Hazing. Is it necessary?

[EE-BO]

I have to admit I spent some more time this afternoon reading the specific letter of Texas law as jon linked above, and I failed to notice that the list of specific prohibited acts is preceded by the following note,

"Activities which under certain conditions constitute acts that are dangerous, harmful, or degrading, in violation of subsections 6-303(b) and 11-804(a)(7) of the Institutional Rules on Student Services and Activities include but are not limited to[1]" (emphasis added).

This makes me feel a lot better since until today I was thinking the laundry list of potential acts was an absolute list not subject to context- and also glad I have taken more time to read up on the law. Granted it still leaves a lot to interpretation, but it is nice to know that a lot of what I consider acceptable is, in fact, not strictly illegal- and I would not say not at all in my chapter's case because we did not stretch the limits of the penal code in our standard pledging program.

This only reinforces my position that many aspects of the pledge period should continue on, but if I am going to post like an authority on a subject- I guess I have to admit when I was in error, even if the correction does bolster my argument from a purely legal standpoint (i.e. there is still room to debate the value to a given chapter of certain activities.)

And I should point out that when alcohol is involved and anyone is under 21, the above clause I found is no defense whatsoever...

Thank you Jon for taking the time to post all those links. Glad I finally got around to learning something from them.