Hazing

It’s more pervasive than you think. What you can do to stop it.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of The Compass. Learn more about receiving The Compass.

I’m a Gleek, an avid fan of the television show Glee. It’s a confession that I share with some humor. Who doesn’t like a television show with versions of songs that we grew up on, the veritable soundtrack to adolescence? While my husband cringes and bemoans Tuesdays, I tap my foot and sing along.

But Glee does something else. It highlights an issue that as sorority/fraternity proponents, we continually battle: the presence of hazing. The almost weekly presence of slushie attacks, the treatment of football players, the forced calisthenics of the Cheerios, are all examples of unfair treatment of students by others.

Hazing. It’s more pervasive than you think.

Long characterized as a problem among fraternities, sororities and college athletic teams, hazing is increasingly a problem among high school, middle school, and even younger students.

What does hazing actually mean? “Hazing is not what it used to be. It is not about taunting the youngest or newest member of a team of club. It is not about requiring new members to clean up the bus after a road trip or to wear ‘beanies,’” says Judge Mitch Crane, Esq., a nationally recognized speaker on hazing and legal issues impacting fraternities and sororities. Rather, Crane says, hazing is a “serious and often illegal ‘rite of passage’ that all too often ends in physical or emotional injury or worse.”

“Hazing has become popularized by mass media,” Crane continues. “This has resulted in a growing problem for today’s college students, and, as younger students wish to emulate what college students do, a new and very serious problem in high school, intermediate school, and even lower” (personal correspondence).

Mari Ann Callais, Ph.D, Alpha Beta, Past ΘΦΑ National President and a nationally recognized speaker on Ritual and values, agrees about the influence of mass media and reality-based television shows, in particular. “Reality TV has contributed to the acceptance and glorification of hazing behavior. Amazing Race is a scavenger hunt on a grand scale, Fear Factor makes people do grotesque acts, and Survivor is a test of endurance. These programs play a major role in influencing lifestyles and behavior in society.”

Hazing occurs in many forms — from jeers and pranks to sexual assaults and beatings. Few, if any, student organizations seem immune. Hazing extends outside of recognized student organizations as well, such as when so-called “friends” require others to demean themselves to gain access to their inner, often more popular, circle. Sadly, some coaches, advisors, administrators, and even parents look the other way and seemingly validate hazing activities.

“Membership must be earned.” Why does this view perpetuate?

A bitter fraternal reality is the role hazing has played in the cultivation of membership. For more alumni and alumnae than the fraternity/sorority community would care to admit, the experience of being on the outside occurred during the process of becoming an initiated member. Hazing is used to draw a line in the sand between the “made its” and the “want its,” and has created an environment where “getting in” becomes more important than the organization itself.

The view that “membership must be earned” is damaging on so many levels. Fraternity and sorority members who adopt this view have lost sight of what new member education is truly about — getting to know each other and introducing new members to the organization and its ideals.

Members of a Theta Phi Alpha chapter that was placed on probation for violating the Theta Phi Alpha National Policy on Hazing shared these thoughts: “We spent so much time thinking up crazy stuff for the pledge sisters to do. We wasted time on stupid things when we could have been getting to know them. We are sorry they had such a negative experience when doing things correctly is so much fun. Since we have been using the My Sister, My Friend program, our pledge sister retention has increased.” (See the sidebar for Theta Phi Alpha’s National Policy on Hazing.)

Hazers do not always intend to cause harm to their victims. To them, it is a game. The chilling fact is that hazing can quickly escalate. Consider the powder puff football game in Illinois that ended with the smearing of feces and pig intestines, or the sexual assault that took place during the “initiation” of younger high school football players during camp. The fraternity and sorority community is annually faced with deaths from forced consumption of alcohol, physical challenges that go awry, and incidents of mental harassment. These examples reinforce why hazing of any form cannot be tolerated — you don’t know what can or will happen.

In 1912, our ΘΦΑ Founders had a purpose. Driven by the need for a sense of community, they sought out similarly valued members by conversations, carriage rides, and word-of-mouth. The Founders shared their vision with new members and embraced those new sisters as equals in building the Theta Phi Alpha that we know and love today.

Our early ΘΦΑ sisters viewed membership as a gift and sought members who would treasure the experience. Are we seeking gift recipients or are we looking for women who will “earn” their membership?

What you can do to eliminate hazing.

What can we, as collegians, alumnae, mothers, sisters, community members, fraternity women, and stakeholders in American society, do to change the negative culture that allows hazing to occur?

  • Become educated on what hazing is and its implications for both victims and perpetrators.
  • Stop and think. Sometimes merely taking a deep breath and asking yourself, “Is this a good decision or not?” can prevent an activity from getting out of hand.
  • Treat all people — members, new members, prospective members, other students — with respect and dignity.
  • Forgive yourself if you participated in past activities which crossed the hazing line and resolve to support anti-hazing initiatives within your chapter and other organizations.
  • Ensure that activities are always supervised by responsible adults.
  • Support anti-hazing initiatives within Theta Phi Alpha and in your community.

To effect change, we can also join forces with other individuals and organizations troubled by the increased incidents of hazing. Mitch Crane suggests that we should exert pressure at all possible levels to:

  • Ensure clear anti-hazing policies exist for all school organizations, including athletics,
  • Hold advisors and coaches accountable for violations within their purview,
  • Ensure clear and swift consequences for policy violations,
  • Educate all students, parents, advisors and coaches on the problem and the results,
  • Publicize violations and consequences as an example and warning to others, and
  • Change the glorification of hazing.

Together, we can work to create an environment in which the consideration of the younger, the newer and the uninitiated is one of friendship, support and camaraderie.

Hazing Resources

National Hazing Prevention Week

NHPW is held every September Visit www.hazingprevention.org to learn more about NHPW and gain ideas for activities your chapter or association can to do support hazing prevention.

Theta Phi Alpha Policy on Hazing

Theta Phi Alpha Fraternity endorses the National Panhellenic Conference resolution on hazing, adopted in 1979, which defines hazing as follows:

“Hazing is defined as any action taken or situation created, intentionally, whether on or off Fraternity premises, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule. Such activities or situations include creation of excessive fatigue; physical and psychological shocks; wearing in public, apparel which is conspicuous and not normally in good taste; engaging in public stunts and jokes; morally degrading or humiliating games and activities; late night sessions which interfere with academic activity, and any other activities which are inconsistent with rituals of the Fraternity or regulations and policies of the educational institution.”

Any and all hazing activities are prohibited. In addition, sisters, pledge sisters and advisors are prohibited from participating in, encouraging, tolerating or permitting hazing activities. For the complete policy, see the Theta Phi Alpha Handbook in the documents section of the Member Portal of myThetaPhi.

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