“Hazing” refers to any activity expected of someone joining a group (or to maintain full status in a group) that humiliates, degrades or risks emotional and/or physical harm, regardless of the person's willingness to participate ("Hazing Defined" 3). Going into a freshmen year of college, boys and girls these days are expected to join a Greek organization, whether it be their parents’ wishes or just the pressure of their friends joining. Through social media such as Facebook or Instagram, the involvement with Greek organizations is becoming more and more of a big deal. Because the desire to be in a popular sorority or fraternity is at a maximum high with our generation, there is no limit to what he or she will do to be accepted. Does hazing, though illegal in a majority of the United States, bring more negative issues or benefits to not only the organization itself, but to the universities as well? Through peoples’ personal stories, examples, and statistics, this essay will display both the good and the bad sides of hazing. The history and laws about hazing are quickly becoming common knowledge to men and women involved in Greek organizations, due to the major issue of hazing becoming appealing as more members come to join. Anywhere somebody goes, he or she can expect to see a Greek organization tie. Nationally, there are about 9 million Greek members, including all eleven of the Apollo astronauts (Maisel 1). Because there are so many Greek members nationally, there are many different types of Greek organizations, such as strictly volunteer groups, honor societies, or the typical social organizations. No matter what type of Greek organization one joins, hazing is strictly illegal in a majority of the country. In California ... ... middle of paper ... ...zation as well. While hazing may be the main scare of parents or universities, Greek organizations look at it as a way to further get to know his or her future siblings. Joining a sorority or fraternity, is a classic tradition more than likely experienced by many parents of students and the need for the “traditional college experience” is something many students are dying to find. But is risking lives of students for a stronger brother or sisterhood worth it? Or is not permitting hazing not allowing a Greek organization to be the strongest it can be with members that are worth it? Greek life participants are known to have a close knit bond to their “families”, and the concept of hazing being necessary to form that bond have universities stuck; while they don’t want anybody hurt, a university wants the honor of having a popular/well represented Greek organization.
Greek organizations, such as, fraternities and sororities have been a part of the college experience for centuries. We pride ourselves in brotherly and sisterly love, academic success, and helping others. There are countless stereotypes and myths that surround the “Greek life” name. Just some myths include: all Greeks haze their members, they only care about physical looks not personalities, and they go to college just to party and get drunk. Kappa Delta Sorority upholds none of these stereotypes. We have a strong no haze policy. Hazing is defined as an activity or situation that can cause emotional, mental, or physical discomfort. If a member is caught hazing or if a new member is caught allowing herself to be hazed, there will be major consequences, such as, national probation or deferral of initiation. Kappa Delta also does not look at physical appearance as the only quality for possible new members. We look at personality and qualifications that can benefit our sorority; instead of having a group of women that are pretty and popular, we like to have women with strong morals, work ethic, and have the willingness to love each and every member of Kappa Delta. Kappa Delta Sorority is like no other fraternity or sorority on campus; we do not waste our time with partying and drinking. We pride ourselves in our historical background, philanthropies, and our values. I know Kappa Delta is the best sorority not only on MTSU campus but in the whole country.
Do people really understand the secrets behind the Greek community? There are many pressures girls face that the public is not familiar with that are specifically evident in sororities. Alexandra Robbins, the author of the book Pledged: The Secret Lives of Sororities, went undercover and followed four different girls during their experiences within the Greek system. Although there are many struggles girls can face in sororities, the five most prevalent type of pressures include: having a perfect body image, substance abuse, stress, silence, and hazing.
Every year students at an accredited university have a decision to join groups/activities. In many cases a lot of students choose to join either a fraternity or a
Greek organizations are debatably the most undervalued and misconceived aspect of college campuses. Most people don’t see the benefits that fraternities and sororities bring to college campuses and their communities. Some see these organizations as large beneficial clubs and others see them as potential problems. Many of the allegations put forth by individuals that discredit the benefits and good deeds done by Greek organizations are weak justifications for their removal from college campuses. Greek organizations provide campus communities with academically responsible students, philanthropic activities and increase community involvement.
Kimbrough, Walter M. Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities. Cranbury: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003. Print.
Hazing has become a dominant theme on college campuses, military installations, schools, and organizations across America today. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the long term consequences of the affect of hazing and to explain groupthink phenomenon. Firstly the term hazing should be defined to effectively evaluate these affects. West Virginia’s legal definition of hazing is
Hazing has been around forever. However, up until the last few decades, it was never taken too seriously. Now there are serious cases where death has even occurred. Hazing is something that we need to define, so that we can properly punish the people who commit some of these crimes. Some of the cases throughout recent years prove that hazing can be a serious criminal action, and also punishable by law. The effects that hazing can cause on a person, and a community are numerous. This information is backed up through facts that will support these claims. Luckily, there is ways that hazing can be decreased and possibly prevented entirely. Hazing needs to be taken more seriously
Hazing is an issue that has attracted much attention over the last few decades. College fraternities, high school programs, professional sports, and the military have all had their fair share of attention. The military is frequently held to a higher standard than these other organizations and has developed a bit of a black eye since the 1991 “Tailhook” scandal. Motion picture portrayals like that in the 1992 film “A Few Good Men” showed the public, not inaccurately, the dark side of command sponsored hazing. Hazing is not in keeping with the high standards of conduct that the U.S. Military aims to uphold and the ethical implications of these behaviors are diverse.
