"Branding" is not hazing?

[hoosier]

Saw this on Hermes; it included a few pix.


Fraternities brand despite health, hazing questions

By Robyn Smith


As the metal is pressed against his skin he doesn't cry out in pain. The only sound is a "pssst" as the white-hot branding iron sears his flesh, leaving a 3rd-degree burn. What takes three seconds to inflict lasts a lifetime.

For Alpha Phi Alpha's Jonathan Beverley, an Old Dominion University graduate, the brand shows how much he believes in his fraternity. The large letters on his upper arm dwarf his other body modifications, two tattoos above the brand. Beverley's brand, however, carries other meanings besides the aesthetic.

"Everyone talks about the 'process' of initiation into their organization. For many people, it's different," he said. "However, when someone is branded, a sense of commonality forms like none other. It's almost like a fraternity within a fraternity."

Branding is a popular practice in many historically black and Latino fraternities and some sororities. While some use it as an initiation rite, most brothers and sisters are branded after they become members of their organization and tell their brothers or sisters they want to be branded. It's a decision made by the individual.

"You say you want it, contact the 'hitman' and your brothers, meet somewhere and do it," Beverley said. The "hitman" is the person who performs the branding. There is no ceremony or ritual.

But part of the brotherhood is being branded by another branded brother.

Some celebrities are branded with their fraternity symbols, including football player Emmitt Smith, branded with a sigma and the Rev. Jesse Jackson who sports an omega.

Certain issues arise with the increase in branding practices. Possibility of infection is extremely high. In the late 1990s, two teenage boys decided to brand themselves with scolding hot paperclips. They were brought to the emergency room when their arms swelled up, which doctors believed to be reaction to the burning. It was later discovered the boys were allergic to the chromium plating of the paperclips. Other infections can occur from improper cleaning of the branding iron.

Another problem associated with branding deals with anti-hazing regulations. Most states, including Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, specifically mention branding in its definitions of fraternity and sorority hazing. New York has an extremely broad definition of hazing, which prohibits "any action or situation which recklessly or intentionally endangers mental or physical health."

Dr. Walter Kimbrough, vice president of student affairs at Albany State University in Georgia and an expert on black greek letter organizations, stressed that branding is not involved in "hazing" practices.

Branding is not sanctioned by the governing bodies of any greek letter
council, Kimbrough said.

It is a serious offense, as seen in 1967 when the DKE chapter at Yale University received fines from its campus Interfraternity Council when it discovered the chapter branded 40 new members with the letter delta.

Former chapter president and current U.S. President George W. Bush later told the New York Times that the result was a "cigarette burn" and "there's no scarring mark physically or mentally."

Expert opinions, however, differ greatly from that of the country's commander in chief. Dr. Rebat Halder, professor and chairman of the Howard University Department of Dermatology, said many changes can occur to the brand during the healing process. Such changes include pain, hyper- or hypo-pigmentation, where the skin actually changes color, and itchy or hypersensitive keloids and raised scar tissue that spreads beyond the actual boundaries of the original injury. Surgical options are available to remove the scar, but are costly and painful.

Halder, who joined Howard in 1982, said he's treated about 300 people with brands, mostly men who were fraternally branded in college, but also at least 50 to 75 women, some former gang members.

Many young people who deal with body modification have started experimenting with more extreme modifications, beyond the traditional piercings and tattoos. But finding a tattoo or piercing establishment to perform these body alterations is difficult.

In Syracuse, Scarab Body Art Studio in Armory Square is one of the few shops in Central New York that brand.

According to owner John Joyce, people come in from a fraternity or sorority when the branding doesn't come out right and needs to be fixed.

"I've seen some brands that look like shit," Joyce said. "If it's not deep enough, you don't get the scar you want. We can touch it up, make it better. If it's too deep, there's nothing we can really do for you."

Joyce, however, said he understands why brothers and sisters opt not to get the brand done professionally.

"The mentality behind it is good, the experience is good," he said, "but the finished product may not be how they thought it would be."