"The Anti-Hazing, Anti-Drinking Fraternity"

[ThetaxiUW]

Let's pose a question: can ther be a Anti-Hazing, Anti-Drinking Fraternity? Why not, fraternal organizations are built on brotherhood. What does drinking and hazing have to do with brotherhood? I'll tell you one thing though, hazing and drinking can be a important thing if you handle it right. Not to say that we do it, cause we don't. But I could definately imagine where it would come in handy. Our system works this way. We rush someone. We associate him. We go through a quarter and decide if he would like it here and more importantly if we would like him here. 9 out of 10 times our rush process works and we get a good guy. But that 1 time, we end up having to tell him that his stuff has to be out by the end of the quarter. Thats fine. We do that. We get a call from his parents asking why we kicked him out. We now actually document things about why we don't like a guy. We have to read these things to his parents if they ask us to. What a humiliating thing for the parents as well as the guy. Hazing and Drinking can be used to create a barrier to which no one would join a house. not to say this is right, but it makes both parties happier.

A lot of people I know in our system were hazed. Not to name names. They hated every day of I week. They say it builds brotherhood and trust. Well F that! Our house has so much more brotherhood than any other house here. I could be biased though... All I'm saying is... there's no lack of it. The occasional tool, but thats it. This summer, were gettting a rush class of 25 guys. Probably the biggest ever for our chapter. Its amazing the kind of brotherhood you can get with a guy who is consitantly sober and level headed. I think guys are actually coming around to the idea as well as sororities.

Let me know your thoughts.

[Betarulz!]

I have a couple of problems/questions with your quarter system of pledgeship.

Are most of the problems that get guys kicked out personal things, like the pledge doesn't say hello to you while on campus, or talks to a girl that you are trying to hook up with...or are the reasons things that could be considered more important in the building of the strong house...things like poor GPA (obviously difficult to judge in only a quarter of classes), not goign to class, drinking too much, destruction of property, problems with handleing himself when at parties and dealing with girls, or the general not upholding of the ideals of what a member of your GLO should be.

To me the personal issues are poor reasons for kicking someone out, b/c there is going to people who don't necessarily end up being great friends in any group of people. However if the actions a pledge is taking on a routine basis are reflecting poorly on the house, or bring up issues with the police or the administration, or even jus the sororities on campus I could understand a decision to terminate the pledgeship.

Do you tell the pledges when they join that it is a distinct possibility that something like this could happen? Do you give pledge reviews so they know their progress through out the pledge period? If so do you make plans on how the chapter can help the pledge through the situation? I think that at times it's easy for the group of brothers to 1) only focus on the negative things done by a pledge and 2) forget that the relationship between the pledge and the active chapter is a two way street and one that should be beneficial to both parties in order for anyone to win.


Now for the other aspects of being anti-hazing/anti-drinking...

As far as alcohol goes, I can look at my chapter and say that it is possible to create an atmosphere where drinking is not the priority, where non-drinkers can feel comfortable about being in a GLO. Things like having a dry house can do a huge part in your image to the rest of campus. However it doesn't have to damage your social reputation, because, be honest we're in college and alcohol is a big part of the party aspect. Because you don't drink in your house doesn't mean that your chapter doesn't drink or have parties which occasionally seems to be the connotation. You just drink at other locations, thereby maintaining whatever image you want to have.

As for Hazing, I totally and completely agree with you. I hear the same thing from other houses, and I would argue that my chapter's brotherhood without the hazing is stronger than any other houses (as difficult as it would be to argue that ) I loved everyday of my I week, and it was one of the most uplifting weeks of my life and the overall effect was incredible. Plus, with the exception of sleeping through a couple classes I didn't get comments that I looked like shit, have to complain that I hadn't showered or not been able to brush my teeth. Nor did I have to wear a suit to class everyday of the week. Basically I'd say that hazing CAN increase brotherhood, but only to a point, and the negative aspects that it creates between the pledge class and the rest of the house pretty much outweigh the increase in brotherhood experienced by the pledges with eachother.

[ThetaxiUW]

I agree with many aspects you said, however disagree with many assumptions.
To start off with, the pledge quarter. We have 53 class days to decide. You can gain a good idea of scholastic achievement of a person in this amaount of time. Not to say that is an important factor in the decision though. Considering that freshman are rushed on terms that if a person has a GPA in high school below a 3.3 or so, we will not bid him. As for a process to help him and let him know if we are thinking about it. During meetings we discuss all associated members. We ask if anyone has any realistic problems with any members. And no, cock-blocking is not one if them. This includes criminal activity, theft, etc. But why should personal issues not be included as much as any other. The two major points of our fraternity and I would hope others are scholastics and social. Social. If a person does not fit your house, why should you burden him and yourselves with that? Why not get it over early with instead of having a difficult brohter in the future. I agree, people will change and adapt to their surroundings. So if something like this happens... we have his big bro talk to him about this and see what he thinks. The system works beautifully.

As for drinking, we cannot have three or more people at an event without it being labeled a Theta Xi event. All Theta Xi events are to be dry if not using a third party vendor. We adhere to these rules. These rules were thought of by our brothers who used to live in our house 30 or 40 years ago. They are the ones who think this is best. We agree.

As for hazing, glad to hear it.

[chscrew144]

If I do recall Phi Gamma Delta along with a few others went dry and they dont haze either. So yes there can be anti drinking and hazing. The drinking age here is even lower than in the US so most members are legal age or turn legal age their first year of university while kids in the states arent legal to jr year.

My views on hazing- while it was fun in hs I would never do the dash again. 2) this is not the Corps, we are not killing machines

on whether or not you like someone- Personal issues are important. Not neccessarily if there is a minor conflict but if that person does not mesh in the evironment then the fraternity (who the student goes to not vice versa) has every right to refuse entry. Does not have to be anti social behaviour in terms of a loner. It can be if people complain about his academics or he simply is blind to requests of others and so forth.
(piles of dirty laundry everywhere, drug use, blaring music..) Thus if they are not just arbritary but have some merit then yes they dshould be considered. For example, who would you like t have in your fratnerity, a guy that is active and particpates or one that simply is apathetic? That can lead to strain in interpersonal relatins within the house.

When I mentioned conflict in other threads it relates to tension that can build and result in having a negative effect on the lives of the other people that live there.