Clearing the haze

Undercover pledges could help decrease hazing incidents

Here's a scenario: it's the fall pledge period -- a big time of the year for University fraternities and sororities. It's the time when the next class of members come in to take part in Greek life.

Joe Student rushes one of these organizations. In doing so, he learns the ins and outs of the Greek system: how they do philanthropies, how they party and how they haze.

The Greek organizations want their members to be completely dedicated to their organization, so they screen applicants carefully, testing them in many different ways.

One of those tests just happens to be hazing.

Joe's duty was solely to seek out the organizations that haze and bring them to justice. He is an undercover pledge hired to assist with hazing investigations at the University.

This "21 Jump Street"-type scenario has not actually happened at the University; but what if the University and the Interfraternity Council Board of Control did use such undercover methods to find out who's following the rules and who's not?

Perhaps if they collaborated with random investigations of Greek organizations every semester, the incidents of hazing would greatly decrease. Simply put, the IFC and the University need to take an aggressive stance against hazing, because often, students do not understand the consequences.

Some may say that hazing is not even a problem at the University.

At the Feb. 24 IFC meeting, University President Graham Spanier admitted hazing is an immediate concern at the University when he talked about the members of a fraternity who came to University Health Services, showing health "patterns" that look like hazing injuries.

But hazing crackdowns should not be centered solely around Greek organizations. Other University-sponsored groups haze, even though hazing is against IFC and University policies, and on a bigger scale, it's against Pennsylvania law.

Some may say "Hey -- I survived hazing. It won't hurt anybody."

Not true. If the alleged hazing incidents at Penn State do not provide enough evidence to convince people that hazing does hurt, perhaps evidence from other universities could convince them.

At Colorado University, a student reportedly almost died after fraternity members wrapped duct tape around his hands and ankles, bound him to a chair and forced him to drink a pint of whiskey and a bottle of beer. According the student's mother, he suffered from an adrenal deficiency called Addison's Disease, and the fraternity members did not allow the student to take his medication.

Some may say there is no money to fund undercover investigations into hazing violations.

Student safety alone warrants the money for this type of undercover crackdown.

Whatever the misconceptions about the deadliness of hazing may be, there is really no doubt that it is a problem and needs to be talked about more openly and investigated more aggressively by both the University and IFC.

Talk alone will not solve the problem. Only serious action will suffice.

A Band-Aid will not heal the wounds hazing can bring to this campus.