I mean, it’s really a mixed bag here. Initiation aint a walk in the park, ya dig. So he pointlessly cooked some food, only for it to be smeared on the floor and walls repeatedly for 4 hrs or so. I hear about schools that force their pledges to imbibe as much as the members feel is appropriate, which not only physically harms them but could very well kill them. That said, I don’t want to overshadow what went on here. Clearly the pledge didn’t feel like he gained anything from this exercise. I’m sure many others feel quite the opposite. During those hours of remaking and re-preparing the food, only for it to be wasted, bonding relationships can be built in a way unparalleled by many activities in life. At face value, it’s dumb and pointless (not to mention environmentally unfriendly). Believe it or not, there are some kids who go into initiation yearning to form those tight bonds and friendships displayed by many frat houses on campus (cant really speak for those outside of Whitman). We can all feel a certain way about the methods in which the pledges attain these lifelong connections, but the great feeling of comradery and brotherhood gained by the pledge is unquestionable (where safety isn’t an issue). Like I said, there isn’t a clear cut answer to this situation. You may think I was or underwent initiation and have become a member of a frat, but you would be wrong. I’m an indy, and I realized the frat life wasn’t for me after getting a taste of it. I’m glad the former pledge had the courage to not only walk away but to feel comfortable enough to share his experience. That speaks volumes about the school, but more so about the campus atmosphere and community. Hopefully, I’ve opened some of those closed viewpoints siding solely with the former pledge or the fraternity to realize both parties really do have valid points. Let’s not overlook the fact that most schools wouldn’t even look into a situation lacking physical harm and danger such as this. It’s great to have these conversations, but don’t lose sight of perspective!
GO SWEETS!!

dude are you guys kidding me?

This is the quote I am referring from the letter signed by Mr. DeVine:

“Earlier this week a list of complaints about TKE initiation were brought to the attention of the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon, the administration and The Pioneer. The specific allegations are largely unfounded and falsified.”

Saying that “the specific charges” are “falsified” is tantamount to saying that the bringer of the charges has lied about them, that they are fabrications. There is the weasily modifier “largely,” but I believe that a fair reading of the letter is that TKE denies all material parts of the allegations. To the extent that it is less than a complete denial, it is barely so and suggests only that some trivial components of the charges not worth enumerating might be true.

That so called “statement of fact” has the effect of an indirect attack on Mr. Hart’s character for honesty. If you deny the veracity of someone’s statement, you are essentially saying that they have lied.

If TKE members want to risk being struck by lightening by asserting that Mr. Hart’s complaints regarding repetitive cleaning of parts of the house for hours, accompanied by verbal abuse, sleep deprivation (the degree of which can be argued), and communal cold showers with naked or near naked pledges, are materially false, then that rests with their consciences. If they are denying some other complaints that were made are in fact false, then they should be specific and not issue what is in effect a blanket denial. Perhaps a clarifying letter is in order.

If it is not clear by now, I am more offended by the blanket denial of all charges than the substance of the charges themselves. While pledges have a right to rely on Whitman’s policies in undergoing initiation, and a fraternity’s violation of those rules is a breach of trust, one can argue in good faith about the severity of the reported violations, the benefit of going through the entire initiation process, and therefore the good faith of TKE members conducting the initiation. I don’t agree with the process, but reasonable minds can differ.

On the other hand, falsely accusing a whistleblower of lying is an injustice in my opinion. Injustice angers me, so I will admit that bias. I wish that more people shared that bias with me. While this injustice pales in comparison to other injustices in the world, that fact offers no reason to ignore the one at hand.

A part of my job is to represent an employer in appeals from the firing of employees. The employee conduct that typically seals the termination is dishonesty in trying to evade responsibility for the original charges. Outside the Whitman bubble, people lose their livelihoods if caught in lies about their conduct. Admitting wrongdoing with true contrition has actually lessened penalties to save a few jobs. Real world consequences are another reason why I take such evasions occuring in the Whitman bubble very seriously.

The majority of the comments posted thus far are irrelevant to the specific matter at hand. In many ways this comment section has now overshadowed the initial story, which only serves the purpose of creating greater controversary. Whether or not hazing took place during TKE initiation is a matter to be decided between TKE, Dan Hart and the administration.

While this has served as an interesting forum for students and parents to discuss personal ideologies, social politics and opinions, none of this is relevant to the specific issue. Proving that boys are immature or that frats are patriarchal does not matter in this context. It has already been established that the majority of respondants have never been a TKE nor have they ever gone through TKE initiation and as such have no background to be discussing an event of supposed hazing.

I would also like to discourage any discussion of “frats” or “sororities” in general. This story is about the 2010 TKE initiation and is not pertinent to any other Greek group. Let’s limit any drama by allowing the administration to handle this accusation of hazing in a manner that is appropriate and reasonable.

how is “practice what you preach” a personal attack?

Just to clear this up – prefrontal cortex underdevelopment in young adults is not cruel mischaracterization. It is scientific research. Myelination increases and brain development increases in the areas that we use to made decisions and foresee consequences up through the age of 25. I don’t think CP was trying to paint a portrait of “underdeveloped apes”, but rather to point out a concern of leaving the execution of a messy and tricky initiation process to the hands (and minds) of individuals who aren’t yet fully developed in these areas. I’m not making any “argument” here, just hoping to help clarify. Here is a quick blurb: http://hrweb.mit.edu/worklife/youngadult/brain.html#cortex

Useless dismissal of constructed gender categories (in a world where almost every social experience is somehow related to constructed gender categories) is useless.

