Hazing problem down
By Sharon Christensen and Michelle Devera
Daily Forty-Niner
The days of panty raids and goldfish swallowing
may be over.
With rush season beginning Thursday, Cal
State Long Beachís office of Student Life and Development has made an effort
to eliminate the potentially abusive practices of hazing.
"I still think there is hazing that still
happens that we don't know about," said Kim Padulo, director of student
life and development for Greek affairs and leadership programs. "I think
itís minor."
Some fraternities and sororities even have
rid their recruitment process of pledging, the initiation period for prospective
members, or have shortened pledging, Padulo said.
For the past three years, Padulo said,
there have not been any complaints of hazing by the campus' traditional
fraternities and sororities, the National Panhellenic Council and the National
Interfraternity Conference.
The other types of Greek organizations
are the National Pan-Hellenic Council, a governing body for African-American
fraternities and sororities, and other ethnic-based fraternities and sororities
which do not belong to a particular national organization.
These organizations could not be reached
for comment.
However, unfair stereotypes blemish Padulo's
untainted three years, she said.
"People have these ideas about sororities
and fraternities," said Marianne Soratorio, CSULB pledge chairwoman for
Kappa Psi Epsilon. "They hear the stories."
One such rumor, which Soratorio heard,
involved pledges stripping down to swimsuits and the sororityís members
brutally detailing any physical flaws on the pledgeís body.
"It could be true," Soratorio said. "It
could not be true."
The university's code of conduct for fraternities
and sororities defines hazing as "any action taken or situation created
which... produces, or is reasonably likely to produce, bodily harm or danger,
mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, fright, humiliation,
intimidation, degradation, or ridicule or otherwise compromises the dignity
of an individual."
The policy continues to include any "activity
that is unlawful, perverse, publicly indecent, contrary to the rules, policies
and regulations of the university or which is known by the compelling person
to be contrary to the individual's genuine moral or religious beliefs."
The university forbids hazing, but the
policy is not so easily defined in practice.
"They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder,"
said Alex Castillo, the 1997-1998 president of Delta Sigma Chi and a CSULB
alumnus. "Well so is hazing."
Soratorio agrees.
"When we were recognized, there was no
specific training to make sure of our understanding of the rules of hazing
for the university," she said.
If there is a complaint, Padulo said, that
person must make it in writing and take it to the Student Life and Development
office located on the second floor of the University Student Union.
The offending fraternity or sororityís
national organization is then notified.
"The most severe disciplinary action we
have is withholding their recognition," Padulo said. "The group can still
continue to recruit our students and abuse them. Thatís why we work with
the national organizations because they have more tools at their disposal.
We can also pursue legal avenues, but on a personal basis."
Padulo also said that hazing was not part
of Greek tradition.
"Hazing started after World War II with
the influx of veterans," she said. "They brought a boot camp mentality
to the experience. It absolutely has no place in Greek life."
That part of the experience, Castillo said,
is important.
"If we stop doing it," Castillo said, "it
will alienate some of our members because they did it and the pledges wonít
get the full experience and the desire for the organization." |
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