Utah PiKA: "My experience with hazing"

[hoosier]

My experience with hazing

Issue date: 11/10/05 Section: Opinion

Editor:
Let me tell you, initiation lasted a week. It was a week of...well, I still can't figure that one out.
One night, we were welcomed by anger and yelling. The actives yelled at us to get up and come out.
We all got up off the floor and climbed over the garbage that was put in there, careful not to knock over the bucket full of urine that was used for our urinal, and headed out.
There were people screaming, telling us we had failed and to get out of their house. Tensions rose and a massive fight broke out. People were flying all over, clothes were torn, blood was spilled-it was sick.
We were quickly ushered upstairs to a room where we were locked in, away from the rage.
I found my way to one of the bathrooms and looked out the window, trying to get a breath of fresh air and make sense of what had happened. Just then, I knew what I had to do.
I climbed out of the second-story window and jumped. Barefoot, in my white shirt and blue jeans ("the uniform of the initiatee"), I ran as fast as I could all the way back to the dorms where I lived.
The reality is, I didn't jump out the window. What I "did" do and what I "wanted" to do were two different things. I wanted to jump out to safety and find help.
What I did was stay and try to get through the hazing and work things out. While I was catching my breath in the bathroom, some people came in bloody, told us how sorry they were and that they hoped we would stay. I tried to see past the hazing and blood. But after initiation, the hazing didn't stop. They treated me like crap going through, and they treated me like crap later. I was subjected to humiliation that affected me, as well as how others perceived me.
It took a while for me to wake up. When I finally did, I walked right out the front door.
Well, those friends I spoke of-they're gone, I have no idea where they went.
Don't make the same mistake I made. Don't think that you have to go through hazing to be a part of something or have friends. I lost my friends before I figured that out.
Some of the best people you will ever meet or things you will be a part of are on or around campus; I know where I found mine, and they are memories for a lifetime. Don't give up on yours.
Aaron Hornok
Senior, Economics
Editor's Note: Aaron Hornok is a former member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.