Hazing Prevention : Lesson 1

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

The norms of a social group vary depending on who the group consists of, what the group represents, when the group is together, where the group is located, and how large the group is. The norms of a culture are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members (Macionis 58). A subculture refers to cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population (Macionis 64). Here at Saint Francis University, sororities are a subculture of the campus’s society and inside that subculture the pledge class can be found.

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,

Between family legacies, traditions, and an abundance of college themed movies, books, and television shows, it would be difficult to find a prospective college student who is not familiar with the idea of “Greek life.” For the purpose of this essay, “Greek life” refers to the system employed by many colleges and universities to establish and maintain fraternities and sororities (primarily dominated by caucasian and economically advantages students). It is important to note the existence of fraternities and organizations outside of this stereotypical “Greek” realm, such as coeducational honor and service based fraternities, though even these are not fully exempt from detrimental practices. Fraternities and sororities are often looked down upon with a negative light for a number of reasons, some of which include dangerous hazing habits and unsavory social scenes. While there certainly are undeniable benefits and negatives within these systems, the biggest effect they have is on gender. “Greek life” in college is unhealthy due to its impact on post-college gender expectations by promoting party culture, encouraging misogyny through ingrained tradition, and indoctrinating women into subservience at an impressionable age.

The binge drinking and partying of fraternities and sororities is now under the concern of the chapter locally and nationally. Every year there is a national hazing awareness week that every fraternity and sorority on every campus in America participates in. The only way to fix the problem is the educate people about the problem. To outweigh the heavy expense on a member’s pocket is the ability to apply for scholarships within a fraternity or sorority nationally. A Greek organization offers aid when needed and if cannot solely help look for other outlets for financial aid for a member. Organizations focus on education and give endless resources to members within the house and on campus. Members of Greek organizations have so much potential to become well-rounded individuals and being in these organizations helps them shape these potentials to achieve the most success as

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

In the Bystander Training the Step-Up program at Radford University was taught. This program aims to inform students of proper strategies and techniques to directly or indirectly intervene in emergency or nonemergency situations. There are number of situations that happens on campus around the nation like, hazing, bullying, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual assault, and academic integrity. This program will teach students how to properly intervene to prevent or stop the situations just described. This program is also eager to get out to classrooms, school events, non-school events, athletic teams, and even sorority’s or fraternities to teach.

The United States Marine Corps is unfortunately involved in an underlying issue within its own ranks called hazing. Hazing is an overlooked problem being dealt with today in the military as it is enforced and prevented. As hazing is becoming more commonly identified, Marines are being held accountable. As you read this paper you will find out about this issue. You will be engaged in the Marine Corps order that covers this very topic. General James F. Amos scrutinizes the act of hazing in saying, “Hazing is contrary to our core values of honor, courage, and commitment and is prejudicial to good order and discipline.” He continues to explain that hazing greatly reduces morale, esprit de corps, pride, professionalism, and unit cohesiveness.

As seen on many campuses fraternities have been trying to prevent sexual assault by creating programs. One program that has been created to help prevent sexual assault is the FratMANers program (Fraternity Men Against Negative Environments and

Numerous students that are looking into joining a Greek organization may find that hazing seems to be enormous issue. In

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

Over several decades, Greek life has been an integral part of colleges and universities throughout the United States. There is a high demand of “fitting in” in today’s society and a question that students, parents, and teachers alike often ask themselves is, “Does Greek life provide a more safe or harmful environment?” With strong evidence, it is absolutely absurd to believe that fraternities and sororities do more good than they do harm. Various statistics provide factual evidence as to why Greek life is a toxic and dangerous environment for many young adults. Between the rape culture, hazing, and delinquency linked to the students associated with Greek life, it is time that it comes to an end for good so that students may have a more safe and enjoyable college experience. Fraternities and Sororities should be banned off of college and university campuses due to the danger and drama associated with them.

For the past 16 years, persistent combat operations, deployment readiness training exercises, and reintegration efforts have consumed the U.S. Army. Continuous deployments and significant time away from home station have increased the stress levels of the force. As new recruits and members of an Army organization integrate into a combat-hardened force, initiation and membership rituals continue to occur. Recent reports of new recruits and Soldiers serving in a war zone detail horrible and debilitating cases of hazing and bullying which led to the deaths of service members (Manzanedo, 2013).

Kellie Stephens provides exemplary training and development programs. She and the company’s goals are to provide in-house training seminars with up-to-date sexual harassment and safety procedures. She also understands the need for management training including people skills which include “communities of practices”, “snack and chat”, and consistent implementation of PAC policies. Communities of practice continue growing in its efforts with different departments coming on board with the program. Snack and chat gives employees the opportunity to discuss and be heard about their ideas with which to continue PAC’s performance. The managers including Dick Remington and Gary Stephens are not accepting of the proper procedures with which PAC’s Code of Ethics consist of. These are a few to the many who are accepting of the proper training procedures. Training can always use improvements with learning how to learn in mind. Each individual person learns differently. Developing action plans for managers and employees who have completed training which provides continued efforts for encouragement and feedback. Individuals who display success with learning techniques and reach desired goals within the action plan will become the coaches and role models for new trainees. With simple in-house developments on training, we as a company can continue to succeed with the goals of

Hazing is “rituals used to initiate new members into fraternities, sororities and other “Greek-letter” organizations, athletic teams, marching bands and military units. Hazing can range from seemingly innocuous discomfort, embarrassment or ridicule, such as wearing silly clothing or singing the school fight song in a public place to what some feel is psychological abuse” (Hansen). Hazing is perceived as an entertaining technique to mess with the new people, but it is becoming a very serious issue. People do not realize that hazing is leading to a series of injuries and deaths. The most common place hazing is practiced at is on university campuses, including the University of California Riverside. The “University of California Policies Applying to Campus Activities, Organizations and Students, defines hazing as the participation in any method of initiation or pre-initiation into a campus organization or other activity engaged in by the organization or members of the organization at any time that causes, or is likely to cause, physical injury or personal degradation or disgrace resulting in psychological harm to any student or other person” (Heng). UC Riverside has a strict no hazing rule, but it is easily misunderstood by students. Hazing new members is a “tradition,” but this tradition needs to be put to a stop. Putting an end to hazing will be extremely difficult because “hazing incidents nationwide are difficult to quantify because the rituals,