My use of gendered language is only ‘reckless’ to those who have refused to acknowledge this as an issue that is intimately tied to gender and masculinity, instead confining it to a discussion of whether it should be labeled ‘hazing’ or whether it is a problem that individuals may have experienced ‘anxiety’ during initiation.

Thanks for playing, though.

Lissa, thank you. You said many of the things I wanted to bring up, especially this: “But when someone speaks up and says: the way you are going about doing things is harmful and oppressive to me and others in our community, the organizing group has the choice to take note and try to make changes, or to deny that any harm has been done…”

For me, this is the core of the argument. This is a chance to either examine the way things are currently done and make some changes, or decide that two people are just collateral damage in the situation. I hope the TKEs choose the former.

Thanks to everyone who’s trying to make this a productive discussion.

Who says masculinity isn’t feminine?

Useless categories of gender are useless. The previous poster’s reckless use of gendered language does as much to advance the violence that underwrites the law of the father as getting drunk at a frat party.

Gender is not something you find in your pants. Your experience as a woman proves nothing other than the need to adopt a queer temporality.

http://danielbachhuber.com/2011/03/04/thoughts-on-tke-initiation-at-whitman

Please read.

I don’t think it’s fair that a group should require the individual looking to join the group to do anything humiliating or degrading, even if it is in the interest of creating bonds. Why should togetherness come at the expense of personal happiness/comfort/self-respect?
Then again I guess if you don’t consider initiation to be humiliating or degrading, but maybe merely “difficult,” then it’s not a big deal.

But are the people who complete initiation those who don’t consider the tasks degrading, or those who are willing to do the tasks despite their degrading nature? Either way, I don’t think it’s a question that should have to be asked. There must be better ways of creating group bonds aside from conducting trials of willingness.

Mr. or Ms. CP just posted something that “targets or otherwise singles out a Whitman community member AND
targets or otherwise singles out an individual or group of individuals who are the subjects of an article.” I may lack frontal cortex development, but please Pio, practice what you preach.

Some consideration of what TKE is allegedly doing seems to be in order. I doubt that anyone objects to pledges cleaning up the kitchen at the direction of fraternity members.

However, pouring filth in an area just so a pledge can clean it up, and then dirtying it again so the pledge has to clean it again, and repeating that multiple times while subjecting the pledge to verbal abuse, is inappropriate hazing which can verge on torture, depending on how often it recurs. Indeed, the movie “Cool Hand Luke” shows how that technique can be used to torture someone.

That tactic does not teach pledges how to keep the house in order, it teaches them to blindly follow authority. More perversely, it teaches them to turn a blind eye to rule breaking by those in power in order to achieve the goal of acceptance into the fraternity, hardly a positive message. I doubt Whitman wants its students to learn a message of obedience to power however poorly exercised.

I further doubt anyone objects to subjecting a pledge to cold showers. However, a group shower shared between half dressed or naked pledges as alleged in the article is not the same thing. It is an obvious invasion of privacy and personal space with sexual overtones, and unlikely to fulfill the accepted purpose of a shower – to become clean.

Keeping pledges dirty, cold, and sleep deprived is bound to increase their odds of becoming sick as their immune systems are depressed and their exposure to bacteria and viruses is increased. Moreover, this is another form of blind obediance to authority that should hardly be encouraged.

Sleep deprivation is unquestionably a form of torture. I assume that pledges continue to have academic responsibilities, including papers or exams during “hell week.” I also assume that some pledges may be athletes who have games or practices for their teams during “hell week.” Depriving students and student athletes of sleep that might effect their performance in class or on the field should be unacceptable to the college. The decision on how much sleep pledges should have during hell week should not be left to the “judgment” of fraternities.

Whitman costs a lot of money to attend, and I assume that the faculty and administration consider every week of every semester to be valuable. To have a week of a student’s life during a semester either completely wasted, or significantly degraded, because of sleep deprivation imposed on pledges by fraternity members is an appalling waste of limited academic and athletic time, and the student’s money (or college’s money if the student is on scholarship).

Assigning numbers to pledges rather than using a name is a classic strategy of dehumanization calculated to allow more abusive conduct to occur. It is far easier to abuse No. 1875 than your buddy, Joe. Role playing as abusers and the abused in order to gain admittance to a social society is anachronistic and perverse.

Nonetheless, if TKE believes that an abusive right of passage is important to the process of joining TKE, then they should spell out what abuse is in store for their pledges before the process begins, as should all fraternities and sororities. To balance the hardship with the benefit, TKE can also state their reasons why they believe their pledges should go through their more strenuous right of passage. If such openness were required, then fraternities and sororities could be held accountable should they deviate in any substantial way from the program they outline to new pledges.

Whether a deviation from the program outlined is substantial need not be spelled out precisely, but left subject to a “reasonableness” standard as applied by the appropriate trier of fact. Clearly, the fraternities or sororities should understand that they are at risk if they treat pledges worse than they advertise because deviating from established protocol would nullify the informed consent to hazing.

Informed consent by pledges to such abuse would giveTKE a solid defense to its critics. While the argument of close bonding through humiliation by one’s peers seems like a hard sell, prior posts suggest that some people believe that is what occurs. Perhaps pledges will flock to the toughest initiation to prove their mettle. On the other hand, informed consent might negatively impact TKE’s recruiting for new members when presumably intelligent pledges (they are at Whitman after all) can see the path to TKE and compare it to less abusive fraternities on campus.

