A sorry ritual played out Tuesday morning in the woods near the Ellicott Complex, as two pledges to a UB fraternity were allegedly forced to lay in mud in the early hours of a bitingly cold morning. UB was right to refer the matter to Amherst Town Court and begin prosecuting the suspect, Ramon Pena, through the Student-Wide Judiciary.
But the entire episode begs greater questions about the role of hazing in the Greek system and the role of the Greek system at UB. If police allegations are true and serious hazing occurred Tuesday morning, the suspect and his fraternity deserve the immediate blame for this incident. But serious hazing allegations such as these are evidence of a greater problem: a flawed compact between UB officials and Greeks on the hazing issue.
Every school has a two-part hazing compact between school officials and its Greek system. There is a written compact made up of the words and clauses of an official hazing policy.
But there is also an unwritten compact, delineated by what the university chooses to enforce - or chooses not to enforce. The school tells Greek organizations how much of the compact they can violate by choosing what to enforce. Episodes of the worst kinds of hazing - rituals such as Tuesday's alleged events, which seriously endanger health and life - are evidence that at UB, the second compact is not strong enough.
The weakness of the unwritten hazing compact at UB stems, ironically, from an overzealous hazing policy that has no teeth. The official policy prohibits "quests, treasure hunts, and scavenger hunts" as well as "road trips, or any other activities carried on outside or inside the confines of the chapter house." It also states "No member shall permit, tolerate, encourage, or participate in drinking games." Rush activities are supposed to be totally dry functions. "Conspicuous" public apparel is banned. "Open parties" are prohibited.
Nobody really believes that fraternities and sororities can exist within the context of these rules. Thus, we have the dilemma faced by Greek systems across the nation. Schools want Greek life but prohibit, on the books, every conceivable element of fraternity and sorority culture: pledging, partying, and rituals. Then, because so few of the provisions of overzealous written compacts can be enforced, the strength of unwritten compacts - the level of enforcement - is weakened. As a result, truly dangerous hazing acts, like Tuesday's incident if it proves to be true, are unofficially sanctioned.
UB officials must consider whether they want the school to have a Greek system. If they do, they should sit down with the fraternities and sororities and come up with a policy that actually has some teeth. The policy should allow harmless things such as road trips, Greek letter apparel, buffoonery, and open parties while prohibiting those that seriously endanger health and life - such as forced binge drinking and physical abuse that results in injury.
When the rules about what Greek organizations cannot do and the unwritten compact of what is actually enforced come more clearly into line, Greeks will know where they stand. No one will be looking the other way on any clause of a clearer hazing policy. And skirting hypothermia on a freezing Buffalo morning will be far less likely to be a part of anybody's UB experience.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
