December 12, 2007

Indian Universities Warned to Take Action Against Hazing

New Delhi — India’s Supreme Court this week ordered the country’s higher-education institutions to make clear to students that anyone found guilty of hazing — called “ragging” in India — would be expelled, The Times of India reported.

This year a court-appointed committee found that nearly 200 instances of serious hazing had been reported in the past nine years. Hazing, the committee wrote in May, has allegedly been the reason for many student suicides. Some students allegedly died while being tortured during hazing, and others were beaten so badly that they suffered severe injuries.

The situation “has only worsened both in terms of the incidence of the menace as well as in terms of the intensity or degree of brutality associated with it,” the report said.

The court issued a similar directive after the report was released in May, but this month said universities had not taken effective action. So it ordered all institutions to place a warning in their admissions brochures that hazing would result in immediate expulsion.

The problem of hazing came to the court’s attention after a case was filed in 2005 by a student who had allegedly been sexually assaulted by a number of other students.

The court has also asked other government agencies and academic associations to help eliminate hazing in higher-education institutions. —Shailaja Neelakantan

BATESVILLE, AR — The parents of some East Carter County R-2 students were in Region 8 Wednesday following up on what they say was a hazing incident this summer.

The parent’s say eleven junior high boys were the victims of sexual related hazing while they were at a summer basketball camp at Lyon College in Batesville.

“Six of the boys that came from our school, they were upper classmen. They initiated and hazed and things just got way out of control on the younger classmen,” said parent Tina Wilkins.

The parents say six months after the incident, they want action.

“I think that if they boys that had been violated had been females that it would have already been taken care of, but because it was boys on boys people are trying to downplay it and rule it off as boys being mean or boys being boys,” said Wilkins.

The parents say they don’t feel enough is being done by the court system to punish the six older boys they say assaulted the children.

“They’ve given us several court dates but they keep getting postponed and we’ve been advised not to show up,” said Wilkins.

“We’re not getting any information. We feel like over and over again the officials in Independence County are going out of their way to make this go away,” said parent Kelly Saffle.

“Victims of a crime like this need support and all we’re asking him to do is do his job,” said parent Jeff Stephens.

Region 8 News contacted Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Brightwell, who the parents of the victims say is handling the case and here’s what he told us:

“The law prevents me from discussing juvenile cases, therefore I can’t comment on this case.”

The parents said every one of the people involved in this case, including the alleged suspects, are juveniles, however their sons need closure to move on.

“We’ve tried to allow the system to work properly. We didn’t want this brought out either because this is going to hurt our boys to keep bringing it up,” said Stephens.

“I want to see the perpetrators punished into some type of counseling,” said Saffle.

Since the incident in June, these parents have banded together. They say regardless of what happens with the criminal case a civil case has been filed to bring what they say happened to their sons to light.

“The whole point is just so it doesn’t have to happen again and nobody’s boys have to go through this again,” said Wilkins.

The parents tell Region 8 News the alleged suspects in the case have been suspended from the school in East Carter County, in Missouri. The school, Lyon College has not been accused of any wrong doing.

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Note from moderator: Letter from parent below.

Thank you Hank for the coverage, we appreciate it! I only have a few corrections I would like to make clear – in the last sentence of the story, the news made a mistake in stating that Lyon College has not been accused of any wrongdoing! They have INDEED been accused of wrongdoing…. and have been named in a civil action suit filed by the parents of the victims. I would also like to make clear that we, the parents not only want the perpetrators assigned into some kind of counseling, we also want them to be punished to the full extent of the law for the unspeakable crimes against our boys.
Also, not every perpetrator was a juvenile by Missouri standards, of course these crimes took place in Arkansas, and the age requirements are different there. I know of at least 1 perp that has now turned 18 and COULD HAVE been charged as an adult.
We, as the parents of the victims have never referred to this as just a “hazing” incident….these horrific crimes went way beyond hazing.
Again, we thank you for your continued support and coverage of our story and our journey, we indeed hope and pray that no parent ever has to fight this hard to get the justice their child deserves in a case such as this…it is truly pathetic and a real eye opener to the TRUE workings of the Independence County justice system.

Link to Katie Karas story at The Pennsylvanian 

For some students, Greek life starts before they reach college.

Ninety years ago, 11 Jewish students at West Philadelphia High School founded what later would become an international organization that united Jewish high school boys from all over the Western hemisphere.

