Chapter Closings/Hazing and Alcohol

[James]

That is a fair response, I was being a little sarcastic but I was also pointing out a lack of emphasis on personal responsibility. Peer pressure only goes so far. Especially when the results are obviously going to be severe.

Also peer presure is not a good defense when it comes to the committment of crimes. If the group egged you on to kill someone and you did, you are facing a world of trouble.

And yet in many hazing incidents there is an element of personal choice that becomes confused in the person's mind with the pressure to get in.

That is why I mentioned confidence and self-esteem. Its unlikely that a very confident person would let that happen to themselves to someone else around them.

I am aware of the realities: most people do not have much confidence or self-esteem; The desire to belong can overpower a lot of people's ability to distinguish between right and wrong, etc etc.

But this will always continue unless we emphasize personal responsibility and give proper models of behavior for unusual situations.

But perhaps people disagree that personal responsibility is important? Or that maybe, some pledges should just say no?

[DeltAlum]

I agree with James in principle.

However, (putting on my old fuddy duddy hat) at college age many, I would dare say most, people have not developed a huge amount of self confidence and maturity. Those things take a long time and a lot of experience to grow. I've lived through it myself and have three children ages 17 to 25 who I'm watching fight all of these same battles, so I have the advantage of hindsight.

Peer pressure is something that many young people find impossible to fight. Groupthink is a fact of life. The people who have enough self esteem and confidence to fight it are fortunate indeed.

That's part of the reason that the Nationals have the unhappy and unwanted job of being the "Hazing and Alcohol Police." It's not a job that anybody wants.

[James]

This is a bit Random Delta Alum but I remember reading a passage in the book Dune where the one of the leaders said the goal of leaders is to maintain the level of the individual, without enough individuals, the group reverts to a mob (group think).

Group think, and even consensus, seems to always drop down to the lowest common denominator.

I have noticed that in dealing with male fraternities that there is a lack of operational integrity.

Usually the leadership manuals aren't very good, the alum officers are not trained nor have access to a lot of leadership resources, and theres no standardization of chapter procedures and operations.

Any leadership consultant would be horrified and not at all surprised at the fact that a lot of chapters go off the deep end.

Also many of the National's take the uneducated approach of listing what a chapter cannot do rather than what they can do. This is despite the literature which over the years bears out that you cannot live your life by only knowing what you don't want. It leaves you with no going towards goals. . .

If I were giving a Risk management seminar, I wouldn't sit there and just go over the manual, we College students are semi-literate its insulting.

But what I would do is give the seminar with a phonebook and before I left there would be a little chapter manual of third party vendors and places, with a contact name, and prices. As well as several different FUN events that require a chapter's resources and diminish liability.

Its moronic to sit there and just drone on and on about non-alcoholic events etc when we know the culture. The trick is to present viable alternatives that are relevant to the chapter and assist them in making plans.

Sometimes we are asking the social chair (which is usually a sophomore level position, which it shouldn't be) who may never even have made a frigging dinner reservation to find, call, and arrange an event with a thirdy party vendor at a location that needs to be contracted. Hello, if you don't hold the person's hand the first couple times it probably won't get done correctly.

Ok temporary ceasation of rant.

[CalThetaPhi536]

I see your points about personal responsibility. Perhaps he should have done more to defend himself, but still i think for the most part when people are pledging its a different mindset than normal. You might be willing to do things you normally wouldnt do and when things spiral out of control it would be harder to protest than from the beginning, but i still feel the most responsibilities lies with the actives. As for peer pressure as a defense, its true it is a poor one, but for the victim? Alone with 2 other pledges against 13 guys, perhaps they should have said no, but if these guys left him unconscious on the floor for half an hour what would have happened had they said no? I can hardly see how the situation would have ended better.

[DeltAlum]

James,

Your last post was one of the better things I've read and, although alumni and officer resources and training vary widely, pretty much true. Your comment about the sophomore social chair is right on.

I really like your phone book idea. Very creative.

Applause, applause.

[James]

Thank you for the positive response.

I will say sororities seem to do it so much better when it comes to chapter operations and leadership resources. So even though I have no way of assessing how good their volunteer officers are, at least they have an effective and written process to fall back on when examining a chapter.

