Campus Policies

[Kevin]

How many of your schools have their own hazing policies which they force on Greek organizations? I received an email copied to all fraternity advisors of a proposed hazing policy for my undergrad chapter.

Here's an excerpt:

Section VI. H. (Initiation of New Members)

1. Initiations for social organizations shall be held regularly. The time and place of initiations must be scheduled. Special initiations may be held with the consent of the Director of Campus Life. Plans for initiations must be approved by the Director of Campus Life.

2. The advisor of an organization must be present throughout the entire initiation ceremony conducted by the club. He or she must approve both the quarters in which the initiation is to be conducted and the method of conducting it. He or she shall be responsible for ensuring that no student being initiated shall be subjected to treatment which is undignified, physically hazardous or in violation with the UCO Code of Student Conduct. Initiations shall be conducted in such a manner as not to interfere in any way with class work or the academic mission of the University of Central Oklahoma.

3. All greek organization advisors (on and off), persons desiring to rush or join a greek organization, and all currently active greek organization members, who wish to participate in rush activities, must attend the Greek 101 workshop prior to the initiation of new members.

4. Each organization that seeks to rush / initiate new members into their organization must submit a copy of their national organization’s most current hazing policy to the Greek Life office at least one (1) week prior to the commencement of their rush / initiate activities.

Section VI. I. (Anti-hazing policy)

Hazing is an act which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student, which may degrade any person or lead to the destruction or removal of public or private property, for the purpose of initiation, admission into, affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in, a group or organization. Examples of hazing, which are prohibited include, but are not limited to the following: Any form of paddling (or swats), unauthorized / unapproved scavenger hunts or treasure hunts, unauthorized / unapproved road trips, shoving, hitting, kicking, and tackling.

In addition, any requiring / encouraging / coercing a pledge / new member / initiate to commence, participate, or complete any of the following is prohibited:

1. endure harassment, yelling, or threats from older members and alumni members,

2. live in another residence for an unspecified or specified time period

3. simulate or have actual sexual activities

4. any performance of physical tasks to a standard set by older and / or alumni members

5. performance of personal favors or errands for another

6. acquisition, keeping, and / or studying of materials or items unrelated to organization

7. intimidation, harassment, or degrading of others

8. electric shocks, static shocks, psychological shocks, beatings, extensive physical workouts for the sake of membership

9. restrictions from hygiene care

10. partial or full nudity

11. public or private greetings to older and / or alumni members

12. shaving of any body parts (i.e. head, chest, arms, legs, etc.)

13. kidnappings

14. pranks of any nature, such as stealing or acquiring personal property from an individual, organization, or business

15. payment of fees not required by the University or the organization’s headquarters

16. performance of any stunts or dares

17. restriction from family members, friends, or any non-members

18. involvement with any activities that interfere with one’s class or work times

19. wake up or reminder calls

20. any form of skin mutilation (i.e. tattoos, brands, cuts, etc.)

21. any methods of “line-ups” (by height, weight, birth date, color, etc.)

22. throwing objects at another person or animal

23. formation marches, skips, walks, or runs

24. creation of an atmosphere that leads, implies, or hints that a dangerous activity is required

25. wearing of atypical, costumes, or appropriate clothing that would not normally be considered decent and in good taste

26. unapproved and unsupervised blindfolded activities

27. violations of University, local, state, or federal policies or laws

28. activities that older members are not willing to help or do themselves

29. forcing or requiring a pledge / new member / initiate to get signatures from initiated members or others

30. intentional isolation of a pledge / new member / initiate

31. hinderance from appropriate time to fulfill academic and / or scholarship responsibilities

32. restriction of any body movements

33. touching or using any other sense to come in contact with any unpleasant substance

34. restriction from entering / exciting / viewing certain parts of the University or organizational facilities

35. restriction from all or certain types of food

36. pre and / or post-intake hazing

In an effort to clarify the meaning of hazing for our students, faculty, and staff, the aforementioned list was provided as examples to aid in the understanding of the hazing definition. The aforementioned list is not meant to be exhaustive, but a representative list of illustrations. Other forms of hazing may be violations of this policy. If there is any uncertainty about whether a certain activity would be considered hazing or not, the please conduct the ALPHA U Test by asking the following questions:

A: Does this activity deny me ACCESS to anyone or anything to which I have a right?

L: Is this activity ILLEGAL?

P: Am I being PRESSURED to participate in this activity against my will?

H: Is this activity mentally, emotionally, or physically HARMFUL?

A: Am I ASHAMED to do this activity in front of my parents and/or my future employer?

