Physical hazing is bad, but mental is far worse. You can recover from something like a broken leg or arm without taking all too long, but mental is far worse and can really mess up a person's life. That and just think about the little groups that form... the freshmen have a grudge against the sophomores, who don't like the juniors, who still don't like some of the seniors because they didn't think it was intense enough when they went through.
My hegemon thought hazing was good because it formed brotherhood between the group of new members... the brotherhood we formed was hating him and was very weak beyond that. my pledge class started at 13 and ended up at 4, with 3 returning after summer. the following year was about the same, till we hit bottom and got the big zero, got ourselved educated on the matter, changed around how new member ed works, changed the culture of the chapter, and since then we went 17 of 18 when I was hegemon, then the year after i graduated, another 25 guys. Pretty big change and a whole different outlook throughout the chapter in just a short time. Sure there was rough times, heated arguments on why hazing isn't cool, some of the older guys stopped comming around and got upset because "It's not the chapter I joined" but we started being a stable chapter that has had growing numbers and quality since.
Since the word got out that fraternites at the campus didn't haze, and people finally started realizing that clubs like rugby, lacross and the b-ball team still do haze, and haze hardcore, things suddenly got really good for us in terms of school funding and support.
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