I write this blog at 30,000 feet, somewhere between
Pensacola, FL and Fort Worth, TX, where I will be spending the next few days
working with the students and staff at Texas Christian University. Our flight path is following a winding river
flowing its way through Mississippi or Louisiana or some other such place. A
few miles back, there was an oxbow lake – for whatever reason, I have always
remembered oxbow lakes from my fifth grade science class. An oxbow lake is
created when a bend in a river is cut off by erosion and the river forges a
new, more direct path. That old bend in
the river, now separated from the flow, gave me the inspiration for this blog –
specifically, the need for us to forge new, more direct ways to confront,
address and prevent hazing on college campuses. We need to leave some oxbow
lakes in our wake – vestiges of days gone by – as we step up our efforts in the
prevention of hazing on campus.
Here are five things we need to be doing to change the flow
of this river:
1. Address What We CAN See –This time last year, I
was having lunch in the UWF cafeteria, minding my own business and enjoying
whatever delicious fare Chartwell’s had offered up that day. As I was finishing
my meal, I heard a commotion behind me. I turned to see a group of what were
obviously fraternity pledges standing at their table and reciting a creed of
some sort. I knew they were fraternity
pledges by their telltale khaki pants and navy blazers, and based on the color
of their matching ties, I had a pretty good idea what chapter they were in.
As I watched and listened, I noticed that there were several other guys
at the table, dressed in street clothes, not standing or reciting anything.
Now, in the grand scheme of things, this was not a big deal. Hazing?
Technically. Going to keep me up at night? Nope. But as I pondered the situation, I decided to
walk over and confront the situation.
None of the guys in this chapter knew me at the time, so I was able to play dumb. I walked over and said “hey…that was pretty cool. What was that you were just reciting?” A pledge was pleased to tell me that they had just recited the fraternity’s creed before their meal. I turned to one of the active members and asked “are you in the same fraternity? I didn’t see you guys standing and saying the creed.” He informed me that he was, in fact, a member of the same fraternity. So I asked him why only the guys wearing blazers stood to say the creed. His response was perfect – “Well….because they’re pledges.”
None of the guys in this chapter knew me at the time, so I was able to play dumb. I walked over and said “hey…that was pretty cool. What was that you were just reciting?” A pledge was pleased to tell me that they had just recited the fraternity’s creed before their meal. I turned to one of the active members and asked “are you in the same fraternity? I didn’t see you guys standing and saying the creed.” He informed me that he was, in fact, a member of the same fraternity. So I asked him why only the guys wearing blazers stood to say the creed. His response was perfect – “Well….because they’re pledges.”
“Hi, I’m Dr. McCreary, the Associate Dean of Students….”
My research into hazing rationale has illuminated for me that the most
dangerous, and the most common, form of hazing is what has been termed “social
dominance” hazing – that hazing that serves no purpose other than to reinforce
a social hierarchy in the chapter – we make the new members do things because
we have the power to make them do anything we want. This type of hazing is
strongly correlated with increased severity of hazing, alcohol use, conformity,
and unethical behavior. Here’s the problem with social dominance hazing – it
does not always take the form of “Big H” hazing. It is often done publicly, out
in the open, and can be easily dismissed as no big deal. But once a chapter
culture of social dominance sets in, it is not a long stretch from having
pledges recite the creed in the cafeteria to having them recite the creed in a
bucket of ice water or forcing them to chug a fifth of bourbon if they mess up
their recitation of the creed. Once a chapter convinces itself that it is OK to
do things to pledges just because you can, then a sick culture of social
dominance sits in which involves hazing much more dangerous and deadly than the
situation depicted above.
So – don’t accept any hazing. Don’t let anything slide. Address everything
you see. This does not mean you have to be draconian in your approach – zero
tolerance where reciting the creed in the cafeteria leads to automatic
suspension. But it does mean that there should be a swift and appropriate
response. Allowing a culture of social dominance to go unchecked and
unaddressed can have deadly consequences.
2. Conduct thorough investigations – My
dissertation research confirmed for me the importance of campus culture – the
campus environment has a unique and distinct interaction with the moral
disengagement that allows hazing to take place.
