Time To End Frats? (1 Viewer)

[James Daulton]

I don't even hate frats.  Just saw the Penn St. case and got to wondering.  And I agree that while cases like that are pretty rate, fairly extreme hazing isn't as rare as one thinks I'd wager.  Again, my son was the president of his frat so he knows all about the frats at his college.  Maybe just outlawing hazing would be good enough?  That way, the popped collar crowd would still have a vehicle through which to congregate with each other and learn "communal living skills."   

 

[General Malaise]

Older brother was in a fraternity and after hearing a few of his stories, I ended up mostly against them by the time I got to college.

Commented on this to someone. He told me his fraternity was non-hazing. I said I'm sure they all say that. He said they were non-secret too and I could come attend their pledge events if I wanted and see for myself.  I was friends already with quite a few of their members so I dropped in several times the next quarter, including watching initiation. Ended up pledging the next quarter.

Great experience overall. I think I'd be the less for not having had it.

Lambda Chi Alpha was pretty ahead of the curve on this.  They dropped "pledges" for "associate members" in the 80s and outlawed all hazing as a national policy.  It was a pretty big deal and was one of the reason I went that route.  Did not get hazed once, nor did I engage in any hazing.  Some of the best years of my life were spent in the fraternity.

 

[rockaction]

Oh, jeez. Not all fraternities are popped collar crowds. 

I was in a fraternity. We were hippie jocks who dressed in t-shirts and jeans/khakis for the most part. You dressed how you wanted; however preppy or casual. 

Hazing is stupid and degrading when it gets physical. Good hazing, or the psychological reason you require tasks to be done, is that the more somebody goes through to join an organization, generally, the more loyal they are to that organization.  It's social psych. 

The stories I hear are so sad and preventable. We had a "hell night" some of us tried to cancel in our fraternity, a relic from its football days. Some of us thought it was dumb, others got off on it. It wound up getting their ### kicked off of campus in subsequent years. Most of our "hazing" was memorizing the history of the national and local chapter and doing push-ups when you got #### wrong, giving rides, study hall, stuff like that. You only drank if you want, and nobody got locked in any damn trunk or was ever in physical danger or humiliated. 

 

[Gustavo Fring]

I almost joined a frat until the morning after a rush party, they asked me to clean up.  I'm more of "the maid will get it" kind of guy, so I told them to pound sand and spent the rest of my college life attending frat parties without all the BS on the side.  Best decision I ever maid.  

 

[rockaction]

Also, going to something people were talking about -- I was an independent for three years. For whatever reason, I still keep in touch with my fraternity brothers. My independent friends? Not so much. 

There's something about communal living and being apart from the in loco parentis vibe of university housing that breeds that sort of lifelong stuff. I just met up with a few "brothers" a couple months ago, and I graduated twenty years ago. 

 

[Politician Spock]

I don't even hate frats.  Just saw the Penn St. case and got to wondering.  And I agree that while cases like that are pretty rate, fairly extreme hazing isn't as rare as one thinks I'd wager.  Again, my son was the president of his frat so he knows all about the frats at his college.  Maybe just outlawing hazing would be good enough?  That way, the popped collar crowd would still have a vehicle through which to congregate with each other and learn "communal living skills."   

Hazing is already illegal in 44 states. 

 

[loser]

 elephant walk

soggy biscuit

Sooo.... why would they be erect?

Forget I asked.

 

[Keerock]

 elephant walk

soggy biscuit

Sooo.... why would they be erect?

Forget I asked.

Why NOT?!?  

NTTAWWT

 

[NorvilleBarnes]

They couldn't think of a challenge you aren't accustomed to?

"Haha that's so funny RokNRole!" - No one.