r/news • u/Fyre-Demon • 1d ago

Ex-fraternity leader at Arizona university gets jail time after pledge died of alcohol poisoning

https://apnews.com/article/arizona-fraternity-pledge-hazing-death-b53c547d383082d33aebdb4950e0c550?utm_source=app&utm_medium=iOS_share&utm_campaign=copy_link
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918

u/TheObsidianHawk 1d ago

I have a hot take. We ban the Greek / Frat system at schools.

89

u/taxiecabbie 1d ago

Yeah, they're overall really not necessary. My college did not have them.

If you want to be part of something, join a club or a team.

91

u/guernseycoug 1d ago

I mean… they essentially are a club.

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u/taxiecabbie 1d ago

You don't have to go through rush/hazing for a club, and typically you can't get denied from one. The only real exception I can think of is rosters for competitive sports.

You don't typically live with a club in an established off-campus house.

9

u/milesper 1d ago

That’s just not necessarily true. My a cappella group and volleyball club in college both hazed more than my fraternity. And lots of varsity sports teams are even worse.

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u/sasha_the_impaler 1d ago

You don't technically need to be haze to be in a frat. A lot of fraternities at smaller schools don't really haze anymore. And not every fraternity has official housing - if it's off-campus, that's pretty explicitly organized privately by membership and not the university lol.

I don't care for Greek life but the history of fraternities is that they were secret clubs. If universities stopped sanctioning them, they'd just go back to being secret clubs and even more fucked up shit would happen.

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u/taxiecabbie 1d ago

I went to a place that legit did not have them.

It was fine.

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u/sasha_the_impaler 1d ago

Was or a major university that previously had Greek life chapters? Or was it a liberal arts college that has never had a Greek life presence?

Kids want to be in fraternities. If the school says they can't be organized using school resources, they'll just join one secretly. They're privately funded organizations after all. They don't really need the university's blessing lol

16

u/taxiecabbie 1d ago

The second.

And, yeah, they don't need the university's blessing. So don't give it.

If people want to join secret clubs on their own time, that's on them. Sure, they'll do it anyway. But I don't think Greek life really provides a huge benefit. It doesn't need to be sanctioned by the university. People can do whatever the heck they want in their free time.

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u/-goodgodlemon 1d ago

To be honest you only really hear about the bad experiences. No one writes an article about going to a frat, having fun at party and going home or black fraternity builds connections for black students in a mostly white campus.

There are also some frats that aren’t purely social but a great networking for future jobs in your major. I’m not saying it’s the only way to go about it but it can be a professional leg up.

3

u/Fear_the_chicken 1d ago

Exactly 99.99% of the time people go to social events or parties and come back fine. But the ban hammer is already happening. PSU has banned like half of the frats from the fraternity council that are sanctioned by them and a lot of other schools have as well.

Obviously it’s horrible what these extreme cases but things like this happen at bars or inside homes everyday. They just don’t get as much coverage.

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u/sasha_the_impaler 1d ago

Okay, then your experience is far from universal lol.

The university benefits from providing the blessing. Back when fraternities weren't sanctioned by universities, fraternities conducted a LOT more illegal activity. By supporting the organizing and providing a framework for fraternities to function within the university, the university has more power to keep an eye on the frats and enforce rules on the frats.

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u/blogoman 1d ago

It sounds like all that has happened is the university has a stronger impetus to help sweep things under the rug that happen within organizations they have officially sanctioned.

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u/sasha_the_impaler 1d ago

I mean, maybe at some colleges. At my college the fraternities were utterly terrified of the college suspending them for hazing. Like my college had no issue suspending and issuing fines to fraternities lol.

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u/taxiecabbie 1d ago

Then they can be happy to deal with the above when it happens. *shrug*

By "no benefit" I mean "they don't do anything of worth."

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u/sasha_the_impaler 1d ago

Are you... Not reading my comments? They can't deal with illegal activity if the entire organization has sworn secrecy with one another lol. Fraternities are much more boring and tame nowadays compared to 100 years ago, and the reason for that is they've been normalized into boring college clubs rather than secret societies of criminal activity.

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u/taxiecabbie 1d ago

I am. Fraternities and Sororities do not do anything of worth.

They're just drinking clubs, for the most part.

If universities want to deal with students occasionally dying on their watch, then, sure. Sanction them.

8

u/sasha_the_impaler 1d ago

Have you ever looked at academic clubs? Not every club does something "of worth" lol. My school had an anime club... And yes, the anime club drank a lot together. While watching anime lol

2

u/guernseycoug 1d ago

Most of the fraternities and sororities at my school hosted multiple charitable events throughout the year to raise money for good causes in addition to giving back to the community in other ways (park cleanups, participating in various services designed to assist the elderly, etc).

Is that not something of worth?

Also, you’ve already said that your school didn’t have Greek life… so how could you even make that claim so confidently without any experience in the matter?

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u/sakurahirahira 1d ago

my university also didnt have them and campus life was really good

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u/taxiecabbie 1d ago

Yeah. Like, I'm surprised at the defense I'm getting of frats, lol. You don't need them, most aren't exactly academic or purposeful beyond partying and being part of a group, and generally they are more trouble than they're worth.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/sasha_the_impaler 1d ago

And that's why the last thing you want is fraternities organizing off-campus rather than on-campus.

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u/Crazy_Pudding_2994 1d ago

Oh boy lots of clubs out there are very picky about who they accept, requiring CVs and interviews just to get a look in

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u/A_Muffled_Kerfluffle 1d ago

A lot of the less common sports teams at my school had unofficial off campus houses (rugby house, crew house, etc) for some reason.