First, scavanger hunts. We all know what a basic scavanger hunt is. What probably happened is. . .A long time ago a chapter of a sorority somewhere in the US decided to have a scavanger hunt for their (then) pledges. Well, a sister (most likely) made the girls go.. . like they didn't have a choice. One probably had a test the next day and the sisters said that it was something they had to do. Then they probably made them go all over the place and get the items in the scavanger hunt. Maybe some of the items were vulgar or they had to chug a beer at each destination. . .who knows. Well, one of the pledges reported it and today its history. Now no sorority is allowed to do scavanger hunts, at all, because it's considered hazing, no matter how harmless or fun they might be. We also can't call people pledges, we have to call them "new members." We can't hold the names of big sisters, all "new members" have to know who their big sister is when they start their "new membership." We can't have them wear "pledge" pins or ribbons because that is considered hazing. These are all little things that someone has blown out of proportion. Someone probably got in trouble for not wearing their ribbons, and they didn't like it, so they reported that the sisters were hazing them.
Second, I was never hazed. I was never made to do anything I didn't want to do. We had sisterhood activities. That consisted of a lot of different things. Movies, dinners, bonfires, etc. etc. HOWEVER, I'm not going to tell you everything we did. A lot of activities were traditions that had been passed down for ages (and not just rituals). These have been private for almost a century. But I will tell you that there was never hazing involved in any of these things. I'm sure that you won't tell me every little thing that happened in you fraternity. We have LXA's on my old campus, and I know that they would never tell me everything the do. . .but that doesn't mean that there was hazing involved. I knew a lot of those guys, I even went to one of their banquets, they have a lot of secret stuff that they won't share, but I am not going to assume that hazing was involved.
Third, I believe in tradition. I believe it should be upheld with respect. Our founders did have secret activities and rituals that I believe should stay that way. I also believe that this anti-hazing movement is out of control. I was just thinking about this today. . .If we go the way we are going, we are going to have to give each "new member" a list of our rituals outlining every thing that we do. That way they aren't walking into something that they have no clue what is going to happen to them. That would make our rituals public. What if they decided to drop out? What if they decided to show all their friends. The one thing that we hold highest, our rituals/traditions, would be down the tubes. This is very concievable. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if this were to occur, would you? Who thinks that our rituals should be public?
Mikki
Delta Zeta Alum
Kappa Mu Chapter
Sigma Alpha Iota Alum
Eta Tau Chapter
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