Students need to know – to see – that an institution takes hazing
seriously. One of the best ways to do this is to conduct thorough, reliable
investigations for any allegations. It
is hard to do that if the person investigating alleged hazing is the Greek
advisor. The Greek advisor has multiple responsibilities, and in a previous blog post, I have argued that they are often ill-prepared to take the lead on
hazing investigations. Instead, campuses
should adopt and independent investigator model, similar to what many campuses
are adopting for Title IX cases. By having a team of independent trained
investigators, campuses can quickly and more thoroughly investigate cases of
hazing, sending a strong and clear message to the campus community.
3. Talk about it – When I worked at Alabama, I had
a philosophy when it came to our education, prevention and risk management
initiatives – if you haven’t said it in the last three months, you have never
said it. Memories are short, but
traditions are long. We must be constant, persistent and pervasive in our
hazing prevention programming. If you are only talking about hazing during
National Hazing Prevention Week, then your students are not getting the message. The speaker you bring in will have an impact
for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, but their message eventually wears
off as old habits creep back in. We must expose students to a constant barrage
of prevention-minded education at every level, from new members to chapter
officers to alumni, and we need to be doing it nearly constantly. Only then can
our prevention efforts begin to have a lasting impact.
4. Help fraternity chapters redefine brotherhood –
My research into fraternal brotherhood with Josh Schutts has revealed four
schema of brotherhood – four unique and distinct ways that fraternity men
define and conceptualize brotherhood. Many men think about brotherhood as
merely being about solidarity (i.e. I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine) or about
shared social experiences (all the fun we have together is what bonds us as
brothers). Chapters who think about brotherhood in these ways are more likely
to have severe hazing. The hazing is designed to produce faux solidarity
through a difficult new member process, or prevent new members from immediately
exploiting the benefits of membership (i.e. earning your letters). But chapters
who balance out the solidarity and social elements of brotherhood with equal
parts of belonging (i.e. my fraternity is my home away from home and a place
where I feel accepted and appreciated) and accountability (i.e. my brothers make
me a better person by holding me to high standards) are less likely to haze and
are more likely to have healthy, productive chapter experiences. We know from
our research and work on campuses that fraternity men enjoy and are willing to
engage in conversations about brotherhood, and that programming aimed at
realigning their conceptualization of brotherhood is effective. In other words,
if we can get men to change the way they think about brotherhood, we can get
them to think differently about the need for hazing to be part of that
brotherhood. Conversations about brotherhood offer us an alternative point of
entry into conversations about a variety of difficult topics – hazing, sexual
assault, values congruence, alcohol, etc. – and show incredible promise in the
worlds of education and prevention.
5. Find the right alumni and get them engaged – If
there are Greek advisors who feel that recruiting alumni advisors is not part
of their job description, then I would encourage them to seriously reexamine
their priorities. Plugging the right alumni into the chapter experience is
among the most important work we can do. As I have suggested in a previous post, we need to be moving away from the failed “self-governance” experiment
and begin instituting models of shared alumni governance. The number one risk
factor leading to severe hazing in fraternities is the lack of responsible
adults involved in the new member process. Greek advisors are well-advised to
spend time networking and building relationships with alumni and other
responsible adults who may be able to get plugged into chapter governance
models. The introduction of responsible adults may be one of the most important
things we can do to change chapter cultures as it relates to hazing.
I am incredibly humbled to be able to do the work that I do.
This week, I will visit five campuses spread across the United States and have
a chance to talk to students and university administrators about this important
issue. It is my hope that this work, and the work of others, will change the
conversation on campuses about hazing prevention in a way that will change the
trajectory – the direction – of hazing on college campuses. I think these five
things represent our best hope of making oxbow lakes out of hazing – changing
hazing from an expected cultural norm to a vestige of the way things used to
be.
Very enlightening post, especially the matter of social hierarchy. As a national fraternity representative I feel there are some actionable ideas here with respect to effecting change in culture. I do have some clarifying questions regarding the conceptualizations of brotherhood and alumni involvement in new member intake processes.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned four conceptualizations of brotherhood, two of which had shown to allow for hazing and the other two minimizing the chance of hazing incidents. My question is can all for ideas exist and be taught in balance or are they in opposition to each other when it comes to desirable behavioral or social outcomes?
Also, about fraternities and new member intake processes, which in the last year have come under scrutiny due to hazing incidents, association with pledging is met with hesitation. My question here is what stake can alumni have in participation with pledging processes?
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