Hazing concerns put to rest

Samantha Bare
News Editor

If the new Greek members were concerned about undergoing hazing initiation rituals, their fears were laid to rest last week.
Hazing Prevention Week kicked off on Monday with a showing of “Haze”, a documentary centering on the tragedy of Gordie Bailey in an attempt to show others that hazing does exist on college campuses and can be deadly. Bailey, a college freshman, rushed a fraternity and, as a pledge, had to go through alcohol hazing rituals. He ended up dying from over consumption of alcohol. The documentary was meant to make students aware of the effects of alcohol and the dangers that can accompany certain hazing rituals.
Other events in the week included information tables in the W.T. Harris Dining Hall on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday featured a faculty lunch and banner-hanging in the DPC.
The week wound down with a leadership roundtable on Friday. “On Friday, we met with leadership from each chapter,” said Graduate Assistant of Greek Life Zach Blackmon. “We wanted to spend more time discussing what to do in different hazing situations as well as the legal implications if something were to happen.”
Each chapter also had the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other and come up with activities for new members that were not considered hazing.
The Wingate student handbook defines hazing as “an act/activity which endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student regardless of intent, location, or consent of participant(s)” (pg 38). It lists forcing the consumption of alcohol, sleep deprivation and physical assault as examples.
Sigma Sigma Sigma President Emily Holmes explained the no-tolerance policy her sorority employs. “We strongly encourage our new members to participate in everything that our initiated sisters participate in.”
She continued, “Bridget DuPre, our Vice President and New Member Educator, has worked and is continuing to work very hard to ensure that our new members feel as welcomed and comfortable during their transition period as possible. Other measures are in place to make sure that hazing is never a part of our organization.”
While the direct effectiveness of the week cannot be measured yet, Greek community leaders feel they reached their goal for the week. “We did it for increased awareness,” said Jacki Emmenecker, president of Alpha Xi Delta. “We don’t know the true effects of it because we’ve never really done it before, but I do think it definitely increased awareness.”
Blackmon agreed, “If nothing else, it made everyone think about something for one week that they usually don’t for the other 51 weeks.”