Brotherhood shouldnt hurt

[lifesaver]

Our greek advisor sent this to us this week. FYI

Presidents, IFC/PHC Exec, Chapter Advisors, Faculty/Staff Advisors, Order of
Omega, and Rho Lambda:

I thought this was a great article to send out to all y'all. Please read and forward to your members.

Misty

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The Daily Illini
Tuesday, November 6, 2001

EDITORIAL

Brotherhood shouldn't hurt

Some fraternities just don't get it. Hazing doesn't build strong
relationships; it tears people down. It messes with people's minds. It doesn't get you friends; it makes people afraid of you.

If you think that's what friendship and "brotherhood" is all about,
you are sorely mistaken. The greek community is supposed to be like a family, right? But, families don't treat each other like that.

When a lot of people think of hazing, they think of the noticeable
physical effects on pledges. They see things like the bruises and
markings on the body of one student who was found locked in a
bathroom Monday at Hopkins Hall.

But the idea behind hazing is psychological. You break people down, physically and mentally, until they are vulnerable. Sleep deprivation is one of the most common forms of hazing. Fraternities don't do it because it's uncomfortable or hard to get through - they do it to mess with your mind. When fraternity pledges are vulnerable together, they learn to cling to each other.

This is just plain disturbing. If you need to psychologically
rearrange people's minds in order to force friendships on one
another, you should re-evaluate the definition of friendship.

Not all fraternities, by any means, haze their pledges. The few that do give the rest of the greek community a bad name.

There are some rituals pledges must go through year after year that aren't necessarily hazing; they're just a way to earn respect. It's similar to the way the newest member of a sports team has to carry the bag of a veteran player. Making pledges clean the house is one thing; manipulating their minds and physically beating them is another.

There is a level of secrecy in greek organizations that most who
aren't greek don't understand. But there is a big difference between keeping harmless rituals secret to form bonds and keeping things secret because you're afraid that telling someone about the abuses you've incurred could get you in trouble.

The University should be inviting fraternity members who want to
report incidents of hazing. There should be an office that handles
anonymous complaints. Hazing on this campus is sort of like sexual assault - it happens, but the victims are either too scared to say something or don't know that they were victimized.

The student who came forward and informed the University about hazing violations realized the seriousness of the issue. He was much braver and more mature than any of the fraternity members who feel like they have to beat people up and tear them down in order to make friends.

It good that the University is taking the allegations seriously. The
Phi Delta Theta charter has been temporarily revoked because of
hazing violations. It's also nice to know the University is being
open and public about their actions. We should all be aware of hazing incidents on this campus, especially those who look forward to rushing a fraternity; they should know what to avoid. They should know that hazing doesn't always happen and there are houses out there that don't have to beat up their pledges to form lasting brotherhood.

© 2001 Illini Media Company, all rights reserved.