Psychological Hazing
 

I wanted to start a post and get some thoughts on the "softer" side of hazing: all of the psychological things, usually that the sorority side might put across; things are usually pushed under the carpet, but should still not happen:

- Scavenger Hunts
- "Kidnap" Events
- Forced Silence
- Restricting new members from certain areas of the chapter house (areas that do not have anything to do with ritual)
- Intimidation tactics
- Requiring new members to plan an event for the rest of the chapter

Any thoughts.... please share. I know we all have a handle on physical hazing, but the psychological and old "traditions" that die hard.... those are a gray area that we seem to have difficulty putting our arms around.

Thanks!

I have to disagree with the last one definitely, and depending on the spirit it is in, the first two as well. When I was in school each pledge class had to plan the semesterly date party. All the sisters helped us when we needed help with it (food, decorations, dates etc). I WAS NOT hazed in any way by doing this. Now if you don't get any direction from your pledge mom, or are expected to pony up tons of $$$ for an event, that's a different story.

Depending on the spirit, kidnaps, runaways and scavenger hunts can be a blast. I know that some chapters use this as an intimidation thing, but for others it's a fun tradition. I would be reluctant to say these things are always hazing or not hazing.

Some of the things I think definitely are:
-telling pledges how to dress (other than ritual attire)
-telling pledges who they may or may not date
-pressuring pledges to not have contact with their non-sorority friends

but then again, most of the sororities that I've heard of doing this to pledges, impose the same guidelines on their sisters as well....:rolleyes:

Re: Psychological Hazing
 

I disagree with these, but that's only my opinion.

I think kidnap events are bad if people don't want to participate.

This is one of those things that so depends on the intentions behind it. I've been involved with scavenger events in two different sororities... one in my national non-NPC sorority, and one in a local sorority that I was pledging at the time.

With my national non-NPC, both as a pledge and an active (back in the day before this was declared hazing), the scavenger hunts (and kidnappings) were fun. They were done in a light-hearted spirit, and to my recollection, everyone enjoyed it. When we were told we couldn't do it any more, I whined and complained with everyone else.

But then, when I started to pledge a local sorority, one of our first events was a scavenger hunt that was NOT FUN AT ALL. It felt mean, there was definite pressure, and we were definitely being hazed. I ended up depledging, because I figured if we were doing these things in the first weeks of pledging... what would they have us doing later on?

It really gave me a different perspective on the rules that had been placed on us in my national. When those rules came in, like I said, we were really upset. We couldn't understand why we couldn't do something that had been so fun. I still think it's a bummer... but I'd rather have no one be able to do it than have anyone else be subjected to what I was in my local.

I wonder if that made any sense at all.

i think a lot of the reasons these events are banned are not b/c of hazing problems, but accident problems. people tend to get hurt when they are running around doing kidnappings and scavenger hunts. in my chapter the pledge class used to always kidnap the brother that gave them the hardest time. over the last years of its practice, it led to an almost car accidenat, a brother coming close to catching hypothermia, and another leaving the fraternity, b/c he missed an importnat meeting when he was kidnapped. so i that some of the things you mentioned are not really banned b/c of mental durress, but b/c of risk management reasons.

Re: Psychological Hazing
 

Can't speak for other GLOs, but mine specifically bans several of those things as hazing (scavenger hunts, kidnaping, other mind games). From what others have posted, other GLOs also ban them.

However, we DO expect our pledge classes to plan out their own service project. Its part of leadership (planning/organizing) and doing service (service project, duh), which are 2 of our cardinal principles. So that I would NOT consider hazing.

For us, pledges are members in training, and only certain things are bared from them (holding a chapter office, voice/vote in chapter meetings, access to Induction Ritual). But they are able to do other things (coming to chapter meetings, coming to chapter events, participate in inter-chapter fraternity events, participate on chapter committees, etc).

Hope this helps

I disagree with the idea that scavenger hunts and planning events are hazing. I did both as part of my pledge process, but there must be some rules involved. ie- you shouldn't have to steal private property for the scavenger hunts...we were given clues to find out where the sisters were hiding, take a polorid with them, and then they would give us clues to where the next group of girls were. I think that was probably the most fun I had during all of pledging.

