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Frat Members Should Not Have Been Punished for Hazing

By Dominic Hunter
Black College Wire

When athletes get injured at practice, are the players allowed to sue the team?

When drug dealers have a sour deal and it results in one party not getting what was intended, is that party allowed to press charges?

Well, that is what is being stated in the ruling against the two Kappa Alpha Psi brothers at Florida A&M University sentenced Jan. 29 for violating Florida's anti-hazing law.

Dominic Hunter

This is an injustice that does not sit well in my heart. Let it be understood that I am speaking neither for my chapter brothers nor Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. This comes strictly from the distraught mind of D.J. Hunter.

In the hazing process, one subjects himself to whatever happens to him. Therefore, he chooses to remain around for the abuse. To receive the abuse Marcus Jones did, an individual had to sit still and let someone beat on him, meaning the fault should be no one's but his own. A young man assisted in illegal activity, found he wasn't strong enough to withstand the whole process and wants justice.

I do not deny that the law states that hazing is wrong. But does justice mean turning a blind eye to one's actions just because one has a pitiful, sad story? If hazing does occur — and yes, Kappa Alpha Psi frowns on hazing — it is still voluntary. If the new initiates, who normally outnumber the intake team, took a stand and said they would not subject themselves to the abuse and would all quit together, no hazing would occur.

Why, then, do pledges allow this behavior?

Maybe it is because they understand that the fraternity wants to tear down their old image and build them up with a new, more powerful one. Becoming a member of my noble clan is a resurrection for each brother.

Maybe it is because initiates understand that the fraternity wants to make sure all of its original principles are kept. Each of the Divine Nine organizations was founded on a predominantly white campus or because of racial abuse. The founders were subjected to the same hardships and abuse that pledges withstand on line, so I've heard. By going through the same oppression, new members can see what led to the formation of the organization and to the necessity of the brotherhood or sisterhood.

Or maybe, just maybe, the pledges realize they can't truly appreciate their distinction until they have proved they are as worthy as every member before them.

Why is it that whenever society doesn't understand the practices of a culture, the practice is negatively labeled?

New Orleans natives were considered savage and barbaric for trying to survive during the flood, and fraternities are labeled barbaric for pushing members to their physical and mental limits to see if they are worthy.

What disturbs me as much as the betrayal by Marcus Jones is the decision by Leon County, Fla., Circuit Judge Kathleen Dekker. She admitted to being disturbed by Jones' testimony, but was still allowed to issue a ruling.

And she admitted her decision was more about making an example. "I want to save the victims who will quietly go along, because they want to belong," she said. "I hope that somebody out there says, 'Those two guys got two years, oh my God, it's not worth it.'"

This is not a superhero world. You cannot save people who don't want to be saved. At the same time, Dekker has just ruined the lives of two powerful students who were weeks away from graduating at the top of their classes, even after the pleading of other pledges, FAMU faculty and community leaders.

Judge Dekker was not satisfied with holding these two accountable. She set a trial date for three other fraternity members whose case had ended in a mistrial. One of these brothers, Brian Bowman, has been a lifelong friend. We grew up together and were on the same baseball team when we were 6, so I know him well. He is a recent FAMU graduate, and now his future is in jeopardy because a judge can't understand the old ways and traditions of a fraternity.

How would you feel if a stockbroker could be sued just because someone's money was lost in the market? How would you feel if a man robbed you, but tripped over your dog in your house and broke his leg, and you had to pay his doctor's bill? And his crime went overlooked?

How would you feel if your practice of praying over your meal was suddenly considered barbaric and subjected to ridicule? Well, that is what this case is paving the way toward. Pretty soon, freedom of choice will merely be a faint memory.

Greeks, we need to stand together and oppose this.

Dominic Hunter, a student at Southern University, writes for the Southern Digest. To comment, e-mail [email protected].

Posted Feb. 14, 2007

Greeks Need to Stand Together — Against Hazing

To the editor:

I am completely aghast by Dominic Hunter's column, "Frat Members Should Not Have Been Punished for Hazing."

I am also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and one of the first things we teach all members is our five objectives. One of these objectives is to assist the aims and purposes of colleges and universities.

Kappa Alpha Psi is not an athletic team, it is not a military organization, and it is certainly not a drug dealing operation. It is a college fraternity.

Kappa Alpha Psi operates on campus at the pleasure of colleges and universities, and part of our purpose is to support their educational mission. If they found we no longer supported their educational mission, they would ban us from campus, and rightfully so.

We all have an obligation to uphold the high standards expected of us, which includes not acting in ways that are immoral, illegal, antisocial, or violate a university's code of conduct. It goes without saying that this includes NO HAZING.

Yes, Greeks do need to stand together. We need to stand together to put an end to hazing.

Allen Pulsifer
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity
Cambridge, Mass.
Feb. 14, 2007

Judge's Decision Disrespected

To the editor:

I respectfully would like to defend D.J. Hunter's right to express his displeasure with the Florida hazing verdicts even as I strongly disagree with the way he disrespects the judge's decision and comes close to advocating a position that has seen so many hazing fraternities obstruct justice in the past.

For my views on the Florida A & M verdict generally and Mr. Hunter's column specifically, please see: http://www.stophazing.org .

Thank you for listening to my opposing viewpoint.

Hank Nuwer
Author of "The Hazing Reader"
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Ind.
Feb. 14, 2007

Writer is Completely Miseducated

To the editor:

Dominic Hunter’s article, “Frat Members Should Not Have Been Punished for Hazing,” is riddled with historical inaccuracies and faulty presumptions. In fact, his article serves as a prime example as to why Black fraternal organizations continue to suffer damages, both to image and financial resources — a hallucinated reality created by misguided members.

