Hazing For Black Fraternities: A Case Study

Problem
Hazing is an act that can happen in so many different ways. There are three different theories as to how hazing flourished into society today as reported by the Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice. It was mentioned that Ivy League schools often participated in hazing and fraternity members in some way, adopted it. Another theory mentioned by the journal was that military hazing was brought to college because of the service members who dropped out. Lastly it was made up by organizations that felt the membership to their club was worthy enough to inflict pain on individuals interested in joining them (Parks 2015). In the early 1900s, the occurrences of hazing seemed to be equal among the White universities and the historically

Black colleges and universities. During this time it was focused around the freshman being hazed by the upper classmen. Eventually, in 1920, freshman hazing was slowing being done away with but it was not much long after that that Black fraternities and sororities started using it to get the importance of membership into their organization ingrained in potential members heads, thus the start of the pledging process. It is often said that the hazing process makes pledges or new members to an organization more appreciative of their organization. Members of the organizations have also said that it brings more self worth to the individuals who go through the hazing process and also makes them more goals oriented. Greek affiliated individuals have a more positive view on the pledge process compared to non-Greeks, which shows that “they [have] become susceptible to hazing activities” (Corsoro and Drout 2003).
Among the men of White fraternities, hazing is a very common occurrence. These fraternity members tend to think that when a pledge or new member is hazed that they become more manly and more worthy of wearing the organization’s letters. Although hazing is viewed as a positive thing among most fraternity members, there have been situations where these acts have severely harmed and even killed young men. Hazing can range from emotional abuse to physical abuse and sometimes even involve alcohol. The younger men being hazed by the older men usually go along with whatever is asked of them so that they are accepted and receive approval from the members already initiated in the fraternity; but they often over estimate the amount of damage their body can actually take or just choose not to speak up. A few of the hazing rituals performed by fraternity members are paddling, whipping, vigorous running, verbal abuse, and sometimes even alcohol abuse. After incidents where individuals have died, colleges, universities, and the organizations associated usually make efforts to promote no hazing but it is often ignored due to the fact that a lot of members and pledges who are hazed claim to have positive effects from it.
Hazing in White sororities is by no means as severe or dangerous as it is among the White fraternities. Although there is not as much information on hazing associated with White sororities, these women usually focus their hazing efforts around verbal and emotional abuse. They want the new members of their organization to feel less than the older members and so they focus on “high-risk drinking or forced participation in humiliating acts—activities that degrade women in front of men” (Parks 2015). Another common goal older members have from hazing is for the new members or pledges to “rebuild them[selves] in the image of the Greek organization with a new social identity” (Parks 2015).
Black fraternities and sororities are also notorious for hazing during their pledging periods. After the ban on hazing, these organizations created an “underground” type of environment where they could continue their hazing rituals (Parks 2015). Another reason these organizations practice hazing is the fact that it is something that has been practiced by the organizations over many years.
Hazing is Black sororities is considered more of a tradition than anything among the members of all the different female National PanHellenic Council’s organizations. Similar to White sororities, Black sororities’ hazing processes include more emotional and psychological abuse than physical. The older members want the new members to feel as if they are all below them but equal to each other. New members are often degraded and questioned as to why they want to be in the organization and why the older members should allow them into the sisterhood. A common action practiced by Black sororities is changing the new member’s appearance so that every member of a “new member class” looks the same; therefore making them all seem more equal. Some changes that the new members may have to make include getting their hair cut, coloring their hair, and wearing the same outfit as each other to chapter meetings. Even though physical harm is not as common as emotional or psychological abuse, it still occurs within the chapters. Like White fraternities and sororities, rigorous exercises are common among Black sororities. At a university, “one women told campus police that sorority members forced her to do sit-ups until the skin on her and her line sisters’ buttocks cracked” (Parks 2015). This event is very unfortunate but it is not the worst case of hazing; there have been some women who were not as lucky and died from sustained injuries. Due to events similar to the one mentioned, the National PanHellenic Council along with many college and universities have come up with punishments for individuals convicted of hazing, however there has not been any drastic declines in hazing reports in the recent years.
Overall Greek life organizations, Black Fraternities are the organizations where hazing seems to be most prominent.

The purpose of hazing for Black fraternities aligns with the reasons every other Greek organization claims to haze: to stress the importance of membership in the organization and to help the new members form a new self-perception because their old lives are considered to be “flawed” (Jones 2000). “In 1990, the nine members of the NPHC suggested a ban on pledging (in addition to hazing) largely due to hazing deaths associated with Black fraternities” (Parks 2015). However, the suggestion from NPHC was not effective because hazing over the years has seemed to have continued to progress along with the physical harm associated with it. As mentioned above, there were hazing deaths associated with Black fraternities, way more than associated with any other type of Greek organization. At North Carolina Central University, a member of Omega Psi Phi, Nathan Swinson, died after “being forced to run several miles and complete a battery of grueling exercises” (Parks and Spencer 2013). Swinson is only one of many men who have died due to the injuries of hazing but that does not seem to stop the organizations from participating in the hazing

process.
There are many different theories on why hazing laws and policies have not been effective even after so many men and women have died from the process but it is hard to say which one is the most accurate. Gregory Parks suggests that with out the existence of hazing the membership of an organization would not be as important as it is needed to be. Members of organizations also feel as if without hazing, or the “pledge period”, they would not be able to pick out candidates worthy enough to join their organization.