I'm not sure how planning events are hazing...sisters have to plan out the events for the pledges, so does this mean that the pledges are hazing the sisters??

I think Kidnapping is a fine line. I've seen some girls get kidnapped, and come back soaked, written on with markers, covered in flour, etc. I think if its done in good taste, and as long as the pledge isn't on the way to somewhere important(ie class, sports practice, studying for a test, etc) then it might be fun.

YOU might not think it's hazing. Your national office probably would have something different to say about that.

Guess who's opinion counts when accusations start flying around?

If you're an officer or know officers that don't know the hazing policy BY HEART they need to. Not knowing it and integrating it into your chapter's programming could spell instant death or bring great hardship to your chapter.

All of those are hazing
 

All of those are hazing, and include varying degrees of risk (physical and mental).

For those that asked why making the pledges (new members or NMs) plan and carry out an event is hazing.... it's hazing by the definition of "making" the NMs DO anything, and it's hazing by the definition of having them do it but not the actives. The emphasis should be placed on having event planning involving actives and NMs. The idea is to involve NMs in the SAME WAY as actives, bringing them into the circle of sisterhood right from the start and NOT isolating them or highlighting them by treating them differently. They should NEVER be treated any differently from actives. The only difference is that they are NEW to the organization and have less knowledge of the organization (its history and its ritual). They should be asked to participate in the same committees that plan philanthropy events, social events, etc. (but not REQUIRED to participate). The only thing that should be different for them is attending meetings to learn the Frat Ed materials. NMs should be allowed to attend regularly scheduled chapter meetings with the actives (assuming some ritual takes place before a meeting, have the NMs stay in a place away from the meeting until ritual is over, then bring them into the chapter meeting so they can become interested and involved in chapter operations.

In the same vein, the other events like scavenger hunts and kidnappings, etc show a difference in how the NMs are being treated, PLUS, those events tend to build strong relationships AMONG the pledge class. This is not necessarily a good thing. Pledge class solidarity tends to cause "cliques" and other organizational weaknesses. Chapters should strive to blend those NMs into the chapter and avoid "pledge class" identity.

"I know we all have a handle on physical hazing, but the psychological and old "traditions" that die hard.... those are a gray area that we seem to have difficulty putting our arms around."

Our chapter didn't haze us in any way - unless you call getting a present every week you are considered a new member psychologically damaging (I sure don't!).

We did have to do a pleadge class fund raiser that all pledge classes have to do. With the money we buy something nice for the chapter room - we bought recruitment pillows to kneal on. I don't really consider it hazing because what we are buying was for EVERYONE, not just the current actives. We did a raffle, and if we had problems selling tickets the already actives would buy like $10 worth from us.

Another thing we did was having to find out big sis's. We all got hats and a puzzle peice and had to find the door with the matching puzzle piece taped to it. When our big sis openned the door she had the same hat on. I don't think that was hazing either seeing as how it was so excited and we were all running up and down the halls laughing trying to find the right door. Once inside we got TONS and TONS of goodies/presents. And again, if you call getting presents hazing - then you're strange.

Hahhaa - I love when people asked me how I was hazed. I give them a disappointed look like - we didn't get hazed, we only got presents every week for 6 weeks. It was like christmas being a new member.

I <3 my chapter!

Re: All of those are hazing
 

Is this your personal opinion, or what your national says? (That question goes to everyone responding to this thread, incidentally)

So in other words, they shouldn't get gifts from their bigs? They shouldn't be recognized on websites or in the school paper as new members? If you are going to say that any differentiated treatment is "hazing" that should apply to everything, not just the things that take effort from the pledges.

I completely disagree. I can't imagine being thrust into a meeting with the whole chapter two days after getting your bid - I would have been overwhelmed sitting with all those people I've just met and being asked to contribute on matters I knew nothing about. And this was with 35 sisters. 200 sisters - that would completely freak me out. The point of a pledge meeting is to educate the pledges about how to run a meeting and let them do it in a smaller group. They will probably feel more able to speak up and voice opinions - whereas if they were thrust into a situation with experienced sisters, it might be very hard for some women to ever get that chance. They should attend a couple sister meetings before they initiate, but their main focus should be the pledge meeting.

