Recently, an article appeared in the Collegian that bemoaned the lack of hazing in Greek life at Kenyon. The author felt like she was missing the bonds with her pledge class that come from being hazed, an essential part of the Greek experience. I am part of an organization—not necessarily Greek—at Kenyon that does engage in behavior that could be termed “hazing,” and I have to say, I don’t really agree.
I should first start by saying that I differentiate between the ideas of “hazing” and “hazing at Kenyon.” The type of hazing that is normally presented by the media, in which new members are forced to drink excessively, perform dangerous and risky acts, or engage in inappropriate behavior with the opposite sex, does not happen at Kenyon. The hazing that occurs here, within sports teams, Greek organizations, and other student groups, is largely harmless. New members wear silly outfits, are given nicknames, and go to occasionally long-winded meetings to learn about the history and the other members of the group they have just joined. There are certain groups that may go a little further than this, but on the whole, hazing at Kenyon is largely inconvenient and time-consuming, not life threatening or humiliating.
Hazing that is life threatening or humiliating, the kind that one usually thinks of happening at large state schools, is something that I unquestioningly condemn. No one should be made to feel inadequate or unsafe simply because it’s “tradition.” In the past, Kenyon had its own brushes with this extreme kind of hazing, bearing the distinction of being the school where the first ever death from hazing occurred in 1905. In my (and hopefully the rest of the Kenyon community’s) opinion, it’s sick that some organizations would want to make their new members feel this way before deeming them “worthy” enough to be inducted into their society.
While state school-style hazing doesn’t happen here, going through hazing isn’t fun. It isn’t supposed to be. I lost a lot of sleep, and it was sometimes difficult to juggle practices, meetings, schoolwork, and activities for my organization. I often felt anxious wondering what the next activity would be or if certain rumors were true. However, I never once felt out of control, unsafe, or uncomfortable with anything I had to do. The other new members were going through exactly the same things, and bonding came quickly when we were all dressed up in stupid outfits in the Peirce servery. Most of the activities were centered on getting to know the group and its members; nothing was demeaning or made me feel bad about myself. Again, it mostly just took up a lot of my time, which did make it sometimes difficult to finish assignments and attend all of my meetings and other extracurriculars.
There were often times when I thought about quitting or felt like everything was just too much. And, for some people, the argument that “some people have it worse” or other schools haze harder doesn’t hold any water, and I respect that. It was definitely not a period that I would want to repeat. However, I am extremely glad that I joined my group—I wouldn’t change that decision. The rest of the new members and I are extremely close, and much of that is due to the hazing we experienced together. While I wouldn’t want to do it again, I am glad that I went through the experience. Would I feel “cheated” if I hadn’t been hazed? Not at all. Instead of lamenting the lack of hazing at Kenyon, maybe we should celebrate it and encourage its eventual eradication.
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Image Credit: Special Collections and Archives on Flickr, Hazing Prevention