Hazing in Fraternities

What comes to mind when you think of hazing?   Do fraternities and sororities come to mind when you think about hazing?   The answer to that question is most likely to be “yes” for most of everyone.   Most freshmen entering college wonder if they should join a fraternity or sorority before they arrive.   They also wonder whether they will be hazed or not throughout the course of their “pledgeship”.   Hazing is one of the main reasons why a lot of freshmen don’t even consider joining a Greek letter organization.   They are afraid that they will be either blindfolded or forced to drink or run laps with bricks in their pockets until they vomit.   This poses a real problem for all of Greek-life because the incoming freshmen are the ones who keep these organizations running, without them Greek-life cannot persist.
The heartbroken mother of a Cornell University sophomore is suing a fraternity for $25 million after members allegedly kidnapped her son, blindfolded him, bound his hands and feet, and forced him to drink so much alcohol that he passed out and died.   George Desdunes, the son of a Haitian immigrant, was pronounced dead on Feb. 25 from alcohol poisoning at Cayuga Medical Center. Desdunes' blood alcohol level was .409 – more than five times the legal limit, according to the family's lawsuit.   Desdunes' mother, Marie Lourdes Andre, is suing Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for $25 million in the wrongful death of her only son.   The aspiring doctor was captured by freshmen "pledges" of the fraternity who allegedly devised a horrific set of tasks and punishments for Desdunes and one other frat member.   "I call it inmates running the institution," said Andre's lawyer, William Friedlander, referring to the SAE hazing. "This is a terrible tragic case. He was a

really great kid."   Desdunes, 19, a member of the SAE fraternity, was grabbed by the freshmen pledges who tied him up with zip ties and duct tape.   The pledges are alleged to have asked him trivia questions about... [continues]

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