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Don't you just love these weeks when our fellow Greeks make us all look horrible?
"Hall of Shame" to the Pi Kappa Alpha members at Tulane University in New Orleans who doused their new members with boiling water, cayenne pepper and vinegar. Guess the boys were just having a little CRAB BOIL! Unfortunately, two of the pledges have been treated for second and third degree burns on their backs, chests, buttocks and genitals. Ten Pikes have been brought up on aggravated assault charges as a result, and the university has suspended the chapter. Read more here.
Here's the best quote. New Orleans attorney Frank D'Amico, who represents one of the burn victims, said, "The ones who screamed first didn't get burned as badly." Pray these Pike brothers get what's coming to them.
And a big congrats to the drug-dealin' Theta Chi's at San Diego State University. I guess the best time to get a deal on some cocaine is right before an SDSU fraternity formal. The boys put out an advertisement to their regular customers (surprise! some were DEA agents!), letting them know that they would be going to Vegas for formal and that the "market" would be closed for a couple of days.
Campus police, local law enforcement, and the DEA initiated a huge drug bust, netting guns, tens of thousands in cash, stashes of drugs (coke, marijuana, meth, mushrooms, the gamut). In all, 75 SDSU students were arrested. Theta Chi has been suspended, as have Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi, Sigma Alpha Mu, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon – all for having members involved in an illegal drug ring. The whole story of Operation Sudden Fall is amazing – read it all here.
Yeah, yeah. I know. The bad decisions of a few shouldn't reflect on all Greeks or on those particular national groups implicated in this week's events.
And, if you're even thinking of writing me and saying, "Aren't they innocent until proven guilty?" The answer is no, and get a fucking clue. Pledges don't self inflict third degree burns, and brotherhood events don't require partnerships with Mexican drug cartels. These little shits deserve felony records.
It's difficult to read these stories, and ask, "Why do Greeks have such a bad image?"
Ladies and gentlemen, Greeks have widespread problems with illegal drugs and hazing. This week's news stories are just a hint of what's going on. Let's just get our heads out of our asses and admit it. Oh, and we have a huge problem with alcohol, too, but that's not news, is it?
Instead of seeking tax deductibility for housing donations, how about a statement from the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), signed by all the national fraternities, pledging to immediately shutter any and all chapters that knowingly tolerate hazing or illegal drugs in their chapters. Zero tolerance.
It's time for the men running national fraternities to start growing some testicles and act. But they are cowardly and afraid of their insurance providers, so they won't.
Until we start aggressively confronting hazing, drugs, and other obnoxious behavior in our fraternities and sororities, we deserve every single insult thrown at us. Good men and women will keep their distance from any involvement with their fraternity or sorority because they don't want to diminish their standing in their community by admitting their affiliation.
Today, I'm ashamed to be a member of a fraternity, and I don't want my son to join one. Talk that one over at UIFI this summer.