Sigma Alpha Rho, the high school fraternity they created, celebrated its 90th anniversary last month.

High school fraternities and sororities, which were once more prevalent nationwide, have gradually become rarer as national organizations crumbled under opposition from teachers, administrators and parents.

Six percent of high school students participate in fraternities or sororities, according to a study at Alfred University.

Matt Bagell, 26, was a member of a Sigma Alpha Rho chapter in New Jersey and is the current Supreme Exalted Ruler of the fraternity. He said the organization differs from other youth groups because of the level of independence the chapters exhibit.

“Chapters pretty much run events alone, unlike most youth groups, where parents arrange things,” Bagell said. Events include activities like attending sporting events or planning dances for students at nearby high schools.

Hank Nuwer, author of High School Hazing, said high school fraternities and sororities fell into decline after a series of highly publicized incidents in the early 1900s, in which pledges were injured or killed during pledging events involving alcohol and violent hazing rituals.

The Alfred study found that 76 percent of high school students in fraternities or sororities – the largest percentage of students in any type of organization – reported that they were hazed in some way in order to join. Comparatively, 73 percent of gang members reported that they had been hazed.

Bagell said SAR has diminished in scope in recent years, but said the decline does not involve a backlash against hazing or alcohol-related incidents.

He said the pledging process is overseen by alumni and focuses on teaching new members about the organization’s history and how to plan events.

Though Bagell did not deny that members often try to drink at fraternity events, he said alumni work to prevent underage students from sneaking alcohol into events and search bags during the mid-year and summer conventions.

SAR was created in 1917 because the founders were excluded from many extracurricular activities due to their Jewish heritage.

The fraternity, which used to have chapters across the nation, is now mostly contained to the Northeast.

An anniversary party took place in Philadelphia in May and attracted 400 to 500 alumni and current members from across the country.

Fraternity sanctioned in hazing

By: Kevin Robillard

Posted: 12/11/07

The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity will face sanctions after a hazing investigation determined the chapter violated their national organization’s policies when stain remover was used in an initiation ceremony, the fraternity’s national director said yesterday.

Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life Director Mike Hayes said his office will not complete its own investigation until later this week but will also punish the chapter.

ZBT Executive Director Jonathan Yulish declined to say whether or not the incident constituted hazing, which is illegal in this state.

“I won’t characterize it one way or the other,” he said.

Yulish confirmed, however, that ZBT’s investigation determined a “waterfall,” which had previously been described in an OFSL memo obtained by The Diamondback, did take place and that it was a violation of the fraternity’s risk-management policy.

According to the memo, new fraternity members were placed in a circle and made to chant the name of the fraternity’s founders. Water was poured over his head of any member who made a mistake.

At some point during the initiation, an older fraternity member allegedly put Shout stain remover in the hair of a new member and when water was poured over his head, he was injured.

Both the OFSL and ZBT have declined to describe the injury.

“There were a lot of rumors flying around campus,” Yulish said. “[The new member] wasn’t blinded. He didn’t have chemicals poured in his eye.”

Nor were the new member’s injuries permanent, Yulish said.

Yulish said the chapter’s executive board members have been removed and placed on probation for the rest of their undergraduate careers.

The new executive board must have their actions approved by alumni trustees. They are also ineligible for awards from the national organization and must document that they are obeying the sanctions.

Both Student Government Association President Andrew Friedson and Inter-Fraternity Council President Arkady Gelman are members of ZBT.

The chapter will have to pay for the investigation and an anti-hazing speaker and brochure.

ATO

By MEGAN ROLLAND AND JACK STRIPLING
Sun staff writers

A University of Florida fraternity has been placed on probation because of hazing allegations, the university’s Greek Judicial Board ruled Friday.
Continue to 2nd paragraph

Alpha Tau Omega allegedly held a late-night “line up” where pledges were forced to correctly recite fraternity history or be tossed into a “mud pit” as punishment, according to UF officials.

In response to the allegations, ATO will be placed on conduct probation through the fall of 2008, the board ruled. As such, the fraternity will be prohibited from recruiting new members or hosting social events through the spring of 2008. Each fraternity member is also required to conduct five hours of community service. The chapter is also required to participate in educational programs, including one on hazing.

The board considered a number of hazing allegations, including a requirement that new members clean the houses of fraternity brothers and serve as their designated drivers through all hours of the night.

Link
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20071211/COLUMNISTS/712110313/1021/news