Thus, clarity about the process would solve the problem in two ways. First, pledges who choose to accept clearly delineated hazing cannot complain if they voluntarily and knowingly submit themselves to it. Second, fraternities with onerous hazing practices may not compete well in the market for new pledges. If not, then they are likely to modify their practices to keep membership levels up.

Allowing unsupervised youth on power trips to abuse younger students in secret, and in ways that would be completely unacceptable in any context other than rushing for the Greek system, with social pressure to conform on the side of the fraternities, seems like a very bad idea. The analogy to Abu Graib is not that far fetched, as those were also young people in positions of power who used sleep deprivation and nudity to humiliate and torture those numbered persons in their charge. No one was watching them closely either.

As to the argument that bright young men of Whitman would not go too far, the bright young men of a fraternity at Columbia were recently arrested for selling heroin. A sense of entitlement, freedom, and power can lead young men and women very far astray.

The allegations against TKE are a black eye to the college. The college markets itself as a bastion of intellectual rigor and learning, not as a clone of Animal House. While the latter environment may appeal to some, it is inconsistent with the message and branding of the college.

I suspect that the majority of parents currently considering the expense of Whitman, and competitive alternatives to it, would not be impressed with TKE’s hazing, or its president’s response to the article. With kudos to The Pioneer staff and to Mr. Hart, however, they may be impressed by the article exposing the problem and a measured administrative response to it.

Someone suggested that TKE was already on probation. If so, Mr. Hart’s revelations must be taken very seriously. As I suggested above, TKE ought to be able to mitigate the administrative response if they admit the conduct and take responsibility for their actions. If they do not, and the actions are proven, then the fraternity and its leadership should face very severe consequences for both the violations and the efforts to conceal them.

I forgot what it was like to think you are the center of the world. Everyone knows about the Whitman bubble and how it shelters from so many things going on on the outside. What too many people seem to forget is that the rest of the world has few relations with the time spent at Whitman. This is why it is such a special experience.

I have seen too many posts that relate this article to incidents occurring in the real world. Acts that have gained national attention due to their depravity and hate. Do Whitties really have such a need to feel a part of this that they are trying to make their own national incident? Do Whitties truly believe that an unjust and awful system has been brewing right beneath their and the faculties noses; a dreadful secret that they just now are unearthing? Child please. The levels of ignorance on this issue are astounding.

This really is a problem of our society. There is sense of entitlement that too many have come to embrace. Whitman students are probably worse than many others. All our life many of us have been raised in sheltered, rich, and pampered circumstances. Is being told to clean a dirty kitchen, or being yelled at really such a shock to our systems that it can gravitate us to neutering an entire system? It is this reactionary response that I am sure many of you would decry as a downfall of the political right. Is the word “hazing” going to be used in the same way that “deathpanels” were used? Some of you trying to compare the actions in the TKE house to real world events maybe you need to look at yourself and compare what you are doing to real world events as well.

It could be argued that the TKE house is the most successful fraternity on campus. Has anyone thought why this is? Could it maybe be because they have the most “intense” initiation, and why would this cause their members to be so devoted to their house? “It is because they are being brainwashed!” I’m sure some of you would respond, to which I would go back to my ignorance point. You really think once the process is over initiates can’t look back and see what was done to them and make a conscious decision if it was a good or a bad thing? Everyone who gets into Whitman is on pretty equal mental footing, believing that as a non-Greek your ability to decide what is best for the Greek system is essentially the same as the History department looking at the Economics department and saying, “You aren’t doing a good enough job at getting your students the proper education, let us show you how.” Basically the exclusivity of the organization is what makes it close knit. No one is going to value something that is given for free as much as something that has to be earned, and if someone feels like they have put forth more to earn something they will value it more. Is at most 5 days of “hate” (put in quotes because that is the perception, not the fact) worth decades of love and brotherhood? Looks like easy math to me, even for you History majors…

The main problem with TKE right now is that they are too open. They want too many people to be a part of their group, and while this does create for a fairly diverse group, it can create situations where the processes that lead up to initiation are insufficient to prepare the pledge for the process. The reason why these 2 pledges didn’t go through the process was because they weren’t prepared to make a sacrifice to become part of a community. A pledge has to enter the process knowing that it is going to be tough, and also know that it is something he wants. Initiation is not something that comes up and someone says, “I guess I can fit that in my schedule.” To use a different example: you couldn’t take a non-athlete at the beginning to the basketball season and put them on the team and expect them not to quit. It takes time, preparation, and a specific mental attitude to go through 2 a days. The same is true for Initiation. The fault is not in the actual event of initiation, but in events that come beforehand that stress what it means to enter into “the Bond.” TKE needs to do a better job of stressing these events to weed out (for lack of a better term) those that don’t want to make the commitment because joining TKE should never be about maintaining a clique of friends, it is about joining something bigger than that and truly expanding your experiences to things that maybe you wouldn’t do if you weren’t part of something bigger. Joining any Greek organization puts more stress on the things Whitman promotes, like diversity and life experiences, when it could be much easier to get lost in academic work and lose out on what could be a eye opening college experience.

@CP
I am not in the greek system, I see where you are coming from and recognize your concern, but I do think you need to recognize the dangers of getting your information solely from this article, not knowing people/tke’s on campus, and not having a full picture of the situation. I really recommend that next time you make yourself more familiar with a situation before choosing to judge a student (DeVine) and a fraternity based on an article. It really makes you sound immature.

