Filed under: News, Interviews, Profiles, Race and Civil Rights
I've never understood the attraction of the Greek lifestyle for college students.
I've heard all the reasons from my best friends, girlfriends and others why pledging Q-Dog, Kappa or Alpha would have been a smart move during my college days. They talk about the sense of brotherhood, the lifetime friendships and the community service that pledging a frat can spawn.
I can't argue with any of the that. I guess that for some students, especially those who feel alienated and alone on their campuses, the sense of belonging provided by a brotherhood or sisterhood is a wonderful thing.
But one question I have never had answered to my satisfaction by fraternity supporters is why do you have to go through a beat down to join. If it's all about unity, why do you show it with hostility?
It's likely a question that former San Jose State University student Courtney Howard is asking herself now since filing a lawsuit against four Sigma Gamma Rho sorority members who were convicted of hazing her in 2008 during the pledge process.
Howard said she and other pledges were warned that "snitches get stitches" while they were punched, kicked and paddled during their initiation.
Sigma Gamma Rho sisters Princess Odom, Monique Hughes, Joslyn Beard and Nicole Remble (pictured above, clockwise from top-left) pleaded no contest earlier this year to misdemeanor hazing and were sentenced to 90 days in jail, two years probation and banned from associating with the sorority.
Part of me wants to say that Howard should have known what she was getting into; no frat or sorority hides the fact that pledging will take some mental and physical endurance.
But there's a thin line between tough pledging and abuse - and I don't expect a 17-year-old "Big Brother" or "Big Sister" to always know where that line is drawn.
I will concede that the San Jose State University Sigma Gamma Rho mess is an aberration when it comes to black Greek organizations, which do far more good than harm overall.
But as long as any frat or sorority allows hazing to be a part of their practice, the door is open to abuse, lawsuits and imprisonment.