Greek life at Hofstra University has been hit hard in the past year. Since May of 2008 four prominent organizations in the greek community have either been suspeded or thrown off campus indefinitely. The common denominator in all of these instances was hazing.
Hazing is defined by Hofstra University as the following, "any action or situation which recklessly or intentionally endangers mental or physical health or involves the forced consumption of liquor or drugs for the purpose of initiation into or affiliation with any organization."
For fraternities and sororities, hazing, or pledging as they would like to refer to it, is a traditional tool used for initiation proposes.
According to Hofstra, Delta Sigma Phi, Zeta Beta Tau, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Phi Epsilon were all guilty of the above action in some form or fashion. When asked what specifically each group did wrong, Hofstra refused to comment merely stating they all were hazing related. Phi Epsilon received a year long suspension that expires May 19 2009 while the other three groups received indefinite suspensions.
Diana Ferry of Phi Epsilon said, "The accusations that were made against us aren't true. We don't haze."
Due to fear of further incriminating their respective organizations, no other members from either of the four groups would speek on record. However, other members from the said groups did agree to speak under condition of anonymity.
One member said, "Listen. Pledging is pledging. Yea it sucks but we all did it and that means all of the new pledges have to do it." Another member who wished remain anonymous said, "Pledging is the time in which you earn your letters. You're not going to value and respect your organization if you don't do anything hard when you pledge.
Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. What does appear to be a commonly held belief throughout much of Greek life is that tradition is a vital component. Robert P. Luckett, President of Tau Kappa Epsilon, says, "We pride ourselves on all doing the same thing when we pledge. Like a member who just got in can talk to a member from the early 90s and know that they both pledged the same way. However due to the school cracking down on hazing in recent years, we've had to modify parts of our program in order to comply."
Luckett added, "It sucks that certain parts of the pledge program had to be removed but it's better than losing the the fraternity's charter and being kicked off campus for hazing."
Alumni of Hofstra's Greek community share a similar sentiment. Corey Daigle, a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon who pledged in the Spring of 2005 says, "I mean I wish for the sake of tradition that the new guys were pledged just the same as I had been. There's something to be said about having everyone going through the same exact thing."
This sentiment appears to be the only viable way for Greek organizations to operate at Hofstra these days . Many groups have tried to hold onto their old traditions but are starting to comply in fear of suffering the same fate as the above groups.
The fact is Hofstra has a zero tolerance policy with regards to hazing and if organizations want to stay on campus then they must make changes or they will suffer serious consequences.
This notion is echoed by Daigle when he says, "Changing a pledge program sucks. But is sucks a lot more to have your entire organization kicked off campus."
-Michael Tarantino
Hazing is defined by Hofstra University as the following, "any action or situation which recklessly or intentionally endangers mental or physical health or involves the forced consumption of liquor or drugs for the purpose of initiation into or affiliation with any organization."
For fraternities and sororities, hazing, or pledging as they would like to refer to it, is a traditional tool used for initiation proposes.
According to Hofstra, Delta Sigma Phi, Zeta Beta Tau, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Phi Epsilon were all guilty of the above action in some form or fashion. When asked what specifically each group did wrong, Hofstra refused to comment merely stating they all were hazing related. Phi Epsilon received a year long suspension that expires May 19 2009 while the other three groups received indefinite suspensions.
Diana Ferry of Phi Epsilon said, "The accusations that were made against us aren't true. We don't haze."
Due to fear of further incriminating their respective organizations, no other members from either of the four groups would speek on record. However, other members from the said groups did agree to speak under condition of anonymity.
One member said, "Listen. Pledging is pledging. Yea it sucks but we all did it and that means all of the new pledges have to do it." Another member who wished remain anonymous said, "Pledging is the time in which you earn your letters. You're not going to value and respect your organization if you don't do anything hard when you pledge.
Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. What does appear to be a commonly held belief throughout much of Greek life is that tradition is a vital component. Robert P. Luckett, President of Tau Kappa Epsilon, says, "We pride ourselves on all doing the same thing when we pledge. Like a member who just got in can talk to a member from the early 90s and know that they both pledged the same way. However due to the school cracking down on hazing in recent years, we've had to modify parts of our program in order to comply."
Luckett added, "It sucks that certain parts of the pledge program had to be removed but it's better than losing the the fraternity's charter and being kicked off campus for hazing."
Alumni of Hofstra's Greek community share a similar sentiment. Corey Daigle, a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon who pledged in the Spring of 2005 says, "I mean I wish for the sake of tradition that the new guys were pledged just the same as I had been. There's something to be said about having everyone going through the same exact thing."
This sentiment appears to be the only viable way for Greek organizations to operate at Hofstra these days . Many groups have tried to hold onto their old traditions but are starting to comply in fear of suffering the same fate as the above groups.
The fact is Hofstra has a zero tolerance policy with regards to hazing and if organizations want to stay on campus then they must make changes or they will suffer serious consequences.
This notion is echoed by Daigle when he says, "Changing a pledge program sucks. But is sucks a lot more to have your entire organization kicked off campus."
-Michael Tarantino
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