As defined by the National Panhellenic Conference, hazing is “any action or situation with or without consent which recklessly, intentionally or unintentionally endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student, or creates risk of injury, or causes discomfort, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule or which willfully destroys or removes public or private property for the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in a chapter or colony of an NPC member fraternity.”
I read a great TSM article earlier this week entitled, “I Wish I Was Hazed And You Should Too.” The author shared the same views as myself, expressing that in order to join an organization one should have to work for and prove their worthiness to do so. I shared it immediately raving about how great it was, but now it has me thinking; none of the points this author made fall under the definition of hazing. All she wanted was a legitimate new member process.
New Member meetings should absolutely be mandatory. Any and all chapter events during the New Member process should also be mandatory. Study hours should be mandatory. Quizzes should be administered. There should be clear, concise rules on what New Members can and cannot do. New Members should experience some form of dry period. New Members should not be allowed to call themselves sisters.
This may sound harsh, but these were all aspects of my New Member process that made me value and appreciate becoming a sister so much more. Now, in my chapter, all of these things are considered hazing. And I know my chapter is not alone, there are many chapters all over the country that also consider these aspects hazing.
Read the hazing definition again. None of the aspects of my new member process that I just listed ever embarrassed, endangered or harassed myself or my sisters and it never destroyed or removed property.
This is why it is time to re- define what “hazing” means. Hazing means exactly what it is defined as. Despite what people want to make it out to be, hazing is not making events mandatory or using quizzes to gauge the knowledge retention of your members. How will any chapter ever become better, bigger and greater if the New Members can slip through the process? Why initiate girls who don’t know your founders? Your flower? Your motto? Why initiate girls who skipped out on 8 of their 12 New Member meetings?
So yes, hazing is wrong. However, if we are going to consider a strict New Member process “hazing,” then I guess I’m all for it because New Members are the foundation of an organization and they should, beyond a shadow of a doubt, know their history of and respect the organization which they are joining.
