Oklahoma State Alpha Phi Alpha Hazing Charges

[Kevin]

From the Daily Oklahoman:

http://www.newsok.com/article/3022649

Last January, a University of Oklahoma fraternity member was shot and killed at an off-campus fraternity party sponsored by Stillwater's Alpha Phi Alpha chapter.

The national office for the fraternity issued a "cease and desist” order shutting down the Stillwater chapter in light of the investigation, Shutt said.

District Attorney Rob Hudson said as many as six members of the fraternity may be charged, and that several pledges were beaten, according to a police report he received Friday from the Stillwater Police Department.

"When you have a young man hazed to the extent that he's going to have to have plastic surgery, that's crossing the line,” District Attorney Rob Hudson said. "I've been DA for more than a decade — this is the first time we've been presented a charge of this type, hazing involving a fraternity.”

[PhrozenGenius]

Oh shit...not again.

[Kevin]

Is this a duplicate thread? Or are you referring to the propensity of members of some GLOs to beat their pledges until plastic surgery is required to heal the damage?

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Is this a duplicate thread? Or are you referring to the propensity of members of some GLOs to beat their pledges until plastic surgery is required to heal the damage?

My interpretation is, and Phrozen please correct me if I am wrong, is that he is referring to severe hazing incidents in all GLOs. Very honestly, I do not think it is specific to BGLOs beating someone until they needing plastic surgery to heal the damage.

Or he could be responding to the fact that a fraternity member (not identified) was killed. Since I have to register to access the link, I haven't read the whole story. So maybe you could post it here.

In any case, what is your motive for posting this and relegating to just the hazing as opposed to the murder? Again, I can't read the whole article so maybe the relevance is in it?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

In any case, what is your motive for posting this and relegating to just the hazing as opposed to the murder? Again, I can't read the whole article so maybe the relevance is in it?

Honestly, I didn't give it that much thought. It was one of the 'headline' articles in my hometown paper's web edition.

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Honestly, I didn't give it that much thought. It was one of the 'headline' articles in my hometown paper's web edition.

And you know what? Because it is you, I believe that.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

My interpretation is, and Phrozen please correct me if I am wrong, is that he is referring to severe hazing incidents in all GLOs. Very honestly, I do not think it is specific to BGLOs beating someone until they needing plastic surgery to heal the damage.

I'm not reading it about other GLOs, at least not recently, or that I can remember, and for sure, not in my local paper. Yes, there have been alcohol deaths, and there always will be among college kids. Those often have nothing to do with the organization. What's different here is that these beatings were apparently administered when these pledges didn't know some aspect of the fraternity's history. Therefore, it appears that this is part of their new member education program -- something which is inexcusably stupid.

Here's another link where you won't have to register, it's a different article, but the info is basically the same.

http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=121879

Or he could be responding to the fact that a fraternity member (not identified) was killed. Since I have to register to access the link, I haven't read the whole story. So maybe you could post it here.

That wasn't in the article. I wasn't aware that there was a murder related to this.

In any case, what is your motive for posting this and relegating to just the hazing as opposed to the murder? Again, I can't read the whole article so maybe the relevance is in it?

Didn't know about the murder. I'll reanswer the question as to motive -- it was in my local paper, it was one of the more egregious episodes of hazing I've ever heard of, so I posted it. If Alpha Gamma Rho or Farmhouse or Kappa Alpha Order or Sigma Nu had done the same thing, I would have posted the same article. That it's a BGLO to me is completely irrelevant (although I can see how you'd read "members of some GLOs" to mean that I was picking on BGLOs).

