Hearing upperclassmen speak of a pool on top of the T-annex at the new campus my sophomore year was convincing. Had it not been for the slight smirk that accompanied each senior who was a part of these conversations, I might’ve found myself searching for water splashing off the roof’s edge and wondering if I was gazing up at the wrong annex. This was the furthest I saw ‘hazing’ go at LASA, and I’m not sure if the teasing even reached the threshold to be considered anything more than a prank.
Ceremonies and traditions of induction have become a large part of certain high schools’ culture, as well as a custom of Greek life at universities, but the objectives of hazing have shifted entirely from its original purposes. Ensuring that candidates are worthy of being accepted and creating community between students entering organizations has largely turned to senior members of groups simply using their power to mock and degrade incoming members. Despite the lack of severe hazing incidents at high schools in Austin, the case is unfortunately different for institutions such as the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Severe cases of hazing at UT have all been predominantly attributed to fraternities rather than sororities, including those instances in which students attempting to get into frats, or pledges, end up dead. The severe mental and physical harm that comes along with hazing should not be tolerated at high schools and universities across the nation. No matter how strongly members of institutions believe that these grueling experiences can result in character-building, the potential consequences of this harsh treatment should take far more precedence.
According to the Dallas Morning News, seven students at UT Austin have died in hazing-related incidents since 1987. 2017 saw the most recent of these deaths with that of 20-year-old Nicky Cumberland, a new member of the historical student organization ‘Texas Cowboys’. After drinking mass amounts of alcohol, witnessing animal abuse, and enduring severe physical abuse at a Cowboys event, Cumberland was driven home by an intoxicated member. The car crashed and in an instant, a young, bright mind was extinguished. In 2019, the Cowboys were suspended from being an organization at UT Austin for six years. However, they were approved to return to campus this year, bringing their punishment to an end two years short of its initial length.
Cases similar to the aforementioned have occurred in colleges across the nation, but the main cause of hazing deaths has been alcohol poisoning. A large amount of the pledges’ ingestion of alcohol goes on during a single week known as “Hell Week”. Most fraternities and sororities have this week of pledging to weed out candidates that are unwilling to show their determination and loyalty. Horror stories from Hell Week include forced eating, binge drinking, being forced into uncomfortably small spaces with fellow pledges, being at the beck and call of senior members of the organization, and being deprived of sleep. Although these experiences require those going through initiation to show they’re willing to go to great measures to be a part of a brother or sisterhood, there is no reason that these should be the methods used to do so. Hazing should be used to prove determination in safe ways, should be done in a humane manner, and, while determining which people have the right motives for joining, should happen with the goal of bonding incoming members together.
Similar to the Texas Cowboys being allowed back to campus with what feels like scant punishment, hundreds of other incidents amongst organizations, sports teams, and clubs have gone undisciplined or, even worse, unreported. According to the University of Maryland, 95% of hazing incidents are not reported. With only occurrences that are egregious enough to catch the attention of law enforcement or those which are dangerous enough for students to need to be rushed to the hospital being reported, there is no telling how far many hazing experiences go behind the scenes.
Hazing is a cycle that must be broken. Senior members of teams, frats, and sororities may hold the belief that because they had to go through intense testing to gain their spot, others should too. However, with this mentality comes severe injury and psychological damage, neither of which are necessary in deciding whether a person is worthy of a position or not.