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
Hazing in universities across the nation has become a common tradition that develops mostly in Greek organizations. Hazing is seen in many different social groups such as schools, military units, sport teams, fraternities, and sororities. Prohibited by law for unnecessary reasons; hazing is a way to grow with friends in a closer way than independent students will ever have the chance to. Every year there are thousands of teenagers that pledge for a fraternity knowing of the possible chance of being hazed. People that join fraternities join for a sense of belonging and to meet people with similar interests. Trying to fit into a new college campus can be hard for a person to do. Almost every group pressures the new pledges to participate in hazing activities to create a sense of brotherhood. Hazing is a process that creates a sense of unity, also it teaches the one being hazed about himself and his brothers; being hazed into a group will help someone become a well-rounded person and will help them overcome struggles later in life.
I was deeply disturbed as I read through some of the court cases provided by the NIAAA (“National”, 2011, p. 10-15). I never experienced or witnessed hazing during high school or college. Recently, it was revealed that the football team at Lake Zurich High School, IL had a major hazing scandal that lasted decades (Keilman, 2017). The sexual acts and violence that coaches allowed to happen is unbelievable. I remember when the story broke on the radio I was shocked to the point where I didn’t feel comfortable describing what occurred to my female teaching partners.
Many pledges join sororities and fraternities in search of friendships that will last throughout life. However, quite a few young people get caught in life-threatening situations because they are not aware of the commitments to which they are swearing themselves. The idea behind joining a house is to form a relationship in which the members are one big family at heart, yet many sorority and fraternity members – while advocating status, popularity, and togetherness -- have betrayed the ideals of Greek life. Sororities and fraternities should stress bonding relationships among brothers and sisters, and not allow this idea to be neglected and abused by hazing. Plain and simple, hazing is an intentional action taken by active members to inflict physical and mental discomfort, harassment, and embarrassment upon future members of a house.
Hazing is the imposition of strenuous, often humiliating, tasks as part of a program of rigorous physical training and initiation. If you want to a university or college and you was so excited join a club or fraternities have go through hazing join, to me it sound stupid to prove yourself join to a club or fraternities just to injury yourself in the progress, what the point of hazing if you are harm yourself. For example, if you saw the movie Brotherhood, it is about college students that have robbed a liquor store for fraternities as part of they hazing until one of them rob the wrong liquid store and shot in the shoulder by store clerk, then the fraternities try cover they track for the liquid store robbery and they try keep the wounded college student alive until they find a way to get him to the hospital, in the end fraternities member are charged with attempted robbery of each liquid store they rob that night and one member is charged with murder of innocence college student who put in trunk of a car after go through with one of the fraternities hazing and died of lack of air due to hour he spent in the trunk.
Hazing (subjecting newcomers to abusive or humiliating tricks and ridicule) has always been seen as a secretive campus activity when it comes to fraternities and pledging. As a result, Dr. Mark Taff resorted in his article that, "..a series of 168 cases of injuries and deaths related to fraternity hazing activities...[occurred] in the United States between 1923 and 1982" (2113). Young college men are being hospitalized and even worse, dying, just for a couple of friends that give them a sense of belonging. The major causes of hazing are the students' wanting a sense of belonging in a big college campus, the college's infrequent knowledge of what occurs in fraternities, and the unwillingness of fraternities to change tradition. Since hazing has been around for more than a century, one cannot expect the practice of hazing to stop all together. It will probably take years before hazing perishes from the fraternity scene. Nevertheless, until an end is put to hazing, solutions can be used to make hazing less common, until it no longer exists. These solutions that may be able to put an eventual stop to hazing, in the long run, are better education about fraternity hazing, stricter laws to prevent hazing from occurring, and more intervention from college administrators.
...n, hazing education should not be limited to members of Greek and other university organizations. All members of the university community should be educated on the topic since according to the Theory of Reasoned action and the research by Richardson et al. (2012), “relevant others”, such as close friends outside of the organization, can influence the observer’s decision to report. Furthermore, because the severity of the situation influences the likelihood that an observer would report, emphasizing not only the physical but the psychological consequences of hazing would increase awareness on how detrimental even hazing situations that may seem mild can be (Richardson et al., 2012). Integrating these findings into educational anti-hazing initiatives has the potential to increase effectiveness in efforts combat hazing within student organizations on college campuses.