Makes me wonder how men have ruled the western world for the last two thousand years, but I imagine that brute strength helped.

The problem with having a sophomore and in many cases even a junior as social chair is that most of the chapters social calendar will be organized on that younger level. We always hear problems of junior and senior retention and that seems to be part of the issue, they don't feel that a lot of social events are relevant to them. They have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.

You can always get younger members to go to "older" events but the reverse is not always true.

The social chair, should be replaced by an activites officer that should be an exec level position. ITs amazing how many people missed the boat on that one: As is said again and again, we are primarily social organizations and yet we deemphasize the position that determines which events we do as well as the quality of those events.

Its a very underestimated and underappreciated position.

I see no answer to the leadership questions until the National head officers pull their thumbs out of their asses, forget about the rhetoric, and join the 21st century instead of keeping with a 19th century model.

If anyone is reading feel free to email for more information.
And for a fee I'll redesign your leadership manuals.

Disclaimer: I know that a couple nationals are actually taking some steps in this direction. So that should cover for the very few who are actually taking positive action, and for the very many that believe their own rhetoric and think they are rectifying the situation.

[DeltAlum]

From Fraternal News

Los Angeles Times
January 15, 2002

UC Irvine Fraternity Suspended Amid Investigation Into Hazing;
School: Beta Theta Pi is sanctioned by its national headquarters
after a pledge files suit, saying he suffered a grand mal seizure.

JEFF GOTTLIEB, TIMES STAFF WRITER

A UC Irvine fraternity has been suspended by its national
headquarters during an investigation of a pledge's claim that he
suffered a grand mal seizure and was hospitalized after a weekend of
hazing in Big Bear.

UCI, meanwhile, is conducting its own investigation of Beta Theta Pi
in connection with a lawsuit filed Nov. 28 by Jeff Warden, who said
he was forced to exercise in freezing temperatures and had beer
forced down his throat while being subjected to continuous verbal
abuse during the initiation in December 2000.

Diane Kim, the campus director of student judicial affairs, said a
decision on whether to impose a penalty is expected by the end of the
month. Sanctions could include suspending the fraternity for an
extended period of time or making it the first Greek organization to
be banned from UCI. Hazing is a misdemeanor under the state Education
Code and is punishable by fines of $50 to $5,000 or not more than a
year in the county jail. Kim also will decide whether to refer the
matter to police, said Randy Lewis, UCI's associate dean of students.

Beta Theta Pi, which has had a chapter at the school for 26 years,
has a reputation for being the top-ranked academically.

"Basically, we're a bunch of smart guys who are good at sports," said
Edwin Steen, fraternity president. He declined to comment on the
incident, other than to confirm the investigations. The local chapter
has not hired an attorney, he said.

Although hazing is specifically prohibited by UCI, "it's hard to
enforce," said Paul Suhr, president of UCI's Interfraternity Council.

Warden, 20, is a sophomore film studies major from Colorado Springs,
Colo., who wants to be a director. His lawsuit, filed in Orange
County Superior Court, seeks unspecified monetary damages for
assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and
negligent infliction of emotional distress. The suit also names 13
Beta brothers as defendants.

In describing the stay at Big Bear in an interview and in his
lawsuit, Warden tells a tale of 18- and 19-year-old pledges pushed so
hard that they break down in tears and rebel against the fraternity.

Rush was in its final weekend on Dec. 8, 2000, when Warden and two
other pledges drove with about 15 fraternity members and alumni to
Big Bear. Warden said he thought they were going snowboarding.

When the group arrived in Big Bear about midnight, Steen, then the
vice president, told pledges to hand over their cell phones and
valuables for safekeeping. The pledges were offered beer, and Warden
said marijuana was passed around.

He said he didn't smoke, and insisted on having a soft drink. As the
evening went on and Warden still refused to drink beer, fraternity
members chanted his name, "Jeff! Jeff! Jeff!" so loudly that he
couldn't hear himself talk. Finally, two members picked him up and
shoved the keg hose into his mouth.