As a parent and adult I would expect you to be a little less eager to make such disparaging comments about a group of people you don’t know and their conduct in a situation which you have no knowledge of besides a biased piece of journalism. Your an adult, try acting the part…

That said, I will clarify one thing for you. David DeVine’s (it was really mature of you to call him DeVile) letter may be construed as defensive but the fact of the matter is that TKE does not want to become engrossed in the mud slinging that has developed out of this. They don’t feel a need to justify a ‘broken system’ because the truth is there is nothing wrong with initiation. Harts claims were exaggerated or false and DeVine said so. What I can’t understand is how people can see his denial as incriminating. What happened to our conception of innocent until proven guilty?

Honestly we need to give the guys some credit. TKE has been very open towards working with the administration. Yes they tried to keep this news from going public, but not out of fear of repercussions, it was done because one individual’s private issues are best resolved Privately. All that this ‘Article’ ‘Exposes’ is a desire to drag a respectable and outstanding group of men through the mud.

Am I to conclude that 4 hours of kitchen duty and cold showers are a regular part of Greek life, and that anyone who dislikes either of these is clearly not cut out for Greek life, nor are they welcome? What is building character if it’s not standing up for what you believe in?

Are there not more effective team building experiences that do not require humiliation, sleep loss, and wastefulness? I feel like some initiation routines are designed to inflate what it means to be a member: because you have put forth the time, effort, and potentially humiliation for initiation, you are less likely to leave the fraternity. Perhaps this assists bonding and creates loyalty. Perhaps it just discourages the idea of leaving a fraternity once joined.

As a parent reading the article, I have the following perspective. If the hazing was not so bad, why did the TKE president deny that it occurred in his letter to the editor? His letter did not attempt to defend the practices as consistent with college rules and necessary for the bonding that TKE members experience thereafter. I read a flat out denial combined with mild aspersions cast at the young men who had the courage to complain about hazing at TKE. Therefore, the allegations describe behavior that apparently TKE does not want to admit to, a position which suggests that if the behavior has been occurring, Mr. DeVine knows that it violates either the letter or the spirit of the college rules.

Mr. DeVine’s failue to embrace the need for such hazing tends to undercut the arguments of those who praise the usefulness of such conduct, or who minimize it in comparison to public universities. He is certainly not standing behind it or fighting for the right to submit future Whitties to similar torment. Surely, the majority of the Whitman community does not want Whitman fraternities or sororities behaving like the worst of those at other institutions.

Of course, there remains the question of whether the conduct actually occurred. One complaint of hazing might be a disgruntled student unhappy with college life generally. However, a second independent and corroborating complaint by an unrelated student makes Mr. DeVine’s outright denial seem very questionable. I cannot think of any plausible reason for Mr. Hart to fabricate his accusations, while Mr. DeVile’s reasons for fabricating a denial are obvious.

Therefore, with two essentially identical complaints over the last few years, I fear that Mr. DeVine’s denial is a deception that speaks poorly of him, and of TKE since he is their president. Sadly, there is something quite presidential in lying about misconduct occuring during one’s term.

Frat boys cannot be trusted to haze in a “responsible manner” because, well, they are boys who lack frontal cortex development. The college has rules constraining hazing for a good reason; i.e., safety. What sort of bad things can happen when hazing by aggressive teenagers goes too far? Injury, illness, and death have occurred from excessive hazing across the country. At a minimum, a fight could easily start if a pledge strenuously objects to the sleep deprivation and humilation heeped upon him during “hell week.”

Excessive hazing is an abuse of power. How is it consistent with the values of Whitman for older students to submit younger ones to abuse, humiliation, and intimidation? How is it consistent with the ideals of a liberal arts education to encourage blind obedience to an abusive hierarchy?

Fraternities do not bond through combat like the military, or through pulling together for a common goal like a sports team or a debate team. Bonding through artificially imposed hardships carried out by peers rather than an enemy or an opponent is a strange concept, and seems to be merely an excuse for boys and girls to behave badly. Bonding through good works would seem a much more laudible approach than bonding through sadism, or through petty harassment.

If TKE cannot follow the sensible college rules, the fraternity should face significant consequences. On the other hand, those fraternities and sororities that follow the rules should not be tarnished by the aberrant conduct of TKE.

As a parent, I appreciate the article for exposing a potential problem. I hope that the administration will take the appropriate steps to rein TKE in and to avoid such hazing in the future.

One easy step would be to state explicitly that the conduct of the ilk described by the whistleblowers violates school policy, and that penalties will be imposed for any violations of that type reported from this year’s initiation or reported in future years. Although, as pointed out above, Mr. DeVine already appears to know that the conduct alleged is inappropriate, Whitman should not leave any doubt or ambiguity as to whether the conduct complained of will be tolerated by the administration.

@Jackson Maberry

You may consider removing offensive material and personal attacks from online articles censorship, and I suppose you have a right to that opinion, but I would suggest that you take a look at any major publication with an online presence. This is totally common practice. If you want to read hate mail, I’m sure the blogosphere has a lot of unfiltered material to offer you. And yeah, a few Pio alums have posted praise here, but I would like to point out that none of the comments attached to any of those names belong to a current Pio staff member. When I worked at the Pio, I edited online articles; I never posted comments. In fact, I rarely comment on online articles now, so bear with me. My major points of contention with you comment are your categorization of what seem to have been extremely hurtful and damaging personal attacks as simply “funny jackass posts”and your implication that Pio staff writers are commenting one way or the other on this article, when there is zero evidence of any Pio involvement in the comments section other than web moderation. Thanks.