First, Marcus Jones had no choice. Any person who says, "I am just going to be initiated by the national rules" is subject to ostracism and even physical assault by other members. Yes, there are documented instances of people who did not pledge illegally having letters physically taken off of them. What’s the point in joining a group and then not being accepted, or possibly being assaulted? So he could have refused, but the members in the chapter he was joining would not have accepted him because he refused to follow the rules. So the first lesson they wanted him to learn was to break the rules. What a great value to espouse!

This leads to the second major flaw in Hunter’s piece. He says the initiates should simply take a stand and quit and no hazing would occur. But why is the onus on those who are NOT members? MEMBERS take a loyalty oath. THEY agree to follow the rules of THEIR organization. And now Hunter wants aspirants to not join because the members don’t follow their own rules?

Is he for real?

Sadly, I think he is being completely open and honest. And that’s the problem. He is completely miseducated. Anyone who thinks the founders of these groups experienced this kind of abuse is miseducated. Anyone who thinks that six of the nine National Panhellenic Council groups were founded because of racial abuse is miseducated. Anyone who thinks that people who don’t fully know themselves have the capacity to build new identities for others is miseducated.

And unfortunately, miseducation kills.

Walter M. Kimbrough, Ph.D.
Author, “Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities”
Little Rock, Ark.
Feb. 14, 2007
Dr. Kimbrough is also president of Philander Smith College.

What Makes These Violators Different?

To the editor:

I must admit I am astounded that such an opinion was allowed to be expressed in a college newspaper. First of all, the reason you are in college is to learn and to achieve to your highest scholastic ability. Hazing is not even part of the equation.

All fraternities and sororities have an anti-hazing clause. If you are so ignorant as to participate in such behavior, then the consequences are yours to keep. This judge gave the two so-called brothers exactly what they deserve — a jail sentence.

What makes them so much better than the thousands of African-American men who clog our prisons? These men are in to serve their time and pay their debt to society for their offense. What makes these violators of the law different from others — because they happen to attend one of the premier colleges of the South? Or maybe because there were enrolled in challenging majors that required some heavy duty studying as well as commitments.

Thus, the tragedy of it all — that they would think that they were above the law. No, they are solely responsible for their own actions and deserve the punishment.

Any participant in hazing, whether it be the hazer or the person being hazed, realizes that college is a wonderful thing. Why mess up you entire life over something that will be a mere stepping stone on the path to greater things in your life?

As an proud alumna of Florida A&M University and a member of Delta Sigma Theta, it saddens me to see such misguidance. Please do not add by voicing such foolishness. We need successful black men, with college degrees and successful attitudes, not a slave mentality, thinking it OK to abuse someone else in the name of brotherhood. Ridiculous!

Lori Shannon Wilson
Graduate, Florida A&M University, Meharry Medical College and Eastern Virginia Medical School
Petersburg, Va.
Feb. 14, 2007

Young Brother, That's Not What the Frat Is About

To the editor:

The law is the law. I don't agree with the judge's decision because of undisclosed facts from the trial, BUT NOT because I think the law is incorrect.

The law was originally drafted in the state of Florida because of activities of a white fraternity at the University of Miami that resulted in the pledge's death.

This was bound to happen, and this young fraternity brother of mine has made SEVERAL statements that would lead me to think that if the law applied in Louisiana, HE could very well be next!

More time has to be spent educating young brothers like this one on what the frat and all frats really mean and less on the ass-whippin', which means nothing but potential embarrassment and jail.

It pains me deeply for my two young black fraternal brothers. It pains me more to read further misconceptions about fraternal life that could lead to future tragedy. Young brother, that's not what the frat is about.

L. Michael Badger, DDS FAGD
Alpha Xi '81
"The Rock" of the Southern Province, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Florida A & M University
Orlando, Fla.
Feb. 15, 2007

I Really Fear for Our Organizations

To the editor:

I am a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and I have to disagree that you have to haze someone in order for them to be proved worthy of the organization.

I never understood and still don't understand how humiliating people, beating them, etc. upholds the principles that our organizations were founded on. I have seen people who were hazed who were never productive members of the organization they became a part of.

I know from personal experience that for my first couple of years in the organization, I did not speak to someone who was funky with me when I was pledging. No, she never hit or threatened to hit me, but I believe in being respected and she was very disrespectful to me and my line sisters. In fact, after we crossed, whenever she would come into our midst, we always found somewhere else in the room to be. I honestly feel that that type of behavior breeds contempt and can lead to one of two things: 1) The person who was hazed perpetuates it or 2) They make sure like hell that it never happens to anyone else.

Fortunately, I became the latter and when I saw some sorors trying to haze someone on line, I called them on it in front of the person on line so that they knew it was wrong and they didn't have to take it.

Beyond the incident I spoke of, I was not hazed, and I appreciate and love my sorority dearly. I have never been unfinancial, attend conferences and have held offices on the chapter level. The sooner we lose the mentality that you have to pledge hard, be beaten and humiliated in order to be a good or a productive member, the better off our organizations will be. I really fear for our organizations and feel that if this isn't stopped, we will all go out of existence.

I do know some family members of one of your fraternity brothers who was sentenced and asked them how they felt about the sentence. They said they felt bad for his parents and other members of their family, but that he knew better and he got what he deserved. The members of his family are also Greek, so that comment isn't coming from non-Greeks. They were horrified when they found out what he'd done.

I am sorry that your friends got caught up in this mess, but ultimately they knew what they were doing was wrong and as the saying goes, "If you do the crime, then you do the time."

Lynette Burnett
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Feb. 15, 2007