Section II

1. Section II The Big Challenge: Hazing & Alcohol Responsibility to Others Click Once

2. If we believe that fraternities are, in fact, ideal vehicles to foster all the most positive and honorable aspects of men and manhood and, if we are true to Alpha Sigma Phi’s purpose To Better The Man, then, one truth is quite obvious: hazing has no place in our Fraternity: Click Once The Origins of Hazing Some believe that hazing has its roots in ancient and primitive rites of initiating adolescent boys into manhood through a series of trials designed to prove worthiness and fitness as a member of the tribe or societal unit. After all, a man who could not hunt food and defend his village and family was not of much use as a citizen or, frankly, as a husband and father. While there would certainly be a logical reason for such “rite of passage” ceremonies, the excesses to which some fraternities and sororities have gone has no similar pragmatic justification. Click Once

3. Hazing, as we see it today, may actually grow out of a basic primeval, animalistic urge within men. Some researchers have suggested that often men who haze were verbally or physically abused as children and hazing gives them a way to rebuild their self-worth. As far as the Greek system is concerned, there is speculation that hazing in fraternities may have begun in the 1940s and 1050s when World War II veterans returning to school on the GI Bill, brought military practices to fraternity rituals, including hazing. Click Once “The real secret to a responsible initiation is to have responsible men in charge,” Baber offered in an interview with the Tomahawk of Alpha Sigma Phi (1994). This is where chapters must rise to the challenge of leadership. Consistent with this idea is an elimination of any semblance of a caste system between pledges and initiated Brothers. Hazing is about power and control, not tradition Click Once

4. The Effects of Hazing Regrettably there continue to be instances of hazing occurring every day. The following recent incidents indicate that we have much work to do in eradicating hazing from the fraternity experience: Click Once • Fall 1999. A University of Michigan fraternity is suspended for injuring a pledge with a BB shot in his groin area. • Fall 1997. A pledge of Sigma Alpha Epsilon dies after consuming enormous amount of alcohol after receiving a membership bid at Louisiana State University. • Fall 1997. A pledge of Phi Gamma Delta dies after consuming enormous amounts of alcohol after receiving a membership bid at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. • Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority is suspended at DePauw University after burning pledges on their wrists with cigarettes. • A Southeast Missouri State University student dies after his fraternity brothers hit him in the head during a hazing ritual at Kappa Alpha Psi • Indiana University student is hospitalized after being struck 100 times in the buttocks, neck and face by members of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Click Once

5. To date, at least thirty-eight states have legislation making hazing illegal. As The Laurel of Phi Kappa Tau notes, “Penalties range from misdemeanors to felonies. A felony conviction is a permanent record, something individual men or women cannot hide from corporate recruiters.” Click Once Between 1923 and 1997 there were over 170 reported cases of injuries and deaths that were related to fraternity hazing incidents. The injuries reported included burns, cold exposure, heat exhaustion, food poisoning, laxative poisoning, gunshots, asphyxia, electrocution, cannon and beer-keg explosions, exacerbation of previous cardiac and blood disorders, and other forms of physical, sexual, and psychological torture. And so, let us begin, in chapter houses, chapter rooms, chapter lounges, and residence hall rooms across the country. Let’s talk about what Fraternity means. And let’s remember what Alpha Sigma Phi stands for when we initiate new Brothers into our fold. Click Once

6. Some of the more specific and blatant acts endured by prospective Greek brothers and sisters during hazing include being: Click Once • Forced to eat and drink against their will enormous amounts of alcohol or various concoctions of other drinks and food • Deprived of sleep • Abused physically including paddling • Forced to enter the chapter house through the back door • Kidnapped • Treated as a servant and subjected to extreme forms of embarrassment including: ridicule in public, forced nudity, forced to wear certain distasteful clothing, discouraged from attending classes, forced to commit various disgusting sex acts Click Once Hazing activities are defined as:“Any action taken or situation created, intentionally, whether on or off fraternity premises, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule. Such activities may include but are not limited to the following: use of alcohol; paddling in any form; creation of excessive fatigue; physical and psychological shocks, guests, treasure hunts, scavenger hunts, road trips or any other such activities carried on outside or inside of the confines of the chapter house; wearing of public apparel which is conspicuous and not normally in good taste; engaging in public stunts and buffoonery; moral degrading or humiliating games and activities; and any other activities which are not consistent with fraternal law, ritual or policy or the regulations and policies of the educational institution.” Click Once

