Penn State Fraternity Case Study

A common myth is that hazing is a “reality” in Frats and sororities. We've all seen it in movies and we've all heard stories from our friends. Hazing can be defined as people or individuals who are forced to do something that is psychologically, physically, or emotionally harmful or damaging (Merriam Webster). Greek organizations all over the world have taken steps in developing human rights policies and strict “anti-hazing” policies to get rid of hazing in all forms from all campuses and fraternities. In the 1980s the movie “Animal House”, became a hit. The movie’s “mocking” of the wild side of fraternity life: binge drinking, hazing, sexual harassment, wild parties, drug use, and poor living conditions, became the American public’s view of Greek life. Many television movies and shows depict the ‘crazy side,’ of Greek life and choose to show its negative side. In doing so, many movies and shows do forget to showcase the beneficial side of joining a Sorority or fraternity and show its positive

My interest in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, started a long time ago, in fact when my first interest was peaked I wasn’t even able to pursue my interest as I was still in high school. I was able to participate in several of the “groups” within Alpha Kappa Sorority Inc., such as the “Roses” and the “Pearls”.

Reitman acquires information that in 2010, a first year student by the name of Andrew Lohse, pledged to a fraternity called Sigma Alpha Epsilon which disclosed the traditions of Greek hazing. The article elaborately describes the acts of hazing new pledges must face. “One brother recalls the night some of the pledges were served a scramble of vomit and eggs, known as a ‘vomlet’” (356). Lohse unveiled all of the hazing events that he had been involved with for nearly two years, until it had become clear that

When you are a part of Greek life you are popular. In professional sports, with men sports the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major Baseball League etc., there is a history of hazing to accept new rookies into the league. Even though, the organization have dangerous activities, but ignore outrageous events they may have to endure to become part of the organization. Hazing is classified into three types subtle, violent, and harassment. Subtle hazing is mainly deception, or not having to do the same thing other new members had to do. These falls under “reasonable hazing” to others, but to me it is not. With subtle hazing when a pledge is lining up you could call a guy run a lap but referring to him as a girl. Mainly, required greeting of members in a specific manner when seen on campus. With harassment hazing is causes stress, a relative degree of discomfort, physically or emotionally, to the new members

The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity provided a voice and a dream for African Americans around the world. For people who were colored at the time this fraternity was created, had to struggle in their everyday life because racism was such a huge focus. Alpha Phi Alpha was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York by seven outstanding African American men who attended college there. They created a strong bond and brotherhood in the organization and were an inspiration to colored people all over the nation. The seven founders were known as “Jewels” at the fraternity. These seven men were Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy. They were all very intelligent and brave men, a lot of people looked up to them. The fraternity was created and based on colored people who were racially prejudiced socially and educationally. There was one man who caught my eye and found very

In the United States, fraternities and sororities have been using hazing rituals as part of their pledging processes. Death, injury, and suspensions have all been a result of this action. Greek life has been one of the most influential subjects in multiple universities today. Typically we see the positives of Greek Organizations in media and from universities, but the negative outcomes are typically left behind the curtain. In most cases, organizations have their houses on campus. The controversy comes from these organizations getting away with the harmful actions and universities not taking action. Are these rituals ethical or not?

Fraternity membership is associated with (heterosexual) masculinity in that fraternity members are believed to attract and date more women. However, Fraternity membership serves as a medium for building fraternal bonds of brotherhood between Black males, which creates a more Afro-centric masculinity (McGuire et al., 2014). Jackson (2012) defined brotherhood as ‘‘a social construction that creates feelings of togetherness and trust while defining a code for interactions among men’’ (p. 64) that provides a physical, psychological, and social space for men to distance themselves from typical hegemonic behavior (McGuire et al., 2014). Jackson (2012) found that this bond allowed males to share an emotional bond with other members where they

To some fraternity and sorority chapters hazing may be a way of group bonding and teaching respect, it is not indispensable. Hazing has been going on for quite amount of time, and banning organization who haze will make other chapters want to inflict pain and humiliation to their own pledges. Not only does is lead to a physical and mental breakdown path, but it also weakens the students and strips them of their power. Studies have shown that there are in fact fraternity and sorority chapters who believe that hazing is unnecessary, degrading and view it as juvenile, do not haze their members and perform true Greek rituals. Those chapters reported to become popular on campuses and did not see a loss in member loyalty and respect (Lowery). Fraternity

Though some members in a fraternity or sorority may be against what is happening to these individuals, the codes of secrecy and brotherhood/sisterhood are so strong that they fear to break them and come forward to report these acts (Ruffins 18). Lydia Bradley, a strong advocate of anti-hazing laws and national speaker for

Hazing in universities across the nation has become an increasingly dangerous ritual that is seemingly becoming more difficult to put an end to due to its development into an “underground” activity. Though a regular activity in the seventies, hazing, a possible dangerous act of initiation to a group, has now become an activity that is banned in thirty-nine states (Wagner 16). However, this ritual has not been stopped or become less severe. In fact it is becoming more dangerous. Since it has been banned, with many colleges imposing their own penalties against those participating in it, many fraternities and sororities have pursued this activity in an underground fashion. Since these groups have gone underground, some victims of these

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was founded at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa March 9th, 1856. There was a charter brought to North Dakota State University on April 6th, 1935. Sigma Alpha Epsilon offers a great opportunity for students around the nation to benefit themselves as individuals. The fraternity has a creed called the True Gentleman. It was written by John Walter Wayland.

There are many organizations that participate in hazing in order to create unity within a chapter or pledge class, build stronger pledges, and help the pledges grow in character. While all those are great intentions, hazing is not the right tactic. There have been multiple cases where college students that undergo harsh hazing are found to be mentally disturbed or ill after. It is important that not only does the media expose organizations that participate in hazing, but for Greek members to expose this crude exercise. There are Greek organizations that believe in other means than hazing. Greek organizations must go through training and advising before becoming a chapter. In these trainings they are taught ways to recruit new members and different exercises that would allow the new members to bond and become stronger individuals. Hazing is not as openly talked about as it used to be, due to the fear of nationals discovering and shutting their chapter down. When first looking into rushing a fraternity, one could have dozens of questions like, does the chapter have a house, how much were the fees to join, what are some benefits of joining a fraternity, and how well is the chapter involved in the community. The one question that doesn’t really cross most people’s minds is if to ask if the fraternity is engaged in hazing. The idea of hazing was so unreal because it felt as if

As president of the co-ed service fraternity, I have come to a decision about the program that my chapter will be donating to. I have carefully read over each Proposal of the programs in question. On top of the proposals, I have also done my own research on each of the programs to ensure I had all the information I needed to make this decision as fairly as I could. Based on the proposals and my research and since I cannot divide the money and give to all of them; I have decided to grant the literacy program the fund money. Keep in mind that all programs are equally impressive and I did not take the decision lightly. I understand this money could help each program tremendously and I am excited to see what it does for this particular program.

Along with hazing, there have been many sexual assaults reported against women by college fraternity brothers. According to Jessica Valenti in her article, “Frat brothers rape 300% more. One in 5 women are sexually assaulted on campus. Should we ban frats?” she states three sexual assaults that were reported last year in one Texas fraternity (Valenti). That is three assaults too many. Along with that at Georgia Tech, our neighboring state school, a frat brother sent out an email strictly designed to learn to “Lure your

Both parties made poor decisions in this unfortunate event. Piazza did what he thought was expected of him and participated in the hazing. The member of the fraternity carried out the “tradition” of hazing and failed to seek help when they witnessed Piazza’s suffering.