ABC News: HS Hazing Up, Greek Down
 

Warning: This is a VERY long aritcle.


ABCNEWS.com
October 17, 2003

An Unnecessary Evil
Hazing Claiming Younger Victims, Despite 25-Year Fight

By Dean Schabner
ABCNEWS.com

Eileen Stevens didn't know any of the boys allegedly victimized in a high
school football hazing incident this summer, but she still took it personally.

Stevens, of Sayville, N.Y., has spent most of the 25 years since her son,
Chuck Stenzel, died in a sports fraternity hazing fighting to bring an end
to the practice.
Though she has retired from the activist role she took on after Chuck's
death, she couldn't help following the case this summer, in which three
athletes from Mepham High School in Bellmore, N.Y., who were attending a
summer football camp in Preston Park, Pa., allegedly used broom handles,
pine cones and other objects to sodomize younger team members.
"It's disheartening and I'm discouraged," Stevens said of the alleged
incident.
One frigid, snowy night in February 1978, her son, a student at Alfred
University in upstate New York who was joining an athletic fraternity, died
after he was dragged from his bed, locked in the trunk of a car and told to
consume a pint of whisky, a six-pack of beer and a bottle of wine before he
would be let out, then forced to consume more alcohol at a fraternity party.
When he finally passed out, he was dumped on a bed in the frat house and
left. While the party went on, Chuck stopped breathing.
She knew she couldn't bring Chuck back, but she wanted something good to
come out of his death so she devoted the next 22 years to what began as
virtually a one-woman campaign to end hazing. Her activism helped to get
laws passed in 38 states and to convince countless schools, fraternities
and sororities to adopt anti-hazing programs.
But the practice of using physical abuse as an initiation goes on, too
often with damaging or tragic results.
In the case this summer, three boys, ages 15, 16 and 17 at the time of the
incident, face a long list of juvenile court charges, including involuntary
deviate sexual intercourse, kidnapping, aggravated assault, unlawful
restraint and false imprisonment. Prosecutors have asked that they be
allowed to file adult charges against the youths.
Though there are few hard statistics, researchers say there seems to have
been an increase in hazing at the high school level, even as at least in
part thanks to Stevens' efforts the practice has become less common in
college fraternities and sororities.
Hank Nuwer, who has written four books on hazing, tracks hazing cases
around the country and he has recorded an increase in reported cases
involving high school students over the last several years. Though the
Pennsylvania case is horrific, if the allegations are true, there are other
cases Nuwer has recorded that are similar.
And boys or young men are not the only ones involved.
Last spring in a Chicago suburb, high school junior girls were beaten and
pelted with rotten food and other filth by senior girls. Five girls wound
up in the hospital as a result of the abuse.
"We are finding an increase in hazing events among girls and women, and a
lot of the tactics are becoming increasingly brutal," said Richard Sigal, a
professor of sociology at County College of Morris, in Randolph, N.J., who
has studied hazing since Chuck Stenzel's death.
One thing that seems not to have changed since 1978, though, is the
reluctance of people to talk about hazing incidents.
Stevens said she was shocked when she went to Alfred to find out about her
son's death, because almost no one not even two other boys who were
injured in the incident or their families wanted to talk about what had
happened.
In the case involving the Long Island high school athletes, prosecutors
criticized the school's adminstrators and coaches, saying they were not
doing enough to assist in the investigation. Instead of anger at the school
administrators or the coaches, community members at a school meeting last
week praised how the incident has been handled.
Stevens called it a code of silence, and scholars who have spent their
lives studying hazing say some of that is due to the psychology of groups
and some of it, when the hazing involves boys or young men, is because of
attitudes about what it means to be a man.
"There is a lot of pressure on males to be tough, stiff upper lip a lot of
people still believe that," Sigal said. "They want boys to take the pain
and shut up about it. The attitude is what happens on the bus stays on the
bus. You don't tell anybody outside the organization."
Hazing is an extreme form of initiation, which is expected to create a
stronger bond between members. Many of the practices include tests of
trust, such as having initiates blindfolded and having them walk or run on
the orders of other members of the team or group.
Perhaps surprisingly, even the more brutal practices can create a closer
bond, particularly among the new members who go through the experience
together.
Jared Howe told ABCNEWS that he went through hazing when he joined a
fraternity at DePauw University, but once he became an "active," he and
others decided to put an end to things such as "line-ups," in which pledges
were verbally abused and demeaned, he said the spirit in the fraternity
declined.
"Hazing, having to endure trials and tribulations thrown to us by the
active members, showed us that we had to work hard to become a member of
the house," he said.
Nuwer said his research indicates that the bonding that is achieved through
physical or mental abuse can be achieved without putting people at risk.
"All the psychologists I've talked to even all the anti-hazing people I've
talked to assert that there is bonding, but they say there can be rituals
carried out in positive ways that create the same kind of bonding without
victimizing the initiates," he said.
In many cases, the abuse has the effect of driving people out of the group
altogether. "Charles," a man who attended a Midwestern university and asked
that his real name not be used, said that after he underwent a hazing that
included having the fraternity's letters burned into his chest, he
immediately quit the fraternity.
A man who went to a Midwestern engineering school who asked that ABCNEWS
identify him only as "J." said that when he tried to change the hazing
practices at the fraternity where he had gone through an initiation that
included sleep deprivation, verbal abuse and beatings, he was kicked out
and the national organization paid no attention to his allegations.
For some, the bond created by the abuse may be not as strong as the desire
to make sure that someone else goes through the same thing that you went
through.
"For a while it did seem to cause a deep bond of friendship to form between
my linebrothers, but it did not truly last," Dominique Hill said of his
hazing experience. "The only true result of the hazing was that we wanted
to haze someone else and make them feel as we did while we were hazed. It
really has nothing to do with brotherhood/sisterhood, but making sure
someone else is humiliated as you were."
Schools need to demonstrate that they will not tolerate abusive initiation
rites, and encourage positive rituals that psychologists say will promote
the same kind of bonding as the violence and abuse, experts say.
But the programs need to start early.
"I think maybe by high school it's too late," Nuwer said.


