Sleep Deprivation, Smeared Food, Costumes: "Inspiration Week"
 

A student paper has an article in its January 20 '06 issue about "Inspiration Week" activities conducted by one of the fraternities on campus. The report indicates sleep deprivation, costumes, food smeared on pledges, and so on. There are quotes from representatives of at least three other fraternities on campus indicating disapproval of the kinds of activities that are alleged.

The paper is the Daily News. The fraternity is Delta Kappa Epsilon. The school is Yale.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=31368

I'm a little curious about what Connecticut state law says or doesn't say about "hazing."

Edited to add: I found a copy of the law. I don't know whether it would apply to whatever the facts are, or whether it even would be applied to {cough} Yale or Yale students {cough} :

"Hazing" means any action which recklessly or intentionally endangers the health or safety of a person for the purpose of initiation, admission into or affiliation with, or as a condition include, but not limited to: Requiring indecent exposure of the body; Requiring any activity that would subject the person to extreme mental stress, such as sleep deprivation or extended isolation from social contact; Confinement of the person to unreasonably small, unventilated, unsanitary or unlighted areas; Any assault upon the person; or Requiring the ingestion of any substance or any other physical activity which could aversely affect the health or safety of the individual. The term shall not include an action sponsored by an institution of higher education, which required any athletic practice, conditioning, or competition or curricular activity.

"Student Organization" means a fraternity, sorority or any other organization organized or operating at an institution of higher education.
No student organization or member of a student organization shall engage in hazing any member or person pledged to be a member of the organization. The implied or express consent of the victim shall not be a defense in any action brought under this section.
A student organization which violates… this act (1) shall be subject to a fine of not more than one thousand five hundred dollars and (2) shall forfeit for a period of not less than one year all of the rights and privileges of being an organization organized at an institution of higher education.
A member of a student organization who violates… this act shall be subject to a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.
This [Law] shall not in any manner limit or exclude prosecution or punishment of any crime or any civil remedy.

Connecticut Public Act Number 88-328

Umm hello.

This is W's chapter. I don't think they will be disciplined or closed any time soon.

Yeah, that same thought went slithering through the barren wasteland of my mind when I first read the article.

As well as W's daddy.

What she said.

I hope this chapter gets the message, before someone gets hurt or the campus newspaper starts taking pictures of activities outside the house.

This is also the home of Skull and Bones. They are rumored to do much worse "inspirational" acivities.

Man, that's really not too bad of a week.

What a lame tradition, they don't do it very well.

Funny thing is, they banned the branding for them, but why hasn't the black national associations ban branding? I'm pretty sure I see Omega brand all the time.

In the late 1980s, a local fraternity made up mostly of football players was brought up on serious physical hazing charges. The police were involved. Alcohol, sleep deprivation, destruction of private property - you name it. They went before the university judicial board etc. The university president was a member of this local and got the whole case thrown out.

Denise

Could be worse:

Hazing Case Results In Amputation
St Petersburg Times, Russia,_Russia_- Jan 26, 2006
MOSCOW — A 19-year-old Army conscript has been left fighting for his life after a brutal New Year’s hazing that forced doctors to amputate his legs and genitals ...

Seriously.