Its a shame that folks have been negatively affected by the actions of others. I’m positive that TKE didn’t mean any harm, but even situations of innocuous genesis can have detrimental effects. This kind of thing is worth talking about in any case.

That said, I’m consistently disappointed by the style of the Pio writers and staff. I can’t help but feel there was a more impartial tone in which to write the article, and perhaps with less of what some before me have termed “whitman niceness” or over-cautious reluctance to use words with an edge.

In truth, the thing that bothers me the most is the web censorship. Yeah, a lot of stupid, even callous comments were posted in response to the piece, but this is the Internet. If the Pio staff was really committed to an open-ended discussion on the matter, they would be willing to wade through the chaff posts and let everyone’s comments stand. We have to read your self-congratulatory mutual masturbation but don’t get to read the offensively funny jackass posts?

Lame.

I’m not sure I feel super qualified to talk about whether the specific TKE practices mentioned in the article were hazing. Context is a hell of a thing, and right-of-passage rituals that can sound pretty stupid and pointless when recounted after the fact can sometimes take on a completely different meaning when experienced in person. Getting your ass kicked by a bully you stood up to, for example, is a pretty awful thing when talked about clinically, but I’m sure I speak for more than myself when I say that going through it as a kid can shape you in some positive ways. Macho bullshit? Yeah probably… but you don’t get to be a tired cliche without having a kernel of truth in you.

That being said, I feel like the real issue here is that there is a real danger that the reaction to these incidents, the way that school policy is being interpreted and exercised, risks creating a precedent going forward that reaches a little too far. Specifically, it was noted that “restrictions on food and sleep, verbal abuse and required clean-up work” are violations of Whitman’s hazing policy.

Now, I don’t have a handbook in front of me, so I’m less than certain that that specific language is in the school’s policy… but that sort of shift towards general catch-all language is exactly the sort of imprecise and reactive rule drafting that can allow a regulation to reach far beyond its proper bounds.

Apart from “verbal abuse” (which can be a little hard to draw a bright line around in any event), the rest of those are all normal elements of a healthy home environment, the sort of structure that help kids grow up proper. But it doesn’t stop at the home… School, work, participation in just about any structured activity whatsoever is going to go hand in hand with expectations and requirements about what you can, can’t, and must do to participate, as well as when and where to do them.

For all the bad press some of them get in critical race/gender/etc classes, norms are a pretty useful thing in general: they’re what make people people, and while you might point to a particular expectation as undesirable or to a particular person who feels limited or diminished by what is expected of them, to categorically say that greek institutions CANNOT present their members with expectations of behavior and regulations of conduct defeats the entire purpose and nature of a fraternity. A community without boundaries is no community at all; an organization with no rules is nothing but a mob of individuals.

Language prohibiting “restrictions” is simply too vague to properly encapsulate the sort of behavior Whitman should actually be trying to discourage. You might respond, “oh shaddup, Booch, obviously we aren’t trying to cut the balls off of fraternities completely, we just want to be able to stop hazing without leaving loopholes for shady houes!” But over-broad policies that can easily be brought to bear by the administration to potentially render ANY conduct found objectionable by an individual to be an instance of hazing run the risk of not only being patently unjust to fraternities, but provide so little guidance that they cannot possibly hope to influence greek decision making in a constructive way. Such malleable rules are not rules at all, and will more often than not either be too restrictive or not restrictive enough on greek behavior to accomplish anything other than resentment of or disregard for school oversight.

Do we have a problem with sleep deprivation? Ok, state that expectation explicitly, with a minimum hour per day requirement; a blanket ban on “sleep restrictions” casts a ridiculous shadow on even reasonable bedtimes and wake up calls for a group of students who need to be learning to rely on and share space with each other. Do we have a problem with starving pledges or feeding them dangerous or disgusting things? Fine, write it up that way; a wide net cast to envelop all restrictions on food selection presents a logistical impossibility for any closed-house initiation with limited funds. Do we not want pledges cleaning things? Well, I’m actually not sure there IS a way to write that up that makes sense, as it’s a bit of a stupid restriction. House chores are an important part of structured community living, and they’re going to have to happen pretty much constantly in a frat house. Whether you were responsible for the mess or not, whether you agree with why it was caused or not, a shared home must be kept clean. That doesn’t stop after initiation, nor I can attest after graduation for that matter.

It’s easy to come up with a lot of hypothetical horrible treatments that we might want to save students from, but a lot harder to draft specific language that circumscribes those activities without being so broad as to effectively make all fraternity life fit the hazing description. That sucks… but in the end, we have to live with it, and decide to err either on the side of the odd student feeling uncomfortable and leaving a fraternity he might otherwise have joined, or neutering the greek system with such broad-sweeping restrictions that no one could possibly feel uncomfortable, and in the process destroy much of what makes greek life special and formative.

Is the Whitman hazing policy to vague right now as written? Again, I don’t know, I don’t have it in front of me. But as our understanding of hazing and our reactions to it evolve, please keep in mind that MORE restriction does not imply a BETTER rule. There is no perfect regulation that’s going to prevent anyone from ever feeling uncomfortable during initiation ever again; do not allow anecdotes of individual disappointments persuade you unduly that that necessarily means that the greek system as a whole must be “fixed” with more rules.