Toughness Builds Bond
When Frat Eased Up on Pledges, It Began to Decline

For Jared Howe, abusive hazing created a strong bond with his pledge
brothers. He writes ABCNEWS.com that softening the initiation rites
weakened that bond.

When I was in college at DePauw University, I joined a fraternity and was
subjected to hazing. But hazing can constitute so many things that I think
it's important to list exactly what happened.
We were lined up and yelled at by active members if they thought we did not
do good on a pledge test or were lax in performing our duties (cleaning the
house, conducting interviews with active members, etc.).
There were also a number of "fun" hazing activities, which usually meant
wearing funny clothing to class, or doing some specific task for the actives.
During our subsequent years at the fraternity, as actives we decided to not
subject pledges to "line-ups" and to not yell at them or demean them.
What was interesting is that subsequent pledge classes did not bond as
closely as we did and did not take being a member of the fraternity as
seriously as we did. This lackluster attitude, in part, led to the eventual
decline of our fraternity.
In hindsight, I would have probably allowed the hazing to continue as it
had with us, although I probably would not have taken a direct role in it.
It's a fine line: you want the pledges to go through hardships so they bond
and come together as a group, and only through subjecting them to a certain
amount of strife can they do that. On the other hand, of course you don't
want to subject them to anything that crosses the line between simple
hazing and outright cruelty.
I don't think outlawing all kinds of hazing is the answer to the problem.
Some schools frown on any type of hazing, such as being forced to wear
funny clothes to class, or do work that actives are not also asked to do.
But when I look back at what I had to endure, I don't think of it as bad in
any way.
Were there jerks in the house? Sure. Did they take advantage of hazing to
be a jerk? Sure, but the vast majority of the guys only wanted us to love
the house and respect it like they did.
Hazing, having to endure trials and tribulations thrown to us by the active
members, showed us that we had to work hard to become a member of the
house. It brought us together as a pledge class that even today remains close.
In its purest form, hazing is a ritual of transformation. It's about
enduring hardship and emerging on the other side as a changed person.
Do some people push it too far? Yes. Should there be guidelines and
policies to protect the initiates? Yes. But should it be abolished in all
forms? I don't think so.

A Searing Memory
Initiation Drove Baseball Player From Fraternity, School

A man who attended a Midwestern university who asked to be identified only
as "Charles" wrote to ABCNEWS.com that even as he was going through a
hazing to join a fraternity, he knew he did not want to belong to a group
that would subject initiates to the abuse he was facing.

I joined a fratenity my freshman year of college. Because I was a baseball
player at the university, the active members of the fraternity thought I
was receiving preferential treatment and felt I needed to be taught lessons
in submission, obedience, and respect of "elders."
I was continually harassed emotionally, verbally, and they tried several
times to abuse me physically (beating on me with sticks, their fists, etc.)
Several times members would get drunk and intentionally force themselves to
throw up on my bed, sometimes with me in it.
I was physically able to protect myself for the most part because I was an
athlete and capable of fighting them off in small numbers. Many times there
were too many to fight off.
When I would bring this to anyone's attention the abuse would escalate.
The fact that I did not drink a lot of alcohol also contributed. Many times
they tried to "force" alcohol down my throat by holding me down.
When it became apparent that I would not conform to their practices, the
ridicule became public.
I looked into transferring into the dorms but could not do so until the end
of that first semester.
All of the abuse came to a close during the initiation week (referred to as
"hell week") and subsequent "graduation" to an active in the fraternity.
During this entire week the fraternity appointed an active member to follow
me to all classes. The active members did not want you to wander away from
the frat house during "hell week" except for classes (and baseball practice
in my case).
To further torment the initiates, the actives played the song "I'm Turning
Japanese" by the Vapors 24 hours a day this week, even during the time we
were "allowed" to sleep. Another attempt at brainwashing the initiates I
guess.
Food was little and far between this week and the hazing was a regular
activity.
The last day of this week turned out to be the last straw as far as I was
concerned.
Having been "approved" to be initiated for the fraternity, it was now time
to go through the official process. Most of it was kidstuff, but it was
what happened at the end of the process that proved to be the most
dangerous practice that was inexcusable.
The initiates were required to rent a tuxedo for the initiation day. After
being blindfolded and brought to the first floor of the frat house, I was
told to stand in place facing a certain direction (still blindfolded).
It was then that I heard the faint footsteps of a person running. The steps
got louder and faster.
The last thing I remember was that someone had "tackled" me by running at
me while I was standing stationary and throwing basically a body block into
my chest with their shoulder, dropping me like I was shot.
The wind was knocked out of me and while I was gasping for breath, someone
ripped off my blindfold while two other members ripped off my shirt.
After exposing my chest, one of the actives took a substance from a jar and
proceeded to inscribe the letters of the fraternity on my chest and then
light them on fire (I found out later that the substance was a mixture of
vaseline and lighter fluid).
As soon as it was lit it was extinguished, so there was only a minor burn
of the letters inscribed in my chest.
While this was going on a member was showing me the "secret" handshake of
the fraternity.
It took several minutes to regain complete control of my breathing. As soon
as I did, I was instructed to get back on my feet.
It was then that I realized that this whole situation was witnessed by the
entire frat house membership. I also saw that the person that tackled me
got a running start from about 50 feet away (all the way across the first
level of the fraternity).
This exercise alone could have killed someone from the blow that I received
(no telling how this affected some of the other initiates).
It was after I regained most of my senses that I knew that I would
deactivate the following week. I moved out of the frat house into the dorms
and deactivated.
I continued to see other members of the fraternity throughout the balance
of the year and they all looked at me like I was a castoff.
I even ran into some members several years later and they still would not
speak to me because they could not believe that I would have the "nerve" to
deactivate from their fraternity.
Had I known then what I know now, I would have pursued the matter legally.
I have never told anyone about it. I transferred to a different school and
completed my baseball eligibility at a different university.

Resisting Change
Ex-Frat Member Tossed for Trying to Change Hazing Practice

A man who attended a Midwestern engineering school who asked to be
identified only as "J." wrote to ABCNEWS.com about how he pledged to a
fraternity, and once he became an "active," how he tried to change the
frat's hazing practices.

When I went to get my engineering degree from a university in Missouri, I
opted to join a fraternity to keep from living in the cramped conditions of
the campus dorms.
Initially, I was courted by the campus' greek community in their efforts to
have a varsity scholarship athlete join their respective organizations (18
bids in all to choose from).
In retrospect, I chose poorly. My decision to join one over the other 17
was based solely on the provision of having the biggest rooms on campus and
air conditioning.
Once I had officially pledged and moved into the house, about a week went
by before the weekly (sometimes twice a week) line-ups began. These
line-ups were the fraternity's attempt to unify the pledge class through
abusive language (i.e. calling the pledges niggers and other derogatory
terms which is inappropriate in any case and more so more since there were
no members of African-American descent), physically roughing up the
pledges, chasing them through the house with power tools, etc.
These type of events went on through out the first semester and initiation
would commence at the beginning of the next semester, after the pledge
class returned for I-week (more commonly known as Hell Week).
We as pledges were called back before the winter semester was to begin, 21
of us were locked in a single room, deprived of sleep, pummeled by drunken
actives, pelted with rotting food, slapped, kicked, and then taken off
campus in blindfolds out into a nearby forest for the rest of the
initiation experience.
We were sent one by one to various stations set up around some campfires
where we were hit with handmade paddles, hockey sticks, and logs for the fire.
After we had been run through that event the formal ceremonies began, with
the house having a beer and alcohol celebration waiting back at the house.
Once an active, I was witness to the greater scheme of things and the cycle
of self-destructive behavior of the greek system as a whole. The concept
for hazing was instilled as the mindset, "since it happened to me, it is
going to happen to you."
I had problems with that when I went through it (I endured it considering
that I knew that there are far worse things a human being could go through
in life than what an early-20's something frat guy could come up with and
that I was taught growing up in a military family that you go through the
tough times with the mindset "you can change things for the better once
you're in charge of the operation").
I began to see the other actives for what they were emotionally frail,
interdependent, drug and alcohol abusing followers with only a few real
leaders within the household.
After these epiphanies set in, I set out to change the household for the
better and started breaking up hazing events and disrupting the drug
dealing that one of my fraternity brothers was doing with the forced help
of his freshman pledge roommate.
This went on for about a full school year and then I left campus for a
semester to earn money for my continued education.
When I returned to campus the following fall, I was presented with Charges
of Conduct Unbecoming of a Brother and other violations: for helping the
incoming pledge classes circumvent the efforts of the active house to haze
and harass them.
I was kicked out of the fraternity and my appeal was brushed under the
carpet by the fraternity's national council when I appealed the local
chapter's decision. Since my removal I have had to! keep my eye out for the
any of these former fraternity brothers professionally and personally. They
have a tendency to hold a grudge.