Hazing is wrong......That's why WE don't do it!!!!!

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by PsiU1833
If a brother's parents were to actually sue for hazing it would be on the chapter not nationals. Also if a chapter were to be lost it really wouldnt cause the whole fraternity to be done with or even that much harm, there is actually talk of closing a number of chapters (does not have to due with hazing just interfraternal politics).

Actually, if you'll browse through the Risk Management forum a little, you'll see that there are plenty of cases where a chapter got in trouble for hazing, and the national organization was sued. In fact, in some cases, when somebody brought up a lawsuit against a fraternity, they sued the individuals involved, the chapter AND the national fraternity. The national HQ is usually the one to get sued, though, because they have far more money than the individual chapters and the people want as much money out of it as they can get. As for the closing of chapters causing national bankruptcy -- it's not simply the closing of the chapter that will do it, it's the lawsuit. According to those who have seen the financial standings of fraternities, it would only take one big succcessful lawsuit against even the biggest fraternities (Sig Ep, Sigma Chi, etc.) to bankrupt them. Most fraternities don't have that much money. One of the smaller groups wouldn't even need a big lawsuit, just a medium size one. When you haze, you're putting your fraternity in danger of being closed down. It's that simple.

It seems to me like SuperSister hit on something, too. You can't be sure how hazing (even the "innocent" kind) is going to affect people. Sure, there are going to be those who thrive with hazing. There are going to be people who would have made great brothers or sisters who leave because they don't want to put up with the hazing. There are going to be those who rebel against it. It seems like this spring's season of "Sorority Life" and "Fraternity Life" would be enough to show you that people react to hazing in different ways, that hazing doesn't always cement pledge classes the way it's supposed to. The people who say that they WANT to be hazed because it builds unity and trust are pretty uncreative, because there are plenty of ways to build unity and trust without hazing, and there are plenty of people for whom hazing would have the exact opposite effect. The only meaning it has is what you put into it.