Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldest_Pledge
According to my ACLU "friends", if this is the definition, Beta National has to go after every state, county, store, bar and store that sells alcohol because it "is available" for consumption. My local ACLU would settle for two options:
remove all liquor within 300 miles of a chapater or close all chapters within 300 miles of liquor.
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Just to clear up this and the issue about whether provision of alcohol is hazing,
The reason the logic about chapters providing alcohol does not apply to bars or liquor stores is that there are laws in place to limit access in the latter establishments. You have to be 21 and show proof of ID on demand. A bar or liquor store does have alcohol available, but "access"- let's call it "open access" to be more precise- is not there for anyone under 21.
I think it is important to point this out because it demonstrates just what an enormous risk/liberty anyone over 21 is taking when they personally make alcohol available to those who are not yet 21. By doing so, one is violating some pretty tough laws that are very strictly enforced compared to many other laws which are commonly broken- such as speeding.
Here in Texas, if a clerk at a liquor store does not check ID and sells to someone under 21, the fine can be five figures. I am personally aware of multiple situations where stores were fined $10,000 for a single violation and the clerk was arrested on the spot in sting operations. That is how serious the laws are about providing alcohol to those under the age of 21.
Underage kids drinking alcohol at a chapter house is not hazing. It is only hazing if alcohol consumption is forced- and that derives from the typical hazing law reference to forcing someone to commit an illegal act. Unlike other areas of hazing laws, like line ups or tests, which require that a certain degree of discomfort or inappropriateness (often left to interpretation by prosecutors) accompany the act for charges to be filed- there is no ambiguity about the fact that forcing someone to commit an illegal act in a pledge-active situation is hazing.
But there is still the difficulty of appearances with this. Even if a pledge brought his own alcohol and that can be proven, it is going to be very difficult to convince a jury- or the general public- that someone reached near lethal levels of consumption without being at the very least encouraged to do so.
And that is when the inherent assumption about actives versus pledges kicks in. The average person will reasonably assume that an active will have some degree of influence over a pledge, and the dumber the act in question, the easier it is to assume that there was outside influence by a person in a position of power (ie hazing) involved.
Think of it like the sexual harassment laws. One reason many companies have policies against in-office relationships between people of different ranks is that no matter what the real circumstances- there is an automatic and reasonable presumption that the person in higher authority exerts a certain degree of control over the other person.
And so if a relationship goes bad, the party in a lesser role in the company has pretty solid grounds for a harassment complaint by default if that person ever feels that future promotions etc. are being denied because of how that previous relationship ended.
I think this is exactly why no more kegs or community alcohol in chapter houses was really the first rule to be heavily enforced in recent decades and has become an even bigger deal in the past few years as more comprehensive hazing legislation comes into effect.
That rule gets right to the heart of where fraternities in general have had a serious issue for a long time.
Simply put, the privacy of a chapter house and the age range in active members creates a perfect environment in which to circumvent laws about open access to alcohol by underage persons- laws which society at large have decided are very important. And with good reason. Drinking incidents in and of themselves are problematic, but alcohol is also a very common factor in serious hazing incidents, fires and other major risk management events.
PS- kddani, geekypenguin or any other legal experts- do please chime in here if you see this. I am not an attorney by trade and I hope I am getting this all right.