U: Is this activity UNRELATED to the organization’s stated mission and purpose?

If a pledge / new member / initiate can answers, “yes” to either one (1) of the aforementioned questions, then the activity is most likely hazing. Hazing that occurs on or off the University or group’s premises may be addressed by the University. For further clarification, please contact either of the following offices:

* Office of Student Conduct, Lillard Administration Building, 211 (405) 974-2361 or
* Greek Life Office, Nigh University Center, 115, (405) 974-2580



Excerpts from the State of Oklahoma Law Against Hazing:

A. No student organization or any person associated with any organization sanctioned or authorized by the governing board of any public or private school or institution of higher education in this state shall engage or participate in hazing.

B. Any hazing activity described in subsection F of this section upon which the initiation or admission into or affiliation with an organization sanctioned or authorized by a public or private school or by any institution of higher education in this state is directly or indirectly conditioned shall be presumed to be a forced activity, even if the student willingly participates in such activity.

C. A copy of the policy or the rules and regulations of the public or private school or institution of higher education which prohibits hazing shall be given to each student enrolled in the school or institution and shall be deemed to be part of the bylaws of all organizations operating at the public school or the institution of higher education.

D. Any organization sanctioned or authorized by the governing board of a public or private school or of an institution of higher education in this state which violates subsection A of this section, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be punishable by a fine of not more than One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00) and the forfeit for a period of not less than one (1) year all of the rights and privileges of being an organization organized or operating at the public or private school or at the institution of higher education.

E. Any individual convicted of violating the provisions of subsection A of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be punishable by imprisonment for not to exceed ninety (90) days in the county jail, or by the imposition of a fine not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by both such imprisonment and fine.

F. For purposes of this section:

a) "Hazing" means an activity which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental health or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with any organization operating subject to the sanction of the public or private school or of any institution of higher education in this state;

b) "Endanger the physical health" shall include but not be limited to any brutality of a physical nature, such as whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the elements, forced / encouraged / coerced consumption of any food, liquid, alcoholic beverage or intoxicating liquor as defined in Section 506 of Title 37 of the Oklahoma Statutes, non-intoxicating beverage as defined in Section 163.2 of Title 37 of the Oklahoma Statutes, drug, controlled dangerous substance, or other substance, or any other forced / encouraged / coerced physical activity which could adversely affect the physical health or safety of the individual; and "Endanger the mental health" shall include any activity, except those activities authorized by law, which would subject the individual to extreme mental stress, such as prolonged sleep deprivation, forced / encouraged / coerced prolonged exclusion from social contact, forced / encouraged / coerced conduct which could result in extreme embarrassment, or any other forced / encouraged / coerced activity which could adversely affect the mental health or dignity of the individual.

Reporting Hazing Activity:

The entire University community shares the challenge and responsibility of reporting hazing activity. Apathy and / or consent in the presence of hazing are not neutral acts; they shall be considered violations of this policy. If you are aware of or reluctantly participating in any form of hazing, then please contact one (1) of the following offices to report the matter(s):

I personally find this to be an egregious example of the University attempting to micromanage my chapter's affairs. We don't haze, and we never have. However, there are provisions in here which would hit us financially. For example, we charge a signing fee which would no longer be allowed, nor would pledge dues be allowed under Item #15 (and from what I can tell, ALL dues might be forbidden, it's very poorly written). Another item restricts live-in requirements. Strangely, the university requires all first year students to live on-campus, but they won't allow Greek Life organizations to have the same right?

Also, #6 really perplexes me. It seems to forbid test banks and other study aids. It's as if the university expects organizations not to allow members to work together for mutual academic success? What end does this serve?

I've written our main liason urging him to reject the entire plan, and to raise hell with the adminstration, something which he had begun before he even copied the email to me for my thoughts.

Have any of your chapters had similar plans proposed to them? If so, how did you deal with them? Such a laundry list of rules is so oppressive that in all likelihood, it'll be ignored, just as the rules of the past have been. If the school did actually decide to enforce some of the rules, you can bet it'd be arbitrary and capricious.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Drolefille]

Just on a quick glance it looks like swimsuit/beach parties or events are out... Partial Nudity! NOOOOOOOooooo

Think of the children!

[tunatartare]

My understanding is that some schools do actually forbid test banks and such. Ones that don't forbid them sometimes look down on them.

[Drolefille]

What are they going to do, raid your house/filing cabinet?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

What are they going to do, raid your house/filing cabinet?

A while back, they tried to get us to agree to make our houses subject to Department of Public Safety. This would have made it so that DPS could have raided our houses at any time for any reason absent notice, a warrant, or anything. They could do things like random liquor checks, etc.

