If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times:
But we do, and we do. Granted, my hazing was very minimal — practically non-existent. I was told to take a shot before I received some presents during big/little week. And we played good senior/bad senior on the new members during family initiation — which only took place after real initiation, so the girls were technically already members. It’s called a loophole. We also constantly reminded the girls that THIS IS FOR FUN, and PLEASE TELL US IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE AT ANY TIME.
Basically we were pussies.
But not the Alpha Sigma Tau chapter at The University of Central Arkansas. Below is the hardcore video of the new members being brutally hazed by Sigma Tau Gamma junior Jordan Bailey.
The laughter? The giggling? It’s abysmal what these girls had to go through.
Freshman legacy London Stallings was called out during the haze sesh, and an anonymous pledge sister spoke to The Echo about the harrowing experience:
“So out of anyone in our pledge class, she would be the one to know that it was a joke. And she did,” she said. “She was sitting next to me when we were doing – halfway doing – we knew it was a joke. We were laughing and the people behind us were laughing, which is why they recorded it – they thought it was funny, too.”
Although technically push-ups can fall under hazing at many schools, including UCA, the school defines hazing as “any intentional action taken or situation created, whether on or off university property, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule.” After careful analysis, the school ruled that this was, in fact, a practical joke. Neither the sorority, nor its members will face punishment.
Dean of Students Gary Roberts said in an interview:
“We as an administrative team … concluded – I think 100 percent concluded – that it was not hazing. It did not rise to a level of hazing,” Roberts said. “What we have is a bad practical joke.”
…
“We have a roomful of new members, a guy walks in with a friend, and he just basically asks the girls to start doing pushups, and a few of them start doing pushups,” Roberts said. “So somebody records it, and that goes out as a hazing video.”
…
“To me, the issue here is not hazing,” Roberts said. “The issue is rush to judgment. This is the issue we face today in society. But when you gather all the facts and all the information and you put things in its context, it doesn’t always come across as what it appears to be.”
I believe that we may have the first reported case of an administration using rational judgment, instead of rushing to discipline an organization in the face of, well, practically nothing. I applaud you..
[via UCA Echo]
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Veronica Ruckh
Veronica (@VeronicaRuckh) is the Director of Total Sorority Move for Grandex, Inc. After having spent her undergraduate years drinking $4 double LITs on a patio and drunk texting away potential suitors, she managed to graduate with an impressive GPA and an unimpressive engagement ring -- so unimpressive, in fact, some might say it's not there at all. Veronica has since been fulfilling her duties as "America's big," a title she gave to herself with the help of her giant ego. She has recently switched from vodka to wine on weekdays. Email her at veronica@grandex.co
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