New Hampshire police charge 46 fraternity brothers with hazing

[Stevicus]

New Hampshire police charge 46 fraternity brothers with hazing (msn.com)

June 11 (UPI) -- Dozens of fraternity brothers have been charged with hazing in warrants for their arrest stemming from an alleged incident at the University of New Hampshire.

Investigators are seeking the arrest of 46 members of the school's chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for an alleged hazing incident against new members of the fraternity on April 13, the Durham Police Department said in a statement Friday.

Details about the alleged hazing incident were not provided by police.

The national Sigma Alpha Epsilon organization said in a statement to WMUR that it had been made aware of the situation and had launched its own investigation which was paused upon learning about the active police investigation.

"We are fully cooperating with the local authorities' investigation and have urged all of our members to do the same," the organization said.

"Sigma Alpha Epsilon denounces all acts of hazing and misconduct that do not represent the Fraternity's values defined by our creed, The True Gentleman."The Durham Police Department noted that the university's chapter was also charged with hazing.

Student hazing is a misdemeanor criminal conviction punishable by a fine of up to $1,200 for each individual charged. The organization faces an unclassified misdemeanor with a fine of up to $20,000.

Police officials told WMUR that 10 members of the fraternity had been arrested as of Friday and all of them have been released from custody.

A spokesperson for the University of New Hampshire said that the fraternity has been suspended. The UNH website shows that the fraternity has 82 members.

I was never a member of a fraternity in college. Many people I knew viewed them as elitist and right-wing. And there have been some rather tragic hazing incidents, although this article doesn't specify what was done or if anyone was injured or killed.

Have you ever been hazed? Have you ever hazed others? What is your opinion? What is the point of hazing? Does anyone think it "makes a man" out of you?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

From what I've gathered, the potential for trauma, severe injury and even death seems to make it bad.

 

[Aštra’el]

I mean… I admit, I enjoy wild and exciting initiation rituals.

 

[Subduction Zone]

There is simply not enough information to come to any conclusion based upon the article. I know that there have been hazing events that should have been prosecuted in the past, but that does not automatically make all hazing bad. And no, I was never hazed.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I mean… I admit, I enjoy wild and exciting initiation rituals.

Aren't hazings generally degrading and humiliating to those on the receiving end?

 

[Stevicus]

There is simply not enough information to come to any conclusion based upon the article. I know that there have been hazing events that should have been prosecuted in the past, but that does not automatically make all hazing bad. And no, I was never hazed.

Some of it seems rather innocuous, along the lines of pranks or practical jokes. But there have also been some rather severe incidents, even including some deaths.

 

[Viker]

I'm all for initiatory rituals as long as they're not harmful or meant to put another "in their place", instead bringing another into a new house and uplifting them as well as the house together.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I never understood the point of hazing outside of boot camp (it's supposed to be hard and degrading by design). Outside of that, it just seems pointless sadism.

 

[Wu Wei]

Back in my younger days, in college, I was looking like any biker you never wanted to see…. I actually had some frat guy, with a few frat brothers at h
Is side, talking to me about how great his fraternity was… the talk ended when I said…. I’m going to have to stop you right there…. I’m capable of independent thought…so I don’t need a fraternity. They looked dumbfounded…. And I walked away…for some reason they avoided me after that

 

[Mock Turtle]

I avoided the initiation meted out to some select few on entering secondary school - myself being chosen no doubt because I had two older brothers at the school. The initiation, unknown to me at the time, was the usual held upside down in the toilet whilst such being flushed - so not so bad, but I didn't know this. I was rather too quick for them to catch and usually escaped the notice of all but a few. I did manage to witness what they did to one of my classmates though.

However, the result of my evasion caused my oldest brother to be chosen for different treatment. They humiliated him by hoisting him up into some rafters with his hands tied behind his back. I didn't realise this was connected with my not being caught until later that day. I was sat alone on the floor at home when he came in, not a word said, and he pressed down on my head with all his might. I could feel my spine bowing, and if I had not passed out I suspect he might have broken my back. Nothing was said about the incident but I sure remembered it.

So, do I believe in such things? Hell ****ing NO! Just like the incident cited, there are often unintended consequences. And for what?

PS I was hardly psychic at age eleven to know they might do something to my brother.

 

[Daemon Sophic]

Aren't hazings generally degrading and humiliating to those on the receiving end?

I’ve never been hazed, but I recall one incident reported at my college, where a hazing ‘ceremony’ was broken up by police in a frat basement. Apparently the initiates were found in a room with 4 sheep. And the initiates were described as “stripped, with one hand filled with peanut butter, and the other hand filled with mayonnaise.”

I never understood the point of hazing outside of boot camp (it's supposed to be hard and degrading by design). Outside of that, it just seems pointless sadism.

I think the idea is to test whether the initiate is willing to undergo the hardship in order to be a part of the organization. “Go fanatically, or go home”?

 

[Revoltingest]

The initiation, unknown to me at the time, was the usual held upside down in the toilet whilst such being flushed...

Had anyone ever tried that on me,
I'd become an amateur phlebotomist.
**** hazings. **** boot camp.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Had anyone ever tried that on me,
I'd become an amateur phlebotomist.
**** hazings. **** boot camp.

Reading over this thread, and outside sources, I keep wondering why anyone would willingly subject themselves to such humiliation and degradation? Do they have pathetically low self-esteem to the point they must have others to feel a value of worth? Is the result of calling pride a sin while glorifying humility? Being that willing to please others is often a result of abuse. Did participants themselves have abuse normalized in their childhood?
I see no reason why a sane or rational person would go through with this or inflict it on another, unless their mind just isn't well

 

[Revoltingest]

Reading over this thread, and outside sources, I keep wondering why anyone would willingly subject themselves to such humiliation and degradation? Do they have pathetically low self-esteem to the point they must have others to feel a value of worth? Is the result of calling pride a sin while glorifying humility? Being that willing to please others is often a result of abuse. Did participants themselves have abuse normalized in their childhood?
I see no reason why a sane or rational person would go through with this or inflict it on another, unless their mind just isn't well

They really want to belong...have low self-esteem...bow
to peer pressure...lack independence...not individualist.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

They really want to belong...have low self-esteem...bow
to peer pressure...lack independence...not individualist.

And just think, these are basically a neurotypical thing kind of like Rush is a guy thing. People have long though we're weird, odd, and different, but we aren't known for doing some of this abjective dumb crap neurotypicals are doing, especially for their 15 minutes of sh/fame.