by Nicholas Sterling
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Fraternities and sororities often are the main groups accused of hazing during initiation ceremonies of new members but sports teams and campus clubs also engage in abusive or humiliating practices to build membership, the director of Student Involvement at The College of New Jersey said.
Dave Conner addressed about 600 students who crowded into the West Village Ballroom at Towson University for a hazing prevention session on Wednesday. This event took place right in the middle on National Hazing Prevention Week and 25 percent of all fraternities and sororities had been required to attend.
“We should not be the only people raising this flag and talking about hazing,” Conner said. “This is a campus-wide issue, we are not the only organizations involved and we should not be the only organizations that are expected to come to programs like this.”
Towson has more than 40 fraternities and sororities. Nationwide, there are more than 750,000 students involved in Greek Life.
Conner said a 2008 poll found that varsity athletes, not fraternities and sororities, hazed the most at campuses across the country. They had the edge by just 1 percent, he said.
Aaron Chiang, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said he was impacted by the statistics.
“The fact that varsity athletes haze more than fraternities and sororities really surprised me,” Chiang said.
Hazing usually is an initiation ceremony used to induct members into fraternities, sororities, teams or clubs with activities that can become abusive or humiliating. Conner said hazing could be divided into two categories: mentally degrading and/or things that are physically harmful. Among the mentally degrading activities are verbal abuse, servitude and required excessive memorization. Physically harmful activities include sleep deprivation, dieting, and paddling.
“Total fraternity and sorority deaths since 2000, there were only 50,” Conner said. “That’s 18 percent of all fraternity and sorority life deaths last year. 2017 was the worst year since most of you were born in fraternity and sorority life.”
Two years ago, on Towson’s campus, two Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity members were arrested for hazing a fraternity member. Evan Francis and Alexander Cantor, both 21 at the time, were charged with reckless endangerment after one of the members was hospitalized for drinking an unknown substance that destroyed his stomach. The fraternity has been suspended until the 2021-2022 academic year, officials said.
While officials at the University of Maryland, College Park acknowledged there has not been one specific incident of hazing over the past few years, the fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon, did have its chapter recognition removed the same year as the Towson University incident. The fraternity had been under probation for three years. Multiple hazing violations did factor into the decision to suspend the fraternity, officials said.
Conner, who showed a video of three people who died as a result of hazing, said he felt he had connected with the audience and was able to get his message across.
“I think it’s important when you are engaging with college students to make sure that you’re being real and understanding that people are making the best choice they can,” Conner explained. “Nobody is intentionally making a bad choice. My goal is always to help people make good choices.”
Josh Bregman, president of Interfraternity Council, said hazing prevention frequently is discussed not only at Towson but hundreds of other colleges and universities.
“Hazing prevention is something we have going on a weekly basis where we host meetings and seminars similar to this event,” said Bregman, “where we try and educate our population on why hazing is terrible and how it destroys our group community.”