In Hank Nuwer's book Broken Pledges, he recounts some of the history of hazing, going back to the testimony of General Douglas MacArthur (then Cadet MacArthur) concerning hazing at West Point in 1900. Most experts seem to agree that hazing's origins lie in the military, and after WWII intensified. However, class hazing was a very common practice at many colleges and universities even during the 19th century. It was mostly done by sophomores against freshmen, and could sometimes be quite severe. I remember reading accounts of it at Rice University in Texas in the 1920s, and a story about hazing where 4 freshmen hid in the attic of their boarding house to escape a traditional hazing weekend, only to have the house (privately owned) virtually destroyed by the sophomores trying to reach them! I wish I could remember what school this was at!
Phi Sigma Kappa did away with pledging years ago, switching to an "associate" member program that was a shorter, more watered down version of pledging. This lasted quite a while, and I personally went through it in 1987-88. At Ball State where I attended, my "associate" member class went 13 weeks from bid night to initiation. Back then that was a very short time, since most other chapters didn't initiate for at least another four weeks. One guy from my dorm pledged another chapter at the same time(December) and wasn't initiated until the following September! Then about 1990 Phi Sigma Kappa brought out something new called "The Brotherhood Program", our chapter was made a pilot chapter. The whole program was to run in less than six weeks (preferably four) from bid night to initiation. Back then it was extremely radical. I believe they are modifying it again to be more like Sig Ep's "Balanced Man" program, which seems to be the model for everyone now days.
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