Of course, since our houses are on private property, we didn't consent as consent would have been idiotic.

They do things like this every few years when the Greek Life Coordinator comes back from a convention with a bunch of nutty ideas.

[Contessima]

Though it's probable that they are referring to test closets, the first thing that came to my mind were those rumors about chapters making their new members catalogue /memorize upperclassmen wardrobes.

And can someone explain to me just what the big deal is about getting member signatures?

My SAI chapter started that as a way to help new members learn about the organization. They were supposed to get something like three signatures a week and in order to get one, they had to correctly answer a question about SAIs history as posed by a sister. We all thought it was a great way to help the new members study for the test and have additional interaction with someone besides the New Member Educator.

I know of at least one other chapter that requires signatures just as a way to get to know each sister better. Why is it so bad?

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Contessima

I know of at least one other chapter that requires signatures just as a way to get to know each sister better. Why is it so bad?

It was explained to me that it's because it's a one-sided activity (or can be). The pledge is supposed to learn all kinds of stuff about the active, but the active doesn't learn anything about the pledge.

[tunatartare]

Originally Posted by AXiD670

Sheesh -- in some chapters, this could mean chapter meetings.

Some? Try all.

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

I'd almost focus on the payment of fees one and rally around it with the help of your headquarters folks. It seems to be the easiest to defend.

I agree with AXiD on the living in another residence one too.....

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by ktsnake

I personally find this to be an egregious example of the University attempting to micromanage my chapter's affairs.

I agree. This is over the edge.

Someone(s) had too much time on his/her/its hand(s)

[Drolefille]

See here's the thing, quite a few of them make sense. They're general No-hazing rules. Some of them appear to need rewording, but you can tell the behavior they're targetted at. Only 1 or 2 of that list of 26 rules appear to be seriously troublesome.

The thing I don't like is "special approval for extra initiations"

We often had to have a second, or third!, initiation for NMs who were out of town or ill during initiation. We have to run that by the office? Huh uh.

Of course this is from an NPC standpoint. Your results may vary.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

See here's the thing, quite a few of them make sense. They're general No-hazing rules.

A lot of them make sense, and in some ways it's better to have things spelled out than some of the hazing laws that are so generic they can apply to anything.

This strikes me as a laundry list, though, and as Snake says, a real study in micromanagement.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

A lot of them make sense, and in some ways it's better to have things spelled out than some of the hazing laws that are so generic they can apply to anything.

This strikes me as a laundry list, though, and as Snake says, a real study in micromanagement.

I agree, and it's not necessarily something that the school should be doing. The chapters have policies and there seems to be a state law... that should be enough.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

A lot of them make sense, and in some ways it's better to have things spelled out than some of the hazing laws that are so generic they can apply to anything.

This strikes me as a laundry list, though, and as Snake says, a real study in micromanagement.

And what's more, in five years, some campus bureaucrat is going to want to justify their existance, and add things to that list. At that number, does anyone expect 18-19 year olds to consult the list every time they plan an event or pledge activity?? That's an idiotic expectation.

Every time I think about the laundry list, I think of more problems with it. For example, there is absolutely nothing to differentiate between some of the more innocuous things on the list, like maybe an event for pledges only, and a more egregious offense. They're both on the list, so are the penalties for violating those things the same?

The more I think about it, the more I see a list that looks like it was put together by a bunch of college freshmen and an advisor thinking up all the bad stuff they'd heard about around campus and writing it down. It seems more like the product of a brainstorming session than the product of a serious administrator wanting to better the University and the organizations around it.

[shinerbock]

Those rules do seem ridiculous, but not uncommon. Regarding the signatures, I know of several chapters (if not entire campuses) where this is common policy. I think it is a simple and good system for the pledges to become associated with the brothers. I absolutely abhore when people say it is one sided, which should not be the concern of the university. Should they really be that concerned that pledges may have to spend a semester as less-than-brothers? Simply put, it is how the greek system functions. In the signature systems I'm familiar with, pledges are generally required to go to most if not all of the brothers every week to get their signature. Often they have to get information from the brothers which they will later be tested on. In order to get the signature, the pledge generally has to correctly complete a quizzing of the test material by the brother. I see nothing wrong with this. Even in situations where signatures are exchanged for other things (rides to class, running an errand), is this really hazing? Does anyone feel like less of a person for taking some guy to class? I think there will come a point where the Universities randomly provide new members to fraternities... "Alright KA, heres your 2007 fall class, don't kick anyone out, or we'll get you for hazing and discrimination."