What followed was a night of the fraternity members imitating drill
sergeants, yelling abuse at the pledges. Pillowcases were placed over
their heads as they were moved from cabins that were as hot as a
sauna to those that were unheated.

When morning came, pledges were handed a cup filled with what Warden
thinks was raw eggs and hot sauce. Next came a main course of
eggs-raw and scrambled, with green food coloring-that pledges were
told to eat without using their hands. One pledge objected, and a
member pushed the youth's face into the plate.

When they finished eating, pledges were ordered to hold Warden by the
legs and the head and use him as a human squeegee to clean the table.

Then he was handed a mop and told to clean the floor. "I dropped the
mop I told them, 'That's not what we're here for.' I was confused and
furious at the same time.'

Warden said another drinking game began, and he was made to do
push-ups. By this time, he said, he was so tired he could barely
finish one. As he lay on the ground, he was forced to join in a
simulated sex act with the two other pledges.

When he got up, Warden said he told the frat members he didn't feel
well, and went outside for a few minutes. Back inside the cabin,
Warden said he felt his field of vision constricting.

"I was coherent, and then I wasn't," Warden said. "I could feel
something happen to me.'

The next thing he remembered he was in leg and arm restraints at Bear
Valley Community Hospital.

He was diagnosed with a grand mal seizure. Warden said he never
experienced one before, and hasn't had one since.

Fraternity members took him from the hospital and dropped him off at
his aunt's house in San Juan Capistrano.

A few days later, Warden's temperature hit 101.5, and he went to UC
Irvine Medical Center in Orange, where he was subjected to tests,
which turned up no abnormalities.

Betas told him not to tell anyone what had happened because the
fraternity would get in trouble, Warden said. They left phone
messages asking him to come to meetings.

But he said he had had enough of the Greek life. He avoided
fraternity members for the rest of the school year.

Last fall, he reported the Big Bear events to a campus ombudsman. "He
said I definitely had a case, and I should get counseling and get a
lawyer, and he'd notify the school.'

Warden said that he hadn't plan to sue. The fraternity had assured
him they would pay the $10,000 in medical bills. But he said they
paid him only $3,000.

"It's kind of sad," Warden said. "My whole view of fraternities has
changed. I thought they stood for brotherhood, friendship and people
you'd know for life.'

[James]

Then he was handed a mop and told to clean the floor. "I dropped the
mop I told them, 'That's not what we're here for.' I was confused and
furious at the same time.'

Well I am glad he drew the line at something they told him to do. I guess he was willing to go along with everything else, but mopping the floor was just too beneath him.

[Optimist Prime]

not to be too skeptical, but if he was that furious, why did he wait for a year?

[DeltAlum]

OP,

I wouldn't be too hard to think that his story might have been embellished just a tad.

James,

No pun intended, I'm sure.

[33girl]

Originally posted by James


Well I am glad he drew the line at something they told him to do. I guess he was willing to go along with everything else, but mopping the floor was just too beneath him.

Yeah James, I agree., bring out the entire barnyard but don't you DARE even show me a mop, bucko. LOL

[James]

Well you know, its just men's deep fear of cleaning . . .

[matthewg]

Originally posted by Tom Earp

Let's get serious, there will be alchol at partys but how is it taken care of?
I rode one weekend with the designated driver to pick up Brothers of legal age who could not drive. !!! This is something that was started 3 years ago and I find it refreshing that someone would stay at the house to do this. It was explained to them, that it was better to have Des. Driver than carry the casket to the ground!
I find nothing wrong with alchol as I was in the Business for 22 years at all levels excet a bar business. The main thing is how it is used and how much. If to the detriment then I say No.
These young people are on their own for the first time and get a lot crazy. The older , maybe a year or 2 must guide them. It is not the first time they ever had the evil spirits as most partied in HS where it was great to get drunk and stupid. They soon learn that they are looked at with a jaundiced eye and will not be around long because
Lets admit folds the reason you go to college is to learn and graduate so you can work the rest of you lives. If not you are flipping burgers or greasing a car or mowing lawns, digging a ditch. Some steam has to be blown off and it is better you are with your Brothers/Sisters who can take care of you or on you own where you may caus a death, yours or someone elses.
The intolerence today has become a rebellion point an I will show them. That is where the problem stems!
As you see i never edit! I say in my heart!

