…is there a price?

For some, it could be drinking excessively to prove you can keep up with your pledge class. Or maybe it is participating in embarrassing or humiliating acts around campus, to show your dedication to a new group. Kidnappings and road trips? Sure. Taking nude pictures? Alright, if you say so.

It’s true. This semester, new sorority girls at schools across the Southeast found themselves targeted on Facebook by a Lexie Hillbrenner, an alum of their chapter who handpicked them as potential future leaders of their sororities – what great news for any new pledge!

After hours of chatting about majors and backgrounds, Lexie felt as welcoming and friendly as any other sister…so when she asked girls to complete random tasks ranging from reporting the distance between their dorm and the sorority house to what color underwear they were wearing, it didn’t hit too far from home. It’s college and they probably thought, “we’re Greek, and this is just part of getting into the house!”

When Lexie started asking for nude pictures and replying to any objections with threats,  some girls went to campus police. But according to university policies, hazing of any kind is illegal, and people say it doesn’t happen at all. So why didn’t the girls come forward earlier? It’s as if hazing occurs so often that undergraduates can barely recognize it anymore.

“We want to be a part of something and we’re not fully accepted yet – perfect target,” said one of the victims who contacted police at Lexie’s forward request after mentioning it to her mother. But how many new and impressionable freshmen didn’t call home those days and hosted photo shoots with their webcams instead, for the sake of some promise of belonging? With Facebook, there’s no way to tell – even Lexie is “virtually untraceable” according to police officials at Florida State University.

Hazing happens, more often then not – even outside the sorority house and on athletic teams and student clubs.

A red flag shouldn’t go up simply because these students were asked to participate in sexually explicit acts, but because they thought they were being subjected to standard forms of initiation required to “pass the test.”

For future reference, there is no test. Ever.

Get the facts before you participate in any hazing rituals.

What is hazing? By definition, hazing is “”any activity expected of someone joining a group that 
humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate. This does not include activities such as rookies carrying the balls, team parties with community games, or going out with your teammates, unless an atmosphere of humiliation, degradation, abuse or danger arises.”

Hazing can be as simple as withholding rights, or as severe and serious as burning, assaulting, or drugging another person. And while the more innocent forms of hazing may seem inconsequential, these are often considered misdemeanors – even if the victim is consenting. The power structure of hazing is dangerous in and of itself; a younger person or someone who is a position of inferiority often feels too threatened by possible punishments to speak out, so even if someone doesn’t seem bothered by your actions, it’s still considered hazing.

The reason these rules are in place is simple: nobody means to kill or seriously harm the person who is being hazed, but these situations often spiral out of control. Take the 2002 Cal State Los Angeles hazing that left two girls dead: after being made to perform exercises on the beach for hours, Kenitha Saafir and Kristin High were told to walk backwards into the ocean. Saafir went along with the task even though she couldn’t swim, and when the tide carried her away, her fellow pledge went after her. Both girls drowned. Clearly this was not the sorority’s intention, but when hazing is involved, these things happen and those that initiated the activity are held accountable.

The number people who have ruined their own lives by hazing others is remarkable. Without even meaning to harm anyone, initiators can leave others seriously injured or even dead – and if the possibility of living with that guilt isn’t enough of a reason not to haze, the legal repercussions should be. In the past, those who have hazed to death have been convicted of manslaughter – whether or not they wanted things to get so far out of hand.

So be smart – avoid hazing at all costs, even if it makes you look or feel like you’re going against the group. If something makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it. In my opinion, belonging to a group is never worth taking such a serious risk.

According to StopHazing.org, hazing is defined as “any activity expected of someone joining a group (or to maintain full status in a group) that humiliates, degrades or risks emotional and/or physical harm, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate.” That can include everything from going to an event in costume to being thrown off a roof between two matresses (and yes, that did happen at my school).

In its original form, hazing was used to create a bond between a group of people. Basically, older members would put their new recruits through obstacles in attempts to force them to band together against their oppressors. And in theory it works – how many times during middle school did you and your classmates band together when faced with an evil teacher or, better, a sub?

The problem is that it has gone too far. Students are getting injured and sometimes even killed during acts of hazing. ABC recently did a study on this where they brought hazing out into the open to see if people would step up and stop the cruel acts. And what happened?

Well, when men were being hazed most people stepped in to stop it. When women were being hazed, however, most people stood by and watched, letting the poor girls be humiliated and hurt. It was a spectacle and people wanted to see what happened next.

It was horrifying and difficult to watch, but it made me realize that I have done this many times. Not only was I hazed as a freshman (mostly benign things like dressing up or being an older girl’s “slave”), but I knew about many other kids being hazed and never did anything about it. I wrote it off as just another thing that “everyone goes through” and let it continue. Yes, even when it was happening in front of me.

Campuses have cracked down on hazing recently, but it has not stopped. Could this be because we, the people closest to it, allow it to go on?

Every college student has encountered hazing in some way, so I’d like to know: would you stop hazing if you saw it? If not, why? Let it all out in the comments.