Hazing Essay

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

It was also common for Texas high school football as a whole. These behaviors were seen both off and on the field and included extreme play against the opposing team, drinking, drug use, fighting, hubris, and institutional corruption (Bissinger, 2015 & Coakley, 2015). Off-field behavior included mainly drinking and getting into fights, though the citizens of Odessa even went as far as shooting a gun inside a bar at one point. The player’s drinking had become bad enough that an anonymous letter frowning upon that behavior found its way into their lockers while they were in the playoffs (Bissinger, 2015; pgs.

The memoir “The College Hazing That Changed My Life” written by Thomas Rogers, is about a freshman in college who experience hazing in a rowing team until they received an eye-opening revelation. Hazing is a major problem throughout the world, a tradition that embarrasses or shame a group of fresh participant to a particular group. A tradition that can be “traced back to the Europe in the Middle Ages where it was known as pennalism” (History – StopHazing). In the first paragraph, it states an important fact about the author that is a repetitious word throughout the memoir, it states that he is a homoerotic male during the time of the hazing. The memoir describes how spiteful and futile hazing is, and it’s often only used to target freshman with superiority.

In the case study Appropriate Punishment Versus Political Expediency, nine African American male teenagers were severely punished for their involvement in a violent altercation at a high school football game. Some people in the local community; especially the African American population became outraged by the school board’s ruling. Other community members, including many white residents, and school board officials thought the punishment was just. This situation exposes many controversial issues occurring within the educational system. Topics such as race relations and appropriateness in student discipline were prominent. With strong political and social context associated with these subject matters, there are complexities in addressing these types of situations. In any event, educational leaders and district representatives should aim to handle matters by considering the child’s best interest. They should also use the principle of subsidiarity to deal with challenges that may arise. School executives ought to implement effective solutions

Students involved in clubs, fraternities, sororities, and organizations experience hazing. In fact, 55% those college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experience hazing. Hazing is any action taken or any situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment or ridicule and risk emotional, or physical harm to members of a group or team, whether new or not, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate. Hazing can occur in high school, intercollegiate, or even professionally. As an individual, you have to know what is hazing. What is going over the edge? Am I doing anything illegal? Or is this causing emotional or physical distress or stress to myself or to others? Hazing, even though its tradition,

the cause of so many untimely deaths and injuries, it raises the question; should hazing be

A person who has a weak sense of self-identity that can be easily manipulated, is easier to change then it is to change someone who have a strong sense of self-identity. To completely remold an individual, the individual has to completely broken down and not have any remains or fragments of the old self. The foundation and the remolding of the identity were for a good intentions, if the Citadel did not go about it the wrong way. The Citadel’s way of making these new men was cruel, malevolent and unusual. The freshmen were hazed and abused from upperclassmen who they had to listen to. The hazing was not reported for fear of repercussion by the upperclassmen, because the hazing was not reported it continued to happen. This a good example of the broken windows theory. The hazing gets worse year after year as and people eventually will start to join in and because nothing is done to stop it, it is assumed that it is okay to haze. The hazing becomes a tradition and the vicious cycles goes on. Furthermore, Tim O’Brien further proves this case when Curt Lemon and Bob Kiley invented a game to play during their spare times. “The game involved smoke grenades, which were harmless unless you did stupid things, and what they did was pull out the pin and stand a few feet apart and play catch under the shade of those huge trees.

Hazing as we know it today is most commonly to initiate members into a fraternity, sorority, or club of some sort. Hazing’s roots go into Ancient Greece when Plato first observed the occurrence and wrote about it in one of his works. The first sign of the term “hazing” appeared in the 16th century, when veteran soldiers would harass new sailors whenever the weather would create a haze. The integration of hazing in American society occurred in the 19th century after the Civil War. Before the war, university fraternities were a place to exchange ideas which most students did not find too engaging. After the war, the meaning of university fraternities had evolved to strengthen bonds with one another. The war put not optimal events and situations, which made soldiers strengthen bonds between one another. Fraternities would often replicate the traumatic events that occurred during the war to strengthen bonds between the recruits and the organization. The fraternities would base hazing rituals on stories their fathers or grandfathers who had participated in the war. Three hazing related deaths occurred in the