It’s true that Dan only went through a small portion of initiation, so his scope is relatively limited, and he doesn’t know as much about it as initiated tke members. However, he felt traumatized by his brief experience, and he is trying to prevent trauma to others. Dan had the best intentions in mind, and for that he deserves respect.

Hey all!

Firstly, I would like to congratulate Margaux, Gillian, and Connor for being the only ones here to use their names and have their voices heard without a needless cloak of anonymity. It is unbecoming of us as Whitties to throw the stone then hide the hand.

It’s true that at Whitman the issue of greek life is very polarizing. Because of that, I know very few people who take a truly objective stance on the issue…generally, greeks love to unconditionally besmirch those who they perceive as slandering them (even when such criticisms are completely valid), while conversely many indies I know make it a pastime to perpetuate silly stereotypes of greek life wholly unbecoming of critical thinking Whitman prides itself in fostering.

Let’s not forget about the purpose of this article. Dan was brave to publicly admit what he went through, especially in a campus environment with a (needlessly, imo) deep greek vs. indie divide. To him, his experience initiating TKE it was too much, and everyone should respect his opinion.
TKE is now in the hot seat, and I have no doubt that they’ll constructively work this out among themselves. Let’s try our best to keep this story from degenerating into a morass which would split Whitman further…but maybe that’s just wishful thinking!!

Here’s my two cents… if fraternities on campus don’t want their initiation practices to be revealed and publicly criticized, maybe they should have put more forethought into what activities they and their pledges do on I week.

I had a couple of reactions both to this article and to some of the comments posted. I will list them numerically, since that seems to be the way things are done around here:

1. The idea that, in order to be fair, the Pio should should write front page, in-depth articles touting the “positive aspects” of the Greek system is ridiculous. Several commenters, citing that old journalistic axiom, seemed to think that the Pio needs to show “both sides of the story.” Well, let me explain this to you, since you seem to misunderstand it. As I teach my 8th grade journalism class every day, showing both sides of the story means giving everyone a voice in your coverage. Frankly, Molly did a VERY thorough job seeking out all perspectives in this story and giving each of them a reasonable chance to speak out or defend themselves. And that’s all she needed to do. “Showing both sides of the story”does NOT mean giving up precious space in your publication to run articles that are essentially advertisements for special interest groups like fraternities. To print such articles would not make the Pio more objective, but less. The type of articles that these commenters want to see, I’m sure, are congratulatory, sugar-coated, fluff pieces that do little more than “get the word out” about how awesome Greek life is. Now, even if Greek life truly is awesome (and I’m not saying it isn’t — like everyone, I have many friends who have cherished the experience) this does not mean that the Pio has an obligation, much less a responsibility to write about it.

2. To those commenters who deplore this article for being too sugar-coated, and smothered by Whitman niceties, your concerns are legitimate, but consider this: Whitman has about as many students as my high school. It is a small and tight-knit community. That’s part of what makes it great. But that’s also what makes the job of reporting on it a damn hard one. As a journalist, your work is inherently going to piss people off. That’s what it should do. It reveals things that others want to keep hidden. At Whitman, these are people who you have to see every day in the library, in Reid and on Ankeny. It’s an up close and personal environment, and I’m sure it’s not fun to constantly deal with irate readers who feel that this or that special interest was cast too negatively.

3. Finally, I have to say I’m disappointed to learn that I went to college with people who would sooner call their colleagues “pansies”and deplore them for speaking up about their feelings of exclusion and humiliation than actually confront the issue, and be willing to at least examine the possibility that the system may have loose ends that allow for abuse. Seriously, if that’s your attitude, then I would venture as far as to say that Whitman is not the place for you.

Members of the Greek System, specifically TKEs, are being singled out.

I don’t believe the article about Alpha Phi is a particularly positive piece in favor of Greek life considering the huge negative reaction by non-Greeks to bringing a 4th sorority to Whitman. I would love it if the Pio actually did talk to members of fraternities and sororities and wrote about their experiences and what they have gotten out of being in their respective groups.

Also just wanted to point out the obvious and say how different this debate would look if commenters were required to leave their real names before posting personal attacks against other students. Come on, guys, let’s all “man up” a little here and stop hiding derogatory remarks behind anonymous screen names.

A fun distraction from greek/indie angst:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16605_the-8-most-obnoxious-internet-commenters.html

I hope you will at least recognize how many Whitman students have gone through fraternity initiations, and how a great many of those students are incredibly accepting, successful, and influential members of the Whitman community. Each member of a Whitman fraternity is just as much a part of Whitman as you or I, and they really are “smart” and “empathetic”, despite your proclamations of their depravity. I believe that antagonizing an integral part of Whitman’s community is in no way “educated”. “Whitman niceness” as you seem to understand it is an unbiased look at the fraternity system–alongside allegations of hazing that paint the fraternity system negatively, why can’t the organizations be lauded for their successes? It only seems fair.

that post said nothing about hating tkes or the greek system. it was not directed at any particular group

you don’t need to be overly defensive about claims that aren’t made.

Big shout-out to the Pio for not only publishing this piece, but having the guts to defend it while inviting input from all sides… and to the web editor for keeping it civil! You guys rock.

As a non-TKE, I honestly feel like the members of that house have handled this situation incredibly maturely (read their President’s letter to the editor).

Thank you, Lissa. That was by far the most intelligent response so far.

