Miss America 2015

[1964Alum]

Hazing is completely foreign to me. I certainly never saw nor experienced anything that could even remotely be construed as hazing in Chi Omega. The only thing I ever heard from any of the other NPC sororities on campus that raised some eyebrows in my pledge class was the actives of some of the other groups going through the closets of pledges and telling them what they could and could not wear. We never had any of that as we assumed that anyone we pledged already knew how to dress :-).

That a Miss America had had her pin jerked is troubling to me. Having a pin jerked by Chi Omega is a VERY serious matter. And not appearing at her Standards hearing is also disturbing. She certainly took herself out of the comity of her sisterhood and thumbed her nose at its standards. And not as a young 18 year old. Most of us here were once Seniors looking forward to the next chapters in our lives and making preparations for same. I cannot think of a single woman throwing her sisterhood under the bus.

This Miss America is not a good example for young girls, nor for Greeks.

I will have to see how she handles this. It *could* be constructive, but IMO not as long as she remains in denial about the seriousness of her behavior which resulted her sorority jerking her pin.

[Alpha O]

This is the Good Morning America Interview, if anyone hasn't seen it yet: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/kira...tions-25694983

This is the description of the video ABC has up:

Kira Kazantsev says she participated in the sorority's culture of hazing, but accusations of abuse are groundless.

And this is a transcript:

In your experience, what happened at Hofstra university?
These allegations are not true. I'm incredibly hurt that someone has said these things.
Under the broad definition of hazing, yes, I was involved with some of those activities while I was at Hofstra. I came in as an impressionable freshman. And I was hazed.
And that was the culture and brought up through the organization thinking that was appropriate. I'm two years removed, I understand that's not true.

What did it include?
It included something like you would stand in a line and recite information. Or a few sleepless nights crafting. Things that -- that were like menial tasks.
And you were told that if you could learn the information and participate in the traditional things you would be a member of the sorority.

Why did your sorority, alpha phi have you leave in April of 2013 after an investigation?
I was asked by a new member educator when I was a senior to reach out to the alumni base to have an event of sorts.
And in the e-mail I basically made a joke that was taken out of context and forwarded to the national office.

What was the joke that you made in that e-mail?
That we would make the evening scary for the pledges. When that event never came to fruition. None of those things that I have been accused of never happened or were intended to happen.

So of the accusations, which are the most inflammatory? Which ones 100% do you know that never happened?
All I can do is sit here and be honest. Yes, I was involved under the broad definition of hazing at some point. But never, ever in a million years what this is claiming to hold.

Will you make hazing part of your platform now? Will you include that in your anti-female violence campaign?
Well, I think now that, obviously, this is all -- this is all out in the open and I think it's very important for me to address it. I'm going to take this negative and turn it into a positive.

One last question.I know my 9-year-old watched with wide eyes, what would you say to young girls who look up to you as miss America? What would you say to them about this?
I would tell them it's okay to make mistakes. You know, that's life.

I know this isn't the worst sort of hazing or abuse that any of us can think of, but it's definitely being minimized. Just from what she said here, I think this hazing was abusive. This isn't something like the new members having a scavenger hunt which is something that would fall under the broad definition of hazing, but in all likelihood is not actually abusive. I am disappointed that she isn't taking more responsibility for her actions.

Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to get more information about this and it doesn't look like Miss America is going to do anything either.