Renouncing Hazing

[KyleMcGuire1983]

Watching that Youtube hazing video (floating around the Greek Life board) inspired me to talk about the renunciation of hazing.

Our more active alumni (some guys from the 1950s and 1980s) have decided to meet with the active chapter to come up with a comprehensive pledge program in order to officially renounce all hazing (it was removed from our culture a couple years ago but left us with a pretty unorganized process) and create new traditions.

It's very positive to hear your most respected alumni say "everybody in this room was hazed and we're not interested in seeing that legacy continued. We believe in what the Founders wanted and will help the active chapter create positive traditions."

If you talk to your alumni I think you'll find the guys who demand ridiculous hell week hazing and alumni hell nights are also the guys who drank their way through college, rarely held offices, and sometimes even became drop outs.

So the next time you think you need a hell week or some kind of discipline line up talk to the elders in your fraternity who were hazed non-stop in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Most of the time you'll find they grew out of the immaturity and would rather see the Chapter survive. If you need to punish jack-ass behavior by pledges remember there are non-hazing ways to curb bad behavior. Just J-board them the way you would an active or you could also depledge.

[Tom Earp]

Primo Post Fellow Greek!

This is the way it should be instead if the "Oh I went through it and so should the new guys".

[Kevin]

This was never really a problem for us. We chartered just 5 years ago. Our HQ policy towards hazing is pretty strong -- so is our chapter's attitude.

We have an extremely active and involved alumni base, so I really couldn't see any hazing occurring outside our notice.