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Fraternity initiates struggle through rituals
Hazinq reputation threatens Greek system
By LORI PETERSON
Of the Emerald
In 1973, a fraternity initiate was
branded on the forearm with the
letters of his house at Cornell Uni
versity ... the interfraternity council
at Cornell immediately estab
lished rigorous guidelines prohibit
ing “any physically or psychologi
cally harmful or humiliating ac
tivities.”
In 1974, the New York Times
reported that a freshman initiate in
a fraternity at Monmouth College
was suffocated when “sand fell
into a grave that he was forced to
dig as part of his initiation.”
Hazing.
The dictionary defines it as “to
intimidate by physical punish
ment” or “to subject to treatment
intended to put in ridiculous or dis
concerting positions.”
The word itself stimulates
amusing reactions among the
I
older alumni of fraternities and
sororities. But, today, at this Uni
versity and others the practice of
hazing is placed in the past as a
matter of survival.
In the early 70s fraternities and
sororities here and across the na
tion experienced a surge in popu
larity. With a case of hazing result
ing in death reported in the early
1970s, any reported cases now
seem to be based on rumor.
In spring of 1975, a young
freshman at Washington State
University died as a result of
pneumonia. In the few days pre
ceding his death the youth had
been participating in initiation ac
tivities at Tau Kappa Epsilon
fraternity.
According to Arthur McCartan,
WSU dean of students, intensive
investigation by police officials
and WSU officials proved there
was no practice of hazing in
Auto-man stands guard
over wrecker’s garage
It’s got a Volvo block for a body and tie rods in place of arms,
ball bearings for eyes, transmission gears for eyebrows and
wears a brake drum to keep the rain off its head, Chevy that is.
It stands about 7 feet tall, weighs close to 500 pounds and is
leashed in the dark corner of the Glenwood Auto Wrecker's
garage. If that’s not enough to discourage potential burglars it is
accompanied by an orange dog whose body is made from a
suspension coil and whose head is from a carrier assembly.
“I gave birth to him, that’s my creation,” laughs Warren
Bussell, owner of Glenwood Auto Wreckers. Bussell built his
unnamed sculpture, which is made completely from auto parts,
“about eight years ago," he says.
Hasn’t changed much, huh?
"Nope, but neither have I,” he chuckles.
Bussell, who has been running his auto yard for dose to 30
years, took about three weeks to create the creature which wears
a timing chain for a tie, connected to a neckful of transmission
gears connected to A-frame shoulders which is connected to tie
rods for arms connected to... You get the idea, but don’t take it to
heart. "I’d have a fit if anyone copied my “thing’,” says Bussell,
who took his monster to the Lane County Fair some years ago
and took first prize in metal sculpture.
Bussell has made other metal sculpture on the side, includ
ing a pterodactyl made of heavy plate metal, which calls Bussell’s
yard, home. When he retires, Bussell says he’d like to make
sculpture full-time work.
And Bussell, who has refused to sell his creation despite
many offers, has a deal for the University’s art museum. He’ll
donate it, he says, free of charge.
volved. McCartan says they “did
not directly relate to his death to
the ceremony.”
McCartan explained the youth
had a cold during the initiation ac
tivities, and “the group was caught
up in the spirit of initiation week.”
He believes the boy had a built-in
reason to ignore the cold and tell
himself he would gel over it.
He says some positive steps
were taken internally during the
second night of activities, when
one of the leaders in the fraternity
noticed his failing health and put
him to bed to get a good night’s
rest. The next morning he was
taker io the hospital, according to
McCartan; but within three hours,
he died.
McCartan asserts, “We have
made use of this to show that
while fraternities are getting away
from the insane and mindless ac
tivities, even the interruption of
normal sleeping patterns can
have spinoffs.”
An article in the New York
Times, Dec. 1, 1974, reported
that some fraternities “still force
pledges to go long hours without
sleep or take them to a remote
location and make them find their
way back.”
But Jerry Martens, University
Interfratemity Council president
says, “We have to stay away from
that.” He states if there were any
cases of hazing reported “We
wouldn’t be here.”
Martens, a member of Sigma
Kappa fraternity, says in order for
fraternities to survive, they couldn't
possibly have this type of thing,
because it is important to have a
favorable atmosphere for pros
pective pledgers.
Initiation is a “common shared
experience where a pledge class
goes through experiences that
Ms. Magazine director
slates conference lecture
Although women have pre
dominated as teachers since the
Civil War, they have been under
represented in school administra
tion, according to members of the
Sex Equity in Educational Lead
ership (SEEL) Project at the Uni
versity.
Members of the project have
scheduled a three-day confer
ence dealing with this problem
and ways to solve it on April 15
through 17 at the University.
Educators and interested persons
from throughout the state are in
vited to attend.
The keynote address will be de
livered by Aileen Hernandez, an
urban affairs and management
consultant and member of Ms.
Magazine’s Board of Directors,
the San Francisco Bay Area Black
Women Organized for Action and
the San Francisco Public Schools
Commission. She is a former
commissioner of the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunities
Commission and former president
of the National Organization of
Women.
There will be panel discussions
involving over 30 Oregon
educators, a resource center,
films and dramatic presentations
by the “Co-respondents,” a trio of
traveling players who have won
national acclaim for their singing
and dramatic presentations about
women.
The project, being conducted
through the Center for Educa
tional Policy and Management,
will offer five workshops at the
conference dealing with legal is
sues, including Title IX and
Oregon HB 2131; teaching about
sex role stereotypes; educational
administration as a career choice
for men and women; innovative
structuring of jobs in education
and developing support groups.
Registration for the conference
is $20 for the general public, $15
for members of the Confedera
tion of Oregon School Adminis
trators and $10 for full-time stu
dents. Child care will be provided
for a nominal fee.
Persons wishing further infor
mation on the Sex Equity in Edu
cational Leadership conference
should contact the SEEL Project,
University of Oregon, Eugene,
97403, 686-5074. Conference
materials will be sent to persons
upon registration or upon request.
emphasize working together," says
Martens.
Even though the initiation
ceremonies are supposedly kept
secret, rumor thrives — even on
this campus.
The members themselves get
an earful of what type of activities
are involved in the various initia
tions in the other houses.
One fraternity member reports,
“I heard at one house they drop
you out of windows blindfolded,
and I guess some guys are sup
posed to be down below ready to
catch you.”
“I heard they make the pledges
build a fire on the first floor, take off
their clothes, crawl up three flights
of stairs, take a drink out of the
toilet bowl, crawl back downstairs
and spit on the fire until they put it
out,” reports another anonymous
member.
Another member says he had
heard one of the houses on cam
pus makes their initiates wear
long black robes and walk around
outside at night.
But hazing is definitely taboo
here, according to Dave Tyler,
president of Pi Kappa Alpha, a
newer fraternity on campus.
“There’s a national rule against
hazing,” says Tyler. “If a case is
reported, it is investigated by na
tional officials and they suspend
the president and pledge trainer
temporarily.” He said if there has
indeed been a case, expulsion is
recommended.
Don McCarty, coordinator of the
University student conduct code,
says there will be a more explicit
explanation of the hazing offense
in the new revisions. “The Univer
sity currently has authority to un
vestigate hazing incidents accord
ing to the group offense section of
the student conduct code.
Hazing will also be defined as
“initiating rites involving physical
abuse or mental anguish," in the
revised code.
All fraternity presidents are re
quired to sign an agreement say
ing the fraternity will not partici
pate in hazing, according to Mar
tens.
While some believe there is a
germ of truth to each rumor of haz
ing, the practice is definitely one of
the few traditions appropriately
left behind by Greek system.
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