[Wolfman]

As dehumanizing and destructive hazing is, to a large extent,in its most characteristic forms, it does seem to manifest itself differently amongst traditionally white and traditionally black Greek-letter organizations. It I hear of a Greek alcohol-related hazing death, I immediately think this is from one of the white groups. If the person dies or is severely injured due to physical beatings,my first thought is that has to do with an NPHC group or,in some cases, another ethnic Greek organization. (It's not that you don't have cases that may be reversed, but it's very rare.)This is stereotyping--yes;but there's more than a grain of truth to this. It's no accident that NIC- (the traditionally white groups,that is, since a majority of traditional BGLFs are members of the NIC also) and NPC-member groups have spent a tremendous amount of time and resources to address alcohol abuse as a risk management issue and a part of the culture of these groups, hence all the special programs to create a different kind of fraternity life with "dry" houses and an emphasis on the ideals of the groups. And from personal experience, anecdotal evidence across organizations and the millions of dollars spent paying settlements from lawsuitsuits stemming from physical hazing, it's safe to say that there is a culture of hazing amongst BGLOs. This is the reason for the hamfisted (and wrong headed!) attempt to address this by banning pledging in the NPHC in the late '80s. And Dr. Ricky Jones, a Nupe, has addressed this from a theoretical anthropological and sociological vantagepoint in his book, Black Haze:Violence, Sacrifice and and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities. My fraternity has had to struggle with this issue mightily because of its machismo reputation and acts perpetrated which have been a source of consternation,embarassment and almost financial calamity. Of late, the Alphas and the Nupes (Kappas) have had a string of major high profile cases of deaths from physical brutality due to hazing. These are not so much anomalies but the extreme manifestation of what charactistically can and does happen in BGLOs. The tacit silence, "winks and nods" and knee-jerk defensiveness to the detractors of BGLOS actually empower these practices as a part of BGLO "culture."

Last year,as chair of a committee of my grad chapter which put on a luncheon, I invited a bruh (Que) to give an inspirational talk. I did so because he is a committed Christian, a research psychiatrist and a good man and Omega brother (bruh). In the talk he spoke about his first real experience of the power of prayer. Ironically,it revolved around a "pre-pledging" incident at the HBCU he was attending as an undergraduate. He went to the Que house on campus, knowing the kinds of things that go on in these "sets." Before he went in he said a fervent, hearfelt prayer for protection. In all that went down that night, nothing happened to him--he wasn't even touched; but another prospective got his jaw broken that evening. He saw this as God's intervention in his behalf. He did go on to pledge and was initiated into Omega throught that chapter. This is not unusual in many places.We have to shine the light on these phenomena and address then head on.Hazing threatens the very existence of all Greeks.

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by Kevin

That wasn't in the article. I wasn't aware that there was a murder related to this.

Did I misread the first sentence in your quote?

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I'm not reading it about other GLOs, at least not recently, or that I can remember, and for sure, not in my local paper. Yes, there have been alcohol deaths, and there always will be among college kids. Those often have nothing to do with the organization.

I thought you would find this interesting:
http://www.campuspeak.com/programs/h...gyofDeaths.doc

[OSUOldGold]

Just to clarify what was previously quoted from the newspaper in Oklahoma. The poster has mistakenly combined two separate and totally unrelated incidents. The murder of the fraternity member from the University of Oklahoma took place in 2006. The tragedy took place at an off-campus party that was NOT sponsered by the fraternity, although many fraternity members, including myself, were in attendance.

The recent hazing incident, unfortunate as it may be, was in no way related to and should the senseless killing of a young man by an individual only because he was denied entrance to the party. The young man that was killed was named Paul Shanor.

[OSUOldGold]

Laak 315....

The "deal" with the Alpha Phi Alpha chapter "down there in Stillwater" is the same as with greater that 90% of greek lettered organizations on campuses across America. First of all, the shooting that happened in 2006 was perpetrated by a criminal in no affilitated with any GLO or school for that matter. That particular incident is more of a testament to crime in this country than the activities of a group of college kids.

As far as the hazing, no one should condone it but it goes on on all campuses and in the majority of GLOs, in some form. These young men just happened to make a mistake and get caried away and subsequently "caught".

[Senusret I]

But who are you?

[jon1856]

4 OSU frat members plead no contest to hazing charge

AP
Posted: 2008-04-11 08:21:35
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - Four Oklahoma State fraternity members accused of beating a pledge last year have pleaded no contest in to a misdemeanor hazing charge as part of a plea deal.

Alpha Phi Alpha members Jason Taylor; Joshua Goree; Mitchel McCowan; and Michael Combs were accused of beating the pledge with paddles and other items.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/4-osu-f...11082109990008

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...A13_spanc18563

[Senusret I]

Not harsh enough.