Author: Hank Nuwer

The SAE decision to ban pledging comes at a good time. This week a pledge at the Univ. of Connecticut blamed Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon for a close call during an alcohol-laced, blindfolded initiation. Hazing by fraternities and sororities together has led to serious incidents, including a deat at Utah State–Moderator

Here is the NBC report. EXCERPT

A UConn student says she was forced into a night of heavy drinking and ended up in the hospital.

Hillary Holt says when she woke up in a hospital bed, she found out her blood alcohol level had reached nearly three times over .08, the legal limit to drive.

“I could have been dead this morning if I did not end up at the hospital,” said Holt.

The UConn sophomore said it all went down at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon off-campus fraternity house Thursday night where she was led to a room and saw three girls blindfolded.

“It went from a happy moment to very scary in a matter of seconds,” said Holt. “I knew as soon as I entered the room I was going to be hazed.”

Holt accuses members of her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity of forcing her and other girls to drink.

“We had to lay on the floor and sizzle like bacon, hold our ankles, jump up and down,” said Holt. “If we did it right, we had to drink. If we did it wrong, we had to drink.”

Her are some of my thoughts on the decision of SAE to end pledging.

I approve wholeheartedly and commend the SAE executive board for a bold decision that may save lives.

Some thoughts:

The decision to drop pledging was long overdue by a national such as SAE, particularly since it has experienced more hazing deaths than any other fraternity, as well as deaths and serious injuries from other risky behaviors.

The organization essentially had to do an end around its undergraduates who have consistently voted to keep alcohol in houses and to continue pledging as the status quo.

Expect a blowback from undergraduate chapters.  Right after it was announced a Univ of Connecticut Kappa Kappa Gamma pledge blamed KKG and the SAE chapter of hazing her by forcing her to drink. She was hospitalized and claims she might have died had not someone called 911.

Clearly there will be undergraduate chapters defying the national, and the national’s resolve to punish such chapters will be tested.

Eventually, meaning in 4 years, all members who went thru the old-fashioned pledging will have graduated, and it should be much smoother sailing for the dropping of the pledge period..

As a business, SAE is making a sound decision.  The benefits in fewer payouts for hazing cases  will translate to huge risk insurance savings.

There still is a 4-day window from acceptance to member privileges for the new classes of SAE.  School officials would be wise to keep a wary eye on SAE during those four days lest veteran members at some chapters decide it is important to indoctrinate the pledges the old way.

Hank Nuwer

Here is the story link.  New York’s major breakthrough in hazing law reform came as a result of the advocacy of Eileen Stevens following the death of her son Chuck Stenzel in February of 1978. I find it appropriate that this new law is being considered as the 36th anniversary of Chuck’s death is occurring.

CBS carried this story: “Two state lawmakers are looking to strengthen New York’s anti-hazing laws after a Baruch College fraternity member died in December.

Assemblyman David Weprin, D-Fresh Meadows, announced Sunday he has co-authored a bill that would expand the state’s current anti-hazing statute by prohibiting “all physical conduct and physical activities required from fraternities during the pledging ceremonies,” he said in a news release. The current law prohibits conduct that creates a substantial risk of physical injury or causes injury.

“We were kind of too general as to what would come under the classification of hazing, which is already illegal under New York state law,” Weprin told WCBS 880.

“We want to make fraternities or any organization aware of this legislation and the need to crack down on any of these rituals that involve any form of physical contact. The intent may not be to cause physical injury, but once you’re dealing with physical contact, you don’t know where it’s going to end up.”

The legislation has been named “Michael’s Law,” in honor of Chun “Michael” Deng, 19, who died after sustaining a fatal brain injury after participating in an initiation ritual during a Pi Delta Psi trip to Tunkhannock Township, Pa., in December. Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania coroner ruled Deng’s death a homicide.

Monroe County District Attorney David Christine has said he plans to file criminal charges in the freshman’s death.”

@hazing @TheWellsReport sidesteps hazing in sport. It ignores hazing’s hidden harm, its pervasiveness, its mean-as-a-snake nature. Grade F to it. –Hank Nuwer

Here is the link

Excerpt:

Baruch College freshman Chun “Michael” Deng, 19, died in December of “closed head injuries … due to blunt force head trauma,” said Mary Wallace of the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, coroner’s office.

In a statement Friday, Baruch College said it “supports the ongoing efforts of Monroe County law enforcement to hold responsible those involved in the tragic death.”

The college had said Deng died while participating in an unsanctioned fraternity pledging event and that it has a “zero tolerance policy regarding hazing.”

Charges are expected in Deng’s death, Monroe County District Attorney E. David Christine said in December.

More than 30 members of Pi Delta Psi were conducting a ritual outdoors for new pledges called the “glass ceiling,” according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by CNN.

The objective was for Deng, who was blindfolded and wearing a backpack filled with a 20-pound bag of sand, to navigate toward someone who was calling for him “while other fraternity brothers physically prevent that from happening,” witnesses said, according to the affidavit.

Deng fell backward, struck his head and was unconscious and unresponsive immediately after he fell, the document states.

Pi Delta Psi Fraternity Inc. said after Deng’s death that it had “revoked and terminated all affiliation with the Baruch Colony,” as the fraternity is known.