7. Most of the aforementioned incidents involved alcohol, which indicates a cler lack of judgment on the part of the chapter leadership, specifically the new member educator and chapter president who are directly responsible for insuring that their prospective brothers are treated with respect and dignity. Click Once Alcohol’s Role in the College Fraternity You could call it an epidemic. Almost every day, the news media reports another incident of underage and binge drinking on the campuses of our colleges and universities. People get hurt. People die. But the problem continues. Click Once Alcohol use and abuse has been ranked the number one problem on college campuses for years. Alcohol is considered the most widely used drug among college students. Even though most students experiment with alcohol prior to their arrival on campus, the frequency and amount of alcohol consumption markedly increasing while at college. Alcohol use and abuse by today’s students is a significant factor in physical violence, unwanted and regretted sex, sexual assault, automobile accidents, missed classes, low grades, property damage and deaths on campuses across the country. Click Once

8. Virtually every study of drinking behaviors on college campuses shows that the most problematic drinking occurs within Greek organizations. The causes and reasons behind such destructive behavior are puzzling, but some factors that come into play include lack of institutional responsibility for, or disinterest in, the behavior of Greek members, to the powerful influence of a chapter’s culture that rewards and maintains high levels of drinking, to lack of advisory support and direction. Click Once The problem is puzzling. Why has drinking become so pervasive? Why is there more underage drinking today than ever before? Health officials, campus administrators, sociologists, psychologists and many parents grapple for answers. But the problem is as diverse as our society. Alcohol abuse crosses all socio-economic, religious, and ethnic lines. It negatively impacts student life at small campuses and large. And it has created a reactive whiplash as solutions are sought and implemented. Click Once While most in-depth reports of underage and binge drinking report that the problem has become systemic, men and women’s general fraternities and sororities can easily be singled out. No one will deny the reputation, some say deservedly earned, that fraternities have with alcohol. And some say that fraternities need to be part of the solution, not the problem. Click Once

9. For the past several years, individual fraternities and organizations like the North American Interfraternity Conference and the National Panhellenic Conference have studied the abuse of alcohol, how it affects our members and what impact it has on our future. Many Greek-letter organizations have reacted with policies to establish substance-free or alcohol-free housing and alcohol-free events-regardless of legal drinking age-with enforcement being as strict as revocation of a chapter’s charter. The root of this disclosure is to discover why alcohol has become such a focus in fraternity life and how do we redirect that focus. For Alpha Sigma Phi, this has primarily meant a solid return to our founding principles and to place academic achievement, service to others and development of close friendships at the top of our chapter’s agenda. Click Once Virtually every study of drinking in college shows that the heaviest, most frequent, and most problematic drinking is done in college fraternities. Click Once

10. To date, here are a few ways Alpha Sigma Phi is addressing this issue: Click Once • Continue to recruit responsible men to our organization • Implement an effective risk management policy that includes advocating use of third party vendors at social events • Actively give support to all applicable laws and regulations concerning alcohol • Provide incentives for chapters choosing to have substance-free housing • Provide education on the issue • Provide discounts on liability insurance to incident-free chapters • Support campus initiatives in risk management • Mandate that each new colony and chapter adopt substance-free housing policies Click Once

11. While the issue is still being studied, and resolutions are being sought, Alpha Sigma Phi specifically asks of all our members, undergraduate and alumni alike, to be responsible and legal. The fraternity’s future is in the hands of its newest members to accept the challenge of returning to the founding principles of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, while abandoning the notion that fraternity is built around a bond of alcohol. Click Once The issue is really quite simple… unless Greeks solve their drinking problem, they will cease to exist! The Fraternity’s future is in the hands of its newest members to accept the challenge of returning to our founding principles, while abandoning the notion that fraternity is built around a bond of alcohol. Click Once

12. Alpha Sigs can play an important leadership role on college campuses by doing the following, as recommended by the BACCHUS/GAMMA Peer Education Network: Click Once • Reform the Chapter Norms. If we continue to tell brothers that everyone is drunk and running amok on campus, they will continue to try to “fit in” to that perceived norm. The chapter needs to start communicating positive, healthy norms. • Emphasize “Life” Skills. Your brothers heard the lecture in high school on alcohol. They do not want to hear it again. But they do want to hear about other matters pertinent to their daily lives like stress, social situations, and relationships, and how to cope with these, without abusive drinking. Encourage the chapter to seek out way sto provide programming in these important areas. • Make personal Responsibility Mean Something. This means that brothers will be held accountable for their actions. The chapter doesn’t need new or tougher policies on campus or within the chapter; we just need to follow through and take seriously the ones we have.

13. Empower Fellow Chapter Members. When the Greeks are asked to organize their brothers to take care of their environment, they want it, own it, and protect it. When something belongs to them, when they have a clear stake in an issue, they will be motivated to make the best of it. • Have peers Teaching Peers. College students make decisions based on attitudes, not information, and their attitudes are formed primarily by the influence of peers. They listen better to each other. Have chapter members teach each other, so that administrators are not prompted to do so instead. Click Once These five strategies can help position college fraternities and sororities to take a leadership role in the area of alcohol education and prevention. This in turn will ensure a bright future for Greek Life to remain a true complement to the college experience. Click Once