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This Spring, a documentary film about alcohol abuse and fraternity hazing will be released on the festival circuit. It's going to be big news in the interfraternal community, and I expect it to get significant national publicity. The preview is now available online here.
The film uses the hazing and alcohol-related death of Chi Psi Fraternity pledge Gordie Bailey at the University of Colorado as its backdrop. The Gordie Foundation, the foundation started by Bailey's mother and stepfather after his death, is involved in the promotion of the film and were involved in its production (see next blog posting).
The trailer shows images of Gordie lying dead on the floor of the fraternity house. What shook me up the most was that his so-called brothers had written all over his body with Sharpie pens as he lay alcohol-poisoned on the floor of his chapter house. One member wrote "Sucks to be you" on his leg -- sending shivers up my spine.
I and several other CAMPUSPEAK speakers participated in interviews for the film. Not sure how many of us will make it to the final cut. Travis Apgar, one of our speakers, is featured in the trailer although he is identified as a Cornell University official and not a CAMPUSPEAK speaker on the hazing issue.
This movie is going to get massive attention because it's really an expose of the horrible culture of alcohol abuse and hazing that exists at many campuses and in many chapters. The preview is anything but gentle with its images of puking, bloody, self-humiliating students.
And, a personal observation here... the Gordie folks don't seem to be feeling a lot of love for the interfraternal community, so expect the indictment delivered by the film to be pretty brutal. They aren't going to be holding back, so to speak, and I expect the film to scare the hell out of parents all over the nation whose kids are going off to college. I expect a raging debate in the interfraternal community about whether this film is fair or unfair, a call to action, another smear, or the latest call for the elimination of fraternities.
I think anything that makes us stand up as a community and fight hazing and alcohol abuse aggressively is a positive thing, but many undergraduate Greeks will see this as a full-frontal assault on their already tattered national image.
Guess time will tell. In the meantime, check out the trailer.