I have had a lot of feelings about this article over the last few hours. I have been frustrated by the senseless remarks in the comments section, embarrassed that, yet again, a few loud voices are making Whitman look like a place full of insensitive morons, and I have been angry with the Greek system for not handling themselves more maturely. I am going to try to make a few points as calmly and rationally as I can:

1. To those who are angry about this article, please, take a deep breath and think before you respond, like I did. Calling objectors to humiliation “pansies” or saying you “hope large, painful thunderbolts strike dan x2” is absurdly cruel and judgmental and biased. When individuals stand up and proclaim that they have been victimized, generally there is a loud crowd who wants to silence them (women who claim they have been raped, individuals who suffer from racial or gender or sexual orientation prejudice, etc.) You have just joined that crowd. Congratulations.

2. To those who are angrily demanding that the Pio defends the Greek system: The Greek system has a very LOUD voice at Whitman and across our nation. Greeks are commonly the head of ASWC, they practically control the social life, they contribute incredibly large amounts in alumni donations, etc. Yes, the Pio has, in the past, served as a venue for the Indie perspective, but that is generally because the Indie voice IS the less powerful one. There may be more Indies, but they do not have a united front the way Greek organizations do. They don’t have weekly meetings, they don’t send recruiters into freshman sections, there is no Pan-hel equivalent for Indies. So give it a rest. The Greeks have a voice, and they use it often and WELL to defend themselves. Just like any powerful organization, they can (and should) be challenged every once in a while to keep them in check. If they are as strong and great as they claim, they’ll survive. The two lonely critical voices in this article, however, might not.

3. I would like to point out at this point the potential negative effects of strong group orientation that many people have been defending. Psychological research says several things about groups that form the way Greek systems do. First, when membership to a group is dependent upon who is “man enough” to endure maltreatment or who is collective-oriented enough to be willing to not stand up for their rights, you might be missing out on some awesome people. Second, the people who are willing to go through initiation might have the same personality traits as the people who are willing to be complicit in initiating the next group. Obedience to social norms is what led to abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanemo, what led to Nazi’s committing horrible acts. I’m not at ALL equating TKE initiation to these horrific acts, I’m just saying that there are similarities in terms of people harming others because it is what is expected, or to fulfill some higher purpose, or simply to not break with the authority above them.
Third, belonging to an exclusive group DOES make you feel special, but just think for a moment – is that the best way to find self-esteem and a sense of belonging?

4. For those of you claiming that pledges can leave whenever, and that this validates the process, I would like to counter that there are more forces at play here than simple free will. A TKE pledge who feels uncomfortable might easily remain in initiation for many reasons. First, there is the emphasis on masculinity and the negative attitude others might have about their refusal to participate. Seeing as several people have already used derogatory, anti-masculine terms to refer to the Dans, I assume I have no need to prove this point. Second, it is actually somewhat difficult to be Indie when a significant portion of your friends are Greek. Greeks often have closed functions, and I have known several Indies who decide to go Greek simply to feel included in this major part of the school’s social life, especially when close friends are not free to spend time with you because they are obligated to give their social time to an organization (or else face committees to explain why they are not attending functions). Especially as a first year without social networks, dropping out of pledging means a great deal more than quitting a club, it can mean social ostricization, having no friends around or people in your section, having to constantly answer the awkward question, “didn’t you go TKE? why aren’t you anymore?”. Let’s not pretend that quitting a Greek organization is no big deal. It is.

Right on, Dan(s). Don’t let these “pansies”make you regret standing up for what you believe is right. Change is slow, but it takes brave souls like you two who are willing to challenge the status quo.

Hey jobe,
I’m a frat member (not from TKE). I just wanted to give a quick response.
I agree, on the surface that those two points seem to contradict each other.

But I think a better way of putting it is that for all the pledges that are initiating; one of my fellow brothers put it this way, “It sucks at times, when what they do to us pissed us off, but when that happened we got pissed off together and that’s what bonded us over our time during initiation”.

So when they do things that may ‘seem’ bad, Its bad for all of us, and we feel it as a group…as brothers. And in the end, we appreciate the older members that did those things to us. Because it was what they did that made us so much closer as an initiating class—and for that we respect the older class as well. (Though we realized this respect at the very end of initiation…cause youc an’t realize this respect at the beginning or in the middle…because it sucks during that time…and that time is meant to make you bond with the other people going through it with you)

It seems a little backwards, I completely understand, its just something that if it makes sense to you and you are cool with it then greek life is for you. If not, then you are not obligated to go through it or be apart of it and you are free to go about other ways to get close to your friends.

Each way is different and respectable.

As a Whitman student, I’m first off incredibly proud of the Pio for publishing this. I know that there was pressure from many directions to not publish it, and I think that failing to do so would have been an act of disrespect to Dan Hart, to the accused organization(s), and to the Whitman community in general.

I admit to being an outspoken critic of the greek system, yet I think by taking things like this seriously, we can show respect both for the students making allegations, as well as for the fraternity as an imperfect yet still legitimate organization. If TKE claims that there is nothing wrong with what happens and they shouldn’t have to change how they do things (for ANY reason, including that things ‘aren’t that bad’ or are pretty tame ‘compared to other schools’), then that is a good reason for those of us who dislike the greek system to continue writing them off as a harmful, patriarchial, exclusionary institution. But if TKE can admit that they have made mistakes and want to do things differently, I think they will end up in a better position and with a better reputation than before the incident. I for one would have a lot more respect for them if they could recognize what they did as problematic, rather than writing the allegations off as irrational or ‘not really that bad’.

