, 2002

NORFOLK -- Michlen Robinson has painful memories of fraternity life at Norfolk State University: paddle swats on his backside, double-fisted punches to his chest and a two-week hospital stay for a punctured lung.

In a lawsuit filed this month in Circuit Court, Robinson says he was a hazing victim of Phi Beta Sigma on Sept. 21, 2000. He's suing the national fraternity group and a local chapter member for $500,000.

Criminal charges were never filed, and Robinson left school soon after the alleged assault.

But the incident that September night has left a lasting impression at the school.

The fraternity's national organization, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., booted the local chapteroff campus that December amid reports of hazing.

Then, in November 2001, one of the victims who left NSU and transferred to Towson State University in Maryland filed a police report there. He told police that Sigma members from Norfolk drove to his new school to assault him again.

Since then, four Norfolk State students, including three Sigma members, have been expelled, school officials said.

The Maryland incident may have been payback after the fraternity was removed from campus, said Larry Curtis, NSU vice president for student affairs.

``I've never seen anything like this -- not in my five years here,'' Curtis said.

Robinson's legal complaint marks at least the fourth claim of hazing in three years at South Hampton Roads universities. In each case, someone was hospitalized or died.

Reliable national statistics on hazing incidents are unavailable.


State law classifies hazing as a misdemeanor and requires colleges to expel students who ``cause bodily injury.''

At Norfolk State, fraternities' members must vow in writing that they won't take part in hazing, Curtis said.

Robinson was being initiated into the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity in September 2000. Norfolk State does not allow fraternity houses on campus, though members sometimes live together off campus.

Fraternity members used their hands and wooden paddles to assault Robinson, according to court papers. The lawsuit names the defendants as the fraternity and Curtis Anderson, a former student and group member.

About a dozen pledges were lined up, assaulted and berated for several hours, said Robinson's attorney, John Watts.

Part of the abuse was dished out in ``thunderclaps'' -- two-fisted punches that Robinson believes punctured his lung, Watts said.

Watts agreed to be interviewed on behalf of Robinson. He said his client never told police or university officials of the incident because he was embarrassed.

Anderson was in charge of pledging and is the only individual named in the lawsuit because Robinson didn't know the others' names, Watts said. He no longer attends Norfolk State, according to school officials, and could not be reached for comment.

Although no police report was filed, the parent fraternity learned of the hazing allegations, and by December 2000, the chapter was suspended.

``The list of violations in this undergrad chapter are (too) numerous to mention,'' reads an e-mail, dated Dec. 4, 2000, to Scherod Barnes, 21st Eastern regional director for Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.

The Virginian-Pilot obtained a copy of the correspondence from the school through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The students confirmed they were ``paddled, kicked and punched,'' according to the e-mail. They also were denied study time and sleep and forced to run errands during all hours of the night.


__________________

:( Damn!!! So this is how you go about proving yourself to members of XYZ Fraternity or Sorority to let them know you are "oh so worthy" of their organization. This is ridiculous....kicked!!, punched!!, denied sleep!!! and forced to run errands at all hours of the night!!!. I feel so bad for this guy but he allowed for it to happen to him. They shouldn't have been hazing BUT he shouldn't have stood there and took such harsh ABUSE. If it was too bad for him, he should have dropped line. So now NSU has another lawsuit on their hands, a while back the ladies of DST were in trouble (on their campus) Some were expelled and not allowed to graduate. Oh well. I read on different BGLO's messageboards how "if it's God's will you'll become a XYZ" but is it God's will for you to get beat like a runaway slave just to brag that you are a XYZ. This is the type of stuff that frightens prospectives (like myself) from wanting to join. I understand it's not all sugar and spice to join b/c they do have to weed out the weak but when things like this are made known to the public it makes you wonder what really is going on and did the founders of these organizations intend for this to happen.

i'm not sure that putting a moratorium on undergrad initiations will be the end of hazing or the lawsuits. although i know more members of bglos, who were hazed as undergrads, i know more than a few that were hazed, while pursuing membership through grad chapters. imho, hazing is like trying to get members to stay active. there isn't a panacea for either.

I replyed to this in the Sigma board much more but i just want everyone to know there is alot not told in the paper article that would shed more light on the whole situation.

Let Us Be Leaders
 

My sister Stillwater,

First, let's be clear: hazing is a crime. We are supposed to be the intellectual, moral and civic avant-garde. We are supposed to utilize the past as knowledge ascertained from those before us. We are not supposed to follow "tradition" as an end, in and of itself. Please tell me that you have scientific, or heck - quasi-scientific, evidence that pleging so-called "hard" makes you a better member. No, we pledge hard because we want "respect" and "dap" or whatever the hell it is our value system has placed so much importance on.

It's time to seek a new existence. This is a post-modern world, and we need not be afraid of deconstructing our world and defining a new paradigm. I can assure you, that as long as the conditions of poverty exist, there will always be Sigma, whose cause will speed on.

It is time that we transform Sigma into a purely civic and professional leadership organization. Let us be leaders in a new world, instead of followers of a social construct that will lead to our extinction.

Blueknowledge

Just out of curiousity - I don't know if this was mentioned on another board or not, but BlueKnowledge, did you come through undergrad or grad chapter?

Check the original thread
 

Yes, I pledged so-called “hard.” And yes, I get “respect” and “dap” and all of these other imaginary things we give to each other.

The fact that all BGLOs have to employ an army of lawyers in order to keep us solvent says something about how far we’ve drifted from the founders’ original missions. The fact that we can rationalize violence/hazing says something about us. Today, we hang on to a socially constructed behavioral norm as if God wrote it in the Bible. How many nations have been destroyed and faded from the earth because its members worshipped its so-called interpretation of “tradition”?

Surely if we are going to pay so much value to the founders, then let us return to our original mission. Let us be the avant-garde for African Americans and all others across the globe. Surely, with our “traditions”, what unquestionable stake do we have to the claim of being civic leaders?

Blueknowledge

Re: Let Us Be Leaders
 

hazing is definitely a crime and i am not defending or condoning it, in any way, shape, form or fashion. i also didn't state in my original post that 'pledging so-called "hard" makes one a better member'. as such, i didn't even address the subject. instead, i was merely stating that even if initiation is banned on the undergrad level, hazing can and still continues on the grad level.

I ask of those graduate members on both sides of the dove do you regret pledging? Why or Why not?

In my opinion I think one can be pledged without their lives being put in danger. Since there are things both on the low and high end that are considered hazing, the line between hazing and pledging is blurry. A frat and I the other day had this very same discussion and after making the comment about all of us being one lawsuit away from bankruptcy he said that he thinks that one day although we may never do away with undergrad chapters there may come a day where grad chapter will be in total control of intake on both levels grad and undergrad. I kind of agree with this. What do folks think about above ground pledging being reinstated but with the intake being controlled by graduate chapters? The idea here is that older people may take more into account the consequences of their actions and think before endangering someone's life for the sake of "earning" their letters. Than there would be a mutually agreed upon (by both grad and undergrad) across the board pledge process that still embraces tradition, but void of the brutality and extreme hazing rituals. What are your thoughts on this?

I think you working with something here soror. At one point I would concede to having brothers brought in with a process ran by graduate chapter. My only issue is with chapter identity. There are no graduate brothers in my sponcoring chapter that were members of my undergraduate chapter. How would we instill chapter pride and history. Have you all seen some of the latino greeks and their "process"? We should look at them and the white people.

In terms of maintaining chapter identity, i wouldn't agree with merging the process of both grad and undergrad intake, just that grad controls both processes. You are right frat about alot of grad members not necessarily being from their undergrad chapters school, but perhaps if something like this was instituted than more undergrads would join their sponsoring grad chapter so that they can always have a voice as to how their undergrad chapters intake process goes. I saw in another forum that someone mentioned that there are grad chapters who pledge and pledge hard and they asked why is it that they never have issues with folks suing them....in my opinion if you are a grown man or woman and you go into a grad chapter and choose to be pledged than you definitely want this with your whole heart and won't be quick to sue or go running to the press...imagine how embarrassing it is for to see some 35 year old whimpering about getting paddled. Secondly, again since these are more experienced adults, they would most likely think through their actions before acting on them for the sake of making sure someone is coming in the "right" way.
Grad chapters may decide to pledge their interest but perhaps they aren't extremist about it. Nowhere is it written that you HAVE to put a mans face in front of heater, make him run in zero degree temperature, or beat him within an inch of his life. Folks can be pledged/hazed without endangering their lives. Remember even mental stuff is considered hazing. The spectrum of hazing is so broad that even if there was to be above ground pledging again, alot of the things people would be expected to go through would still be considered hazing. Just not necessarily life threatening. :p

So well put soror.

The processes of Latino greeks is VERY interesting. Please elaborate on what you are talking about.

Hold on to your hats, but Latino greeks namely the latinas of Sigma Lambda Upsilon pledge above ground. Damas as they call them, dress alike, walk in line, uphold what is called social probation, and take part in intense information sessions. By the attention being drawn to who is in fact on line they have to be wearyful of physically endangering the ladies. At various times they also greet other greek organizations, much as we do in probate shows. This is an enlightening experience and one that I feel we would benifit from.