Everyone has fits about too much pledge class unity - well, at large schools, the fact of the matter is, most of the pledge class will be the same age and those are the women you will go the whole way through school with. It's just natural that seniors, juniors etc - especially in a very large chapter - will be closer, and I think this natural function gets blamed on things that happen in pledging. I was closest to the seniors in my chapter, and only one of them pledged with me. I don't think rushing someone to form bonds with the entire chapter (and freaking if their pledge class bonds happen to be the strongest) helps the chapter at all.

Re: All of those are hazing
 

"making" a pledge DO somthing is NOT hazing. What is hazing is WHAT the pledge is asked to do and WHY.

Most GLO are very clear what activities are considering hazing. I don't think most have said that just asking the pledge to do anything is hazing.

One statement someone said to me that I always repeat is "Never asked a pledge to do something we won't asked an active".

The purpose of pledging is education, to teach the pledge what we expect of our members. If there are things we expect of our actives (written or otherwise), requiring the pledges to do the same is reasonable. If we expect our actives to wear their insignia, this is why we require the pledges to do the same. If we expect our actives to attend meetings/events, this is why we expect our pledges to do the same.

In my own fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, we have both a Risk Management & Membership Policy which clearly defines what is hazing. We also have our National Pledge Standards. One of the points is a Pledge service project, and it states that the pledges (as a group) should plan, organize, and carry out a significant service project. This is done as part of their training both in the area of leadership and service. So I can not accept that asking our pledges to do this is hazing. Its not. Its part of their training and education as pledges.

Hope this helps

This year, the Junior League sent their provisional class on a Scavenger Hunt. The provisionals have a project every year. It helps train them in committee work, budgeting and delegating.
They are not allowed to vote and must attend separate meetings where they learn the history of the League. I took a test prior to being an active. Sound familiar?

This is such a sad state of affairs when something that had so much potential to be really good, yet due to the stupidity of a few, has been "discarded" (at least on paper). I think the point about accidents is really good too, don't get me wrong. IMO, these activities do help bond a class, but getting punched, branded, sleep deprived, drowned in alcohol or tattooed is insane.

Presents are nice. I thought all sororities go through that the early part of pledgeship. HONEST QUESTION- What are some other ways to building unity if not through tasks and cooperation? How do you get the TRUE leaders to emerge from within the group? All I know is the closest friends I ever made developed because of shared misery, bouts of jubilation and a few high-jinx type situations.

Hazing, the way I grew up defining it, is so different from today.
I would never want my kids to be harmed, but I would hate to think they were the type that would cry foul because they had to stand on a front lawn, act somewhat silly and sing songs to the opposite sex. The position of "pledge trainer" was almost as highly regarded as the president in many orgs. The few "mild" forms of hazing-get me a beer-get me a cigarette- were not scrutinized, but anything outside of that went through the trainer first. It was his/her job to protect the pledges at any and all cost. I guess the trouble is, it was left to an individual's discretion and some indviduals lack good judgement.

For those of you whose GLO's are part of FIPG, scavenger hunts are prohibited - I would assume for safety sake and, therefore, liability.

As far as kidnapping, let me tell you a story. A number of years ago while I was a chapter advisor, the fraternities regularly kidnapped the sorority pledge classes and took them to a party. One night some guys came by the dorm and took our pledges, blindfolded them and drove them off. The girls thought it was a fraternity kidnap. It turned out that it wasn't a fraternity but just a bunch of GDI guys. They took them out in the country and left them to find their way back to campus the best they could. The girls had trusted them because they thought it was part of the tradition. No one was injured but the outcome could have been far different. They could have been injured, raped or killed. At this point, kidnapping on that campus came to an end. Yes, I had a lot to do with that.

Just because it is fun at the moment, don't let that stop you from thinking through the situation and realizing what COULD happen as a result.