Hazing has absolutely, positively no place in fraternity and sorority life. It is antithetical to everything brotherhood and sisterhood has to offer and any member who takes part in hazing needs to be dismissed from their respective GLO.
One of the most difficult things about being a proponent of fraternity and sorority life is the elephant in the room. No matter how committed the inter/national organization is, or the number of mentors, the amount of resources, and the institutional support services available, hazing can still rear its ugly head. No one who joins an organization that has at its core all the good things the founders envisioned should have to endure anything that might be construed as hazing.
Membership should not have to be “earned.” Membership is a gift and should be treated as such. Gifts connote love, respect, a willingness to be part of a relationship, and the sharing of one’s time, treasure and talents.
My heart breaks for those parents who have lost children to hazing. In 1974, Eileen Steven’s son Chuck Stenzel was hazed as a member of Klan Alpine, a local fraternity at Alfred University in upstate New York. His death spurred his mother to found C.H.U.C.K. (Committee to Halt Useless College Killings). At the time of her son’s death, hazing was illegal in only three states. Stevens led the charge to make hazing illegal in the United States. Over the following decades, she spoke at countless fraternity and sorority conventions and leadership events.
Stenzel’s death was the impetus for Hank Nuwer writing Broken Pledges. Nuwer’s list of hazing deaths should be read by every current member of a fraternity. Moreover, for every hazing death, there is a chapter that closes, there are members who are dismissed from the fraternity, and there is a long road of legal issues, lawyer fees, sentencing, and punishment for those who took part in the hazing. When presented with those realities, why would anyone even consider hazing as an activity?
More recently, the families of Tim Piazza and Max Gruver have walked the same road as Eileen Stevens. Max Gruver was a Phi Delta Theta pledge at Louisiana State University. Tim Piazza was a pledge of the Beta Theta Pi chapter at Penn State University. Alcohol in massive amounts played a role in both deaths.
The two mothers spoke at Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Ruck Leadership Institute. I would hope that the writing of a note to a mother who lost her son due to hazing would give pause to any fraternity man who might contemplate planning or joining in a “bonding” activity involving alcohol.
On August 1, 2018, the Max Gruver Act became a part of Louisiana’s anti-hazing laws. I am certain nothing can ease the pain the Gruvers are enduring, but knowing that they can help prevent other parents from walking their road must give them a bit of solace.
The Gruvers spoke at the Phi Kappa Psi Grand Arch Council last month. Effective this fall, Phi Psi’s new member period will be reduced to 10 days and the “New Member Education Program will morph into new member integration and a renewed focus on continuing member education,” according to the fraternity’s web-site.
Max’s Mom is a member of Alpha Delta Pi and this article appeared in The Adelphean
Hazing has no place in any Greek-Letter Organization. It needs to stop. I implore current GLO chapter members to ensure that no new names are entered on Hank Nuwer’s list of hazing deaths.