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

Furthermore, fraternities are infamous for their requirement to pledge in order to join the brotherhood. Although the specific acts inflicted on pledges is known only by members of fraternity, it is commonly known that hazing is part of the initiation. The pledges have to complete a series of humiliating and sometime dangerous rituals in order to join. They could be forced to consume excessive amount of alcohols and drugs, or be physically beaten or be publicly humiliated. Little known fact, white fraternities generally use alcohol for hazing while black fraternities result to physical violence. In a survey conducted by Dr. Susan Lipkins “31% of Fraternity and sorority members agree that a significant element in an initiation rite is humiliation.” “Also, many of the Greek Leaders agree that

Student behavior and discipline in the classroom have been impacted by legislation and litigation as was discussed in an article written by Mitchell Yell and Michael Rozalski, The Impact of Legislation and Litigation on Disciple and Student Behavior in the Classroom. The authors believe that all students should receive their education in safe, orderly, and well-disciplined schools but maintaining these environments has become a major challenge for educators (Yell, M & Rozalski, M, 2008). Most states have laws that govern discipline in schools which also protect the rights of students in public education (Yell, et.al, 2008). These state laws control the actions of school officials when they carry out certain discipline-related functions, such as gathering evidence (e.g., searching students, their lockers, or their personal property), seizing contraband from students’ backpacks, or conducting any administrative actions that restrict a student’s property interest to attend school (e.g., suspension, expulsion) (Yell, et.al, 2008). A student’s entitlement under state law to a public education is

Often times hazing is a big problem we see occurring in our society. Whether it is occurring within a sports team, sorority, school, friends, or even a group of co-workers, we hear about it on a relatively frequent basis. Often times hazing stories are justified by the person committing the act of hazing and over dramatized by the media. Conducting a full study on whether hazing actually exists and the multiple ways it exists can help members of our society to further understand the implications of the action. Throughout this study the definition of hazing has been explored as well as superfluous examples to prove hazing is prominent in our society and laws and actions taken against

Hazing can take place anywhere whether it be high school, college, sports, or fraternities. Other terms used for hazing are “hell week”, “help week”, and “initiation”. When one is trying to determine whether or not the situation is considered hazing there are many signs he/she could look for. Some examples include the following questions: is alcohol involved?, are there any risk of emotional or physical abuse?, and is there a risk of injury? (University of North Carolina Wilmington). If the answer to any of these is yes, then it would be considered some form of hazing. A study taking place at Alfred University shows that 1.5 million high school students have experienced some form of hazing. Forty-eight percent of students who belong to groups have reported to experiencing hazing behavior. These incidents can range anywhere between alcohol abuse to forcing one to commit a crime. Victims of hazing may hide the truth, whether they be embarrassed or they risk the chance of getting in a lot of trouble. While you may not notice it at first there are always signs to look for when searching for hazing activity. Some signs include excessive fatigue, wearing odd clothing, isolating themselves, skipping or missing class, and feeling depressed. Many parents are not aware of their child experiencing hazing activity. Although, now many of victims have decided to speak out about there encounters.

The hazing philosophy is a tool used to gauge commitment and strength. Initiates are tasked with subhuman task that are somewhat physically and psychologically harmful. This cultivates a brand of loyalty and brotherhood that breeds groupthink. Groupthink is the phenomena where people seek the desire to conform in a group which results in irrational or dysfunctional decision making. A hazing ritual that was used as a training tactic for Agu was the “Gauntlet”, this is when potential child soldiers had to run through a lineup of men while being beat trying to make it to the other side. The point is that if you made it through you were strong enough to be a member of the rebel group and were physically strong as well. Another example, however, which tested them psychologically, was the test where they had to stand in a straight line and get shot at. What the children did not know was that the gun would not actual release bullets. They were deceived and told that they were above normal humans and would be protected from the enemies’ bullets because they were