Princeton has determined the protocols they feel they need to ban first-year students from joining organizations that they neither recognize nor support (and draw 15% of the undergraduate population). The difference between this effort and other private Universities with restriction on first-year students is how specific they are in defining what is allowed, and the severity of the potential sanctions (individual suspension) for violations.
An opinion piece from the University of Cincinnati’s student newspaper from earlier in April.
This will be a particularly interesting case to watch. It involves an unrecognized chapter of Omega Psi Phi that is operating through its local graduate chapter, and sponsoring a little-sister group. Beyond the concerns of significant physical hazing involved, there are questions of campus control of an unaffiliated group (the graduate chapter), and with the little sisters it raises questions related to Title IX and the exception for fraternities.
This may be another example of a changing approach to these issues from being self-contained, to having wide-spread impact.
From The Chronicle of Higher Education.
An exceptionally well-written, and rational, response to hazing from an undergraduate fraternity-man at Cornell.
This story from Penn raises a lot of questions about what it means to be a fraternity. This group of guys has chosen hazing, and a disregard for the policies of both the institution and their HQ, over a lifetime commitment to AEPi. I would anticipate that Penn will soon be hearing about a group called “APEs” in the near future. It is also challenging for AEPi HQ, as these guys, and those that follow, will be claiming AEPi membership for the rest of their lives, and that is truly meaningful within the Jewish community. Just ask the folks at Emory.
This is an editorial from the Binghamton Student Newspaper, The Pipe Dream.
More on the concerns at Binghamton, and the connections to other issues around the country. This is just one more example of how everything is interconnected. Expect a lot of similar actions in the coming months.
A Jewish newspaper provides some great context on how hazing in Jewish fraternities and sororities is particularly egregious within the context of traditional Jewish values.
“Binghamton University’s Greek Life organizations have been ordered to halt all spring pledging, pending an investigation into widespread allegations of hazing.”
It is particularly troubling to hear the defensive nature of the comments from the council leadership. It is likely that this may become a good case study on the process of implementing a major break.
