The Learning Network Blog: Student Opinion | Would You Ever Go Through Hazing to Be Part of a Group?

In April Binghamton University stopped all fraternity and sorority pledging in response to an "alarmingly high number of serious hazing complaints." These complaints include descriptions of pledges being forced to walk barefoot in the snow (while getting frostbite) and being branded on their legs.

Hazing rituals that incorporate some form of physical or emotional abuse are not unique to campus Greek life. Many groups, including athletic teams, military units and high school clubs, use some form of hazing to initiate new members.

While 44 states have passed anti-hazing laws and many universities have outlawed hazing, the practice persists. Would you ever go through hazing to be part of a group?

In the article "At a Campus Scarred by Hazing, Cries for Help," Peter Applebome writes:

One student said she feared for her boyfriend's health and ability to do his schoolwork because he was coming home from fraternity pledging around 4 a.m. with gashes and cuts on his hands and elbows that reopened daily.
A parent said her son returned home with a shaved head and injuries, from running barefoot on a bed of rocks, that required an emergency room visit and subsequent treatment.
Another student said he was hazed night after night, until right before morning classes. He wrote in an anonymous e-mail to the university, "I was hosed, waterboarded, force-fed disgusting mixtures of food, went through physical exercises until I passed out, and crawled around outside in my boxers to the point where my stomach, elbows, thighs and knees are filled with cuts, scrapes and bruises."
It is a new school year at Binghamton University, one of the most prestigious public institutions in the Northeast. But the most urgent order of business is one left over from the last school year — a hazing scandal that forced the university to suspend pledging and induction at all fraternities and sororities.

Students

Would you ever go through hazing to be part of a group you really wanted to join? What are the lines you would refuse to cross to gain membership to a group?
Hazing rituals on college campuses like Binghamton University often involve drinking large amounts of alcohol. Why do you think alcohol is part of the hazing process, and how do you think it makes hazing more dangerous?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

Teachers: We ask a new Student Opinion question each weekday, and leave most open to comment indefinitely. Here is a list of the 163 questions we asked during the 2011-12 school year.