Videoconference searches for ways to end fraternity and sorority hazing

Washington -- Why are Black students continuing to hurt -- and even kill -- each other in the name of fraternity/sorority brotherhood and sisterhood? What are the dynamics that keep this outlawed tradition alive among Black Greeks? Is it just a Black problem? Why is it that such incidents elude the supposedly vigilant eyes of fraternal organizations and college administrators? These were but a few of the questions explored by a panel of experts in a live videoconference entitled, Broken Pledges: Fraternities and Sororities at the Crossroads.

The videoconference, the first of a series sponsored by Black Issues In Higher Education for the 1998-99 academic year, was moderated by James Adams, a news anchor with NBC-TV-4 in Washington, D.C. Panelists included: Hank Nuwer, author of the book Broken Pledges; Dr. Earl Richardson, president of Morgan State University; Dr. Gloria R. Scott, president of Bennett College; Michael W. Gordon, executive director of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc., the umbrella organization for predominantly Black fraternities and sororities; Maureen Syring, assistant director of Delta Gamma Foundation; Douglas E. Fierberg, attorney-at-law who has prosecuted many hazing incidents; and Dr. Walter Kimbrough, director of student activities and leadership at Old Dominion University.

According to Black Issues correspondent Paul Ruffins, who has done extensive research on the subject, one reason hazing persists is that many fraternity and sorority members don't consider new members to be true members unless they have been properly inducted. And to many, "induction" includes hazing.

To get around the pan-Hellenic council restrictions placed on the hazing of pledges -- students seeking admission to Greek-life organizations -- students are now being hazed after they have become members of the fraternity, as was the case in a recent incident at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). Despite the National Pan-Hellenic Council's 1990 ban on hazing, last spring six (UMES) students who were already inducted into the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity were hospitalized for injuries to their buttocks -- the results of a paddling ritual. One of the students had to undergo surgery to remove gangrenous flesh. (See Black Issues, June 25)