Deadly Consequences of Greek Life
By Benjamin Goldstein
Hazing is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “The practice of playing unpleasant tricks on someone or forcing someone to do unpleasant things.” This, unfortunately, is a part of fraternity life and has been for a very long time. Publicly, of course, the organizations will ubiquitously deny that such practices go on. Why, it’s even in most of their rulebooks that there is a blanket ban on hazing. But do these claims actually convince anyone? Just about anybody in Greek life will, if promised confidentiality, let you know that these practices are common. Hazing practices can range from embarrassing to dangerous, and need to be addressed.
I recently interviewed an ex-fraternity member who shared with me stories of some of the hazing that he witnessed at Clemson. To be perfectly fair, my source left his fraternity
brothers behind two years ago. Perhaps, since then, major reform has occurred
and these practices have been abandoned. Perhaps. He told me of one especially
disturbing practice, called “the elephant walk.” Surprised that I hadn’t already
heard a description of this, my source informed me of the details. Feel free to
type that into Urban Dictionary if you need enlightenment like I did. Apparently,
the goal of this practice is to increase solidarity through group humiliation. Some
bonding is supposed to occur from everybody being embarrassed in the same
fashion. Now, as disturbing as this might be, it has become justified since it only
causes psychological harm. This is a dangerous distinction that acts as if
psychological harm is not important. However, there are more physically
dangerous practices that place actual lives at risk.
Again, if you ask anybody, they will typically deny that anything wrong goes on,
and yet the hazing is obvious. My freshman year, one of my friends was pledging
an unnamed fraternity. A practice they required was intensive drinking, as each
pledge was given a handle of their favorite liquor and made to drink it in a single
sitting. My friend succeeded, and then went down for the count. Now, if he had
died, it would’ve made news. But, thanks to modern medical practices, he
survived. He drank enough to kill him but, luckily, his stomach was pumped
before the alcohol poisoning became fatal, so nothing was made of it at all. This
situation, and the countless others that occur, go entirely unreported. Nobody died, so the hazing must not have been too intense, right? This sort of event begs the question, how high would the death toll be if we counted overdoses in which the students happen to be saved by medical professionals? There is no accountability in these situations; they are disregarded.
I don’t have any real solution to offer. I’m not a brother. I don’t know the intricacies of hazing, and I don’t know any way to get to the source of the problem and make it stop. The unorthodox practices of degradation are disturbing and should be prevented. But a solution to the dangers of binge drinking is far more necessary. Every year a student on some campus passes on from these practices, and every couple of years it hits home. We have another death, it’s publicized as a “Clemson family tragedy,” there’s some minimal punishment, a candlelit vigil, and then, the hazing continues. If our university actually thought of this as a tragedy in the family, they would stop future tragedies from occurring. They wouldn’t allow the memories to be wiped clean when a new group of students comes in who haven’t experienced a hazing death in their own class. Clemson requires an alcohol education program, and it hasn’t stopped the hazing. The IFC can’t keep pretending their policies are working, can’t keep denying that these practices are going on. The pledging procedure needs to be seriously investigated in order to prevent more harm, psychological or physical, from happening to another fellow student, friend, and Tiger.
