October, 1947
T HE
SPHINX
EDITORIALS NOBLE GREEKS OR SAVAGE BARBARIANS By Dr. Milton S. J. Wright Professor of Economics and Political Science. Wilberforce UniversiVv. Editor. "The Wilberforce University Alumni Journal." Assistant Editor, "The Sphinx Magazine": Faculty Adviser. The Pan-Hellenic Council, Wilberforce University.
T
HE college fraternities and sororities of this country must work out a more sensible and human plan and method of treating and initiating their candidates. It is alleged that several of them have already passed legislation at their national conventions or meetings which make corporal punishment or other forms of brutal treatment illegal. But in far too many instances, such legislation is either totally ignored. or circumvented. There are now, and have been in the past, members of college fraternities and sororities who seem or seemed obsessed with the idea that savage beating of candidates is the best and most effective means of making good and loyal "brothers and sisters." To some of them it is real fun to blindfold a "barbarian," and then beat him or her unmercifully to the point that the "seeker after light" must or should be hospitalized. As we observe some of the "Noble Greeks" eagerly at work sadistically administering the lash or the paddle to the bodies of those barbarians whom they plan later to call brothers or sisters, one cannot but wonder whether or not the so-called Greeks themselves are the real barbarians. Some of these middle Twentieth Century fraternity initiations, in a country that claims to look with utter disdain upon human degradation, brutal, and savage treatment, reminds one of how the cruel and blood-thirsty overseers and slave-drivers of the dark past subdued or conquered their victims. or of the methods and practices of the inhuman Nazi regime, of the ruthless Ku Klux Klan, or of the infamous Columbians. It may sound like an exaggeration, but one can actually note a sadistic glean of excitement in the eyes of some weak and puny wearer of a fraternity or sorority pin —or even of a big and burly member, as he or she takes weanon in hand and proceeds unmercifully to beat the spirit o? "Good Old Beta Beta Phi" into the flesh, blood, and bones of the miserable, hogtied, blindfolded, and intimidated pledgee —so he or she falsely thinks. Immediately after the weilder of th? weapon has finished administering that cowardly beating. some of his or her fellow-sadists rush to the modern Simon Le^ree, give him the old hand-shake and tell him what a great strokesman he is. Thus making him feel that he has just done something great, and has demonstrated the ren] and noble spirit of Beta Beta Phi. Now among the real and primary aims and purposes of the majority of our fraternities and sororities are those to encourage high scholarship, manliness, womanhood, culture, juslice. brotherhood, sisterhood, and love for all mankind. To be sure, they also aim to instill in their members such noble characteristics and ideals as courage, determinalion and preservance. Perhaps some of those misguided and misinformed, but very likely well-meaning Greeks, feel that severe beatings, unreasonable tasks and assignments to pledgees, and 1hHr ability successfully to take all that is given, is definile evidence that their prospective fraternity brothers and sorority si u 'ors possess sufficient quantities of those characteristics. There is little, if any, objection to clean and wholesome play and fun during periods of fraternity and sorority initiation. But any tasks or assignments by members of college fraternities or sororities, that unreasonable distract the pledgees from their studies most certainly do not encourage h'Th scholarship, but rather contributes to poor scholarship. Thoughtlessly and mercilessly beating and humiliatingly subjecting students to dangerous horse-play most certainly contributes nothing toward encouraging and building in them manliness, womanhood, culture, justice, or "love for all mankind." Neither do these practices cause the pledgees to have deeper respect for the fraternity or sorority, or for the individual members who permit or indulge in such tactics.