------------------
Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

Tom,
excellent post!!! And my utmost respect for your brothers: what a great idea to have DD's!!
I would like to add that the parents can help, too. I noted that whenever I came across people who acted responsibly around/with alcohol, these people had gotten to know their first drink at home in a relaxed atmosphere.

No rebellion necessary. No need to try out a forbidden fruit.

The craziest example was a friend of mine who just told me that she got drunk the first time at home: her father explicitly wanted to be there when it happend for the first time and she would learn how it is in a safe environment.
While I think that is maybe a bit over the top - she and her father had a point....

[DeltAlum]

The following is from Fraternal News. I sure would be interested in what SAE International and alumni imposed.

The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.)
January 30, 2002

Fraternity brothers' vote may close SAE - for now Duke members of
Sigma Alpha Epsilon opt to exit over moves made by alumni, national
office

By KIMBERLY SWEET

Another fraternity will be exiting Duke's Greek scene, at least
temporarily, after all its members decided to leave the fraternity
over the weekend.

The more than 50 members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon made a unanimous
decision to end their association with the fraternity, saying they
didn't agree with moves made by the alumni and national office to
steer the organization in a new direction.

That leaves the fraternity's 70-year-old charter in the hands of its
alumni, who will decide in the next couple of weeks whether they will
re-establish the chapter and when to do it.

The fraternity's dissolution marks the second for Duke in the last
year. In February 2001, the 55 brothers of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity
had their campus housing taken away and Duke administrators decided
to no longer recognize the group after a number of incidents, which
included more than $ 1,600 worth of damage to their living quarters.

But the members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon shut down voluntarily.

Will Brown, president of the fraternity, said all the members decided
to deactivate their membership after a year in which the national
office and alumni
association put unrealistic constraints on the group.

That included a $ 7,500 fine members say was unfairly issued last semester.

"We felt with the alumni involvement and the national office's
involvement that they wanted us to change in a way we didn't feel
comfortable with," Brown

said.

The Office of Student Development placed the fraternity on probation
last year. A letter sent to fraternity members, their parents and
alumni last summer detailed behavior issues as well as judicial
infractions.

In April 2001, the vice president of judicial affairs also sent a
letter to parents and alumni describing a number of incidents,
including alcohol-policy violations, hazing and damage to university
property.

The national office prohibited the fraternity from holding parties
outside its designated living quarters on Duke's quadrangle. It also
banned nonfraternity members from attending parties.

The fraternity paid the $ 7,500 it was fined by the alumni last semester, but
Brown said members didn't understand the grounds for it.

"It was unclear why they issued it," he said. "We felt they had the
power to keep on fining us with no justification why."

Chris Mundy, director of communications for the national office of
Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said his office and the alumni commission were
working with the fraternity to "raise the level of expectations" of
the members after a series of
incidents.

A revised code of behavior and new rules for the recruitment of new
members were being instated.

But Brown said the new rush rules didn't fit in with the way
fraternities recruit new members at Duke.

"The way the alumni commission handled the situation didn't give us
any power," he said. "They weren't very understanding of our needs."

While the members unanimously disbanded, alumni are trying to contact members
to see if they want to change their mind, Mundy said.

"It's easy to think they will still have the same community living
with friends," Mundy said. "But the benefits of being in a fraternity
are on a larger
"I think it could be successful if the alumni can get members they
feel are more in line with what they picture the fraternity to be,"
Brown said.


Brown said the former fraternity members weren't bitter and support
the fraternity's re-establishment, but with new blood.


Copyright 2002 The Durham Herald Co.

[Tom Earp]

Kansas City Star Sat. Phi Delta Theta while fitting it, we kicked out of Campus run Dorm for Hazing at SEMo U. Came onto campus in 1962 but now gone!

Rule breaking was wresleing on lawn of house! Actives against Pledges!

While do not have all perticulars, this seems a little ridiculas!
This just goes to show how hard the Schools are becoming! It may seem like fun, but, guard yourselves against something that seems like fun but is looked at totally different from an outsiders stand point! Be KEWL!