Dan Hart has shown immense courage in speaking up about these problems, and in doing so he is doing a service not just to himself, but to other previous and potential initiates, to the greek system as an institution, and to the Whitman community as a whole. Nobody/nothing is perfect, and whatever small amount of change and progress we accomplish in our lifetimes is due to people like Dan who aren’t afraid to speak out against the crowd and do what they believe is right. Thanks for being so fucking awesome, Dan!

Okay, good for the Pio for writing something that was somewhat contentious.

Lets see the Pio grow a backbone and have a staff writer write about the positive side of greek life.

Lets see the Pio have a staff writer write about the positive side of atheltic groups after they write about their initiatiions too.

AND I WANT ALL OF THESE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEWS PAPER TOO. not hidden on the third page as a 200 word article. I want the same ridiculous amount of time and effort spent to make the TKE house look like shit to be spent discovering info and producing an article that also covers WHY people went greek, and WHY it was positive for them.

lets see the Pio go beyond sensationalizing things.

I think the article was very well written, but I do agree with past sentiments that is was somewhat sugar coated in the traditional “Whitman niceness.”I also agree with the statement made that I hope the Pio publishes an article highlighting the positive aspects of greek life.

It must also be acknowledged that Hart did not participate in the full initiation process. I am not saying that this takes from his validity and his claims, but I do believe we need to look at the whole picture. He does not know what happens in the majority of initiation. And he is not part of the brotherhood that is created through this very tough process. People do bond with each other in times of emotional trouble. Right now it is just Hart’s word against TKE’s, but the TKEs probably know a little bit more about the whole process than an individual who experienced a mere 16 hours of it.

Another thing that I resent about this article is the allegations made against varsity athletes. I think it is entirely inappropriate to lump athletes into the Greek system and initiation practices. By targeting the athletes and greek system you are singling out a very particular group of people on campus because most athletes are also members of greek organizations.

I respect all of the opinions and individuals who shared their thoughts in this article, but I think the TKEs have every right to feel singled out and targeted. The individuals who wrote this article and the men who de pledged have never truly been part of the Greek system and know nothing about what it is like to be a member of this group. They have no insider perspective. How do they feel justified in such harsh criticism?

YOU THINK THIS IS CONSIDERED HAZING?

haha. Thats great stuff. If WSU or UW saw this article I’m sure that they would laugh beyond their control.

How is this a big deal? Oh no! You had to clean? How terrible!! Oh even worse, you had to take a shower…IN YOUR BOXERS……WITH OTHER PEOPLE?? (it’s like a public pool?!?! HOW HORRIFYING)…..EVEN WORSE YOU HAD TO COOK BREAKFAST???

I feel so bad for them…..not because of the supposedly “horrible” experience they had for not even a day of initiation….but because they think that what they experienced was soooo terrible that they “feared for your safety”…cause in all reality they went through things that they will be going through many more times when they enter the real world.

ie: Cooking breakfast, cleaning the kitchen (probably after cooking breakfast…right?) and going to public pools.

The only difference was they were doing these activities with other people, other FRIENDS, and in doing these things together they probably would have bonded if they took the time to stop bitching and feeling sorry for themselves. I know its possible to have bonded over these things because, well, LOOK–the people who are part of TKE are BEST FRIENDS after initiating.

Greek life isn’t for everybody. We can all agree on that. Clearly the people who spoke up for this article were not individuals who should be in Greek life–which is why they have decided not to be.
I think it’s beyond evident and clear that the Whitman Greek system is NOTHING LIKE STATE SCHOOL GREEK SYSTEMS. And I feel that this article, in a way, is trying to shove TKE into a category that includes state school frats that have done much much much worse things. And luckily, Whitman’s TKE just doesn’t fit there, and I hope Whitman students are aware enough to realize that.
It sucks that these two people had an unfortunate experience with the Greek system, but those two people had the choice and utilized the choice to withdraw themselves. And I commend them for giving Greek life a try. For them, the ways by which TKE fosters close relationships was not something they particularly agreed with and that is to be respected–but for all the TKE members who stayed through initiation, clearly there is something to say about that as well. Something positive, because otherwise they would utilized their opportunity to withdraw as well.
I’d like to see the Pio do a story about the positive side of Greek life, how the people who have initiated feel and how they think Greek life has bettered them as individuals and their experience at Whitman.
There are two sides to every story, and I certainly hope that the Pioneer does not become a publication that likes to sensationalize just to entertain their readers.

The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted.

Tke initiation is rough, definitely too rough if all that we hear about it is true. Honestly, though, we should revel in the strength we build from fraternity. I think a lot of good things are taught from fraternity and that making people uncomfortable can be good. People should not have their comfort zone destroyed but pushed. However it is important to recognize that while pushing their comfort zones the Tkes might have gone too far and become carried away with their methods. Change the methods and ask “does this build character?”, “does this degrade?”, “does this inspire teamwork and togetherness?” not “how can we fuck with pledges?” Tke is a good house, a strong group of people. Tke did not truly hurt anyone, so investigate and make sure the house is safe. Just don’t ruin it for everyone because someone found this single bad day upsetting.

“DeVine said that nothing in TKE initiation would be considered more stressful than the first day of classes for first-year student”

“Hart said that when the pledges cleaned up the trash, it was smeared back on the floor and kitchen surfaces; when they finished cooking the food, it was thrown against the wall. He said this went on for four hours.”

Clearly, this is just a problem of interpretation, right?

By speaking up, these two demonstrated something apparently not taught at institutions…. character.