It’s unfortunate that these people give Fraternities a bad name and/or image. In high school, I was excessively shy and introverted. In my second year of college, I pledged Pi Kappa Alpha and was later initiated.
My pledgeship went entirely without incident and, in fact, included requirements for weekly study time. When my grades began to suffer, my brothers were there to tutor and provide support. Prior to pledging, I was doing good to hold a 2.0 GPA. After, my GPA rose to 3.25 (not great but a significant improvement).
I have to say that, without the Pikes, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today in terms of confidence, business success, leadership ability and family. Suffice to say that I grew beyond that shy introvert that I used to be.
I met my wife at a Fraternity function. Nearly 18 years and a set of twin daughters later, we’re still together and going strong.
So, don’t judge the Fraternity, as an organization, too harshly as it certainly neither condones nor tolerates such activities. Yes, events such as these are inexcusable and not to be tolerated. The individuals involved need to be held accountable. There’s no room for this sort of behavior in any society. I just wanted to show an example where a Fraternity, coincidentally the one in question, did a great deal of good.
There are probably 50k fraternity and sorority intiations every year and one or two reach the headlines due to something stupid someone does.
But let’s condemn them all for those one or two.
Non Greeks will never understand them. They’re secretive and clannish nature encourages wild and bizarre accusations but the truth is much simpler than many want to believe.