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I never understood the appeal of joining a sorority, it's a ton of money and it just pays for a poorly maintained house you got to live in as a senior...with a whole house full of other women, I'll pass. Our campus was dry, I guess that's why people went Greek, so they could drink off campus... I saved my money and just got good at smuggling, drank responsibly and made sure my friends didn't do anything stupid while drinking.
I remember reading this piece in The Atlantic back in November 2017 about how these huge state universities keep making the same mistakes again and again when it comes to dealing with the problems of hazing and binge drinking within the Greek system, and yet nothing ever changes because, again, so much of the PR push to drive up enrollments is to present a party like atmosphere. The focus on this piece was Tim Piazza, a Penn State kid who had fallen down a flight of stairs during a hazing event at his fraternity, Beta Theta Pi. The stupid (and likely wasted) members waited nearly 12 hours before calling 911. The quote below talks about the typical cycle that takes place after a hazing death. At the end of the cycle, another kid dies at some other huge college:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...-state/540657/
Quote:
Every year or so brings another such death, another healthy young college man a victim of hazing at the hands of one of the nation’s storied social fraternities. And with each new death, the various stakeholders perform in ways that are so ritualized, it’s almost as though they are completing the second half of the same hazing rite that killed the boy.
The fraternity enters a “period of reflection”; it may appoint a “blue-ribbon panel.” It will announce reforms that look significant to anyone outside the system, but that are essentially cosmetic. Its most dramatic act will be to shut down the chapter, and the house will stand empty for a time, its legend growing ever more thrilling to students who walk past and talk of a fraternity so off the chain that it killed a guy. In short order it will “recolonize” on the campus, and in a few years the house will be back in business.
The president of the college or university where the tragedy occurred will make bold statements about ensuring there is never another fraternity death at his institution. But he knows—or will soon discover—that fraternity executives do not serve at the pleasure of college presidents. He will be forced into announcing his own set of limp reforms. He may “ban” the fraternity from campus, but since the fraternity will have probably closed the chapter already, he will be revealed as weak.
Quote:
The grieving parents will appear on television. In their anger and sorrow, they will hope to press criminal charges. Usually they will also sue the fraternity, at which point they will discover how thoroughly these organizations have indemnified themselves against culpability in such deaths. The parents will try to turn their grief into meaningful purpose, but they will discover how intractable a system they are up against, and how draining the process of chipping away at it is. They will be worn down by the endless civil case that forces them to relive their son’s passing over and over. The ritual will begin to slow down, but then a brand-new pair of parents—filled with the energy and outrage of early grief—will emerge, and the cycle will begin again.
I see no benefit to the Greek system that cannot be attained through responsible, university owned or sanctioned, non-Greek, housing alternatives, without the massive downsides.
I have always been extremely immature relative to age, but even graduating high school at 17, I knew that the Greek system was not for me, not healthy, and sought out GU in part bc they didn't have it. So, I kinda' like that I'm not only now looking back and saying it's bad.
My frosh dorm roommate had some friends who went to WSU and we went to a frat party, and I saw immediately that things were just at a completely different level in both debauchery and social hierarchy. It sure reaffirmed in my mind that I was happy to not be a part of it all.
We had gone down to watch WSU versus Oregon in football. We left Friday night, staying at the frat, I ended up so out of it that I simply went to my car and slept in the back. Next morning, I go into the frat, (it's 10:30 a.m.) and they're already drinking again. I knew at that point that I actually DID want to watch the game, and was far more interested in the fun cultural aspects of tailgating, so I abandoned my roommate (we agreed to meet-up at the car after the game), and I just wandered by myself, munching on food, and bought a ticket, watched/enjoyed the game stone sober, and then found on a note on the car that he was staying another night, and I drove back to Spokane.
I can't emphasize enough, I was so immature, yet somehow I recognized the danger and absurdity of it even then.
This is a hard case to follow because there were so many people charged and with different things but every so often it pops back up in the news. But you won't be surprised at all to hear that judges are going easy on some of the frat boys and giving them house arrest vs. jail, some charges are dropped/thrown out, etc. I'm not sure that anyone has actually had to serve jail time yet for this kid's death and you also won't be too surprised that the judge who was soft on some of them was a Penn State grad (I can't find the article where I saw the judge's name because it was a few months ago, but at the time I searched his education history... I'm super jaded at this point where "Happy Valley" is concerned with legal issues).Quote:
Originally Posted by CDC84
Rumors abound on socialized mediums that the prized 1992 recruit, the Martin Centre Mad Man, will consider reclassifying to join Gonzaga hoops in the Fall of 2019!!!
:clap: