The hard part about dealing with hazing is that sororities and fraternities are based on tradition. Hazing is a part of almost every chapter's tradition. It is even harder to change things within a local chapter, because usually the only governing body they have is their alumnae. Sometimes it's the issue of "I went through it, why shouldn't he/she?" or "I earned my letters." It's all a matter of tradion, or a university's definition of hazing. Most schools define it as "any form of mental or physical discomfort", which can encompass things that we wouldn't normally consider hazing.
For example, my chapter used to co-sponsor events known as day-nights. In these events a fraternity and a sorority would swap pledges for the day. We, as pledges would go over to the fraternity house at 6am and cook them breakfast, we would then choose one of them to be our big brother. You would spend the whole day with your big brother. He would commonly take you out to lunch, teach you about his fraternity, and make you do stupid little things like serenade him in the middle of the campus. It was all in fun and games, and you weren't required to do anything you didn't want to. My pledge class did it together because we enjoyed it. The campus found out about them, and considered them to be hazing. Now, atleast for me, I don't think that new members will be able to develop that special bond with a big brother. Obtaining a big brother these days just means asking some fraternity member, at a party, usually while everyone is drunk, to be your big bro.
I do believe that hazing is wrong -- but I think that the definition of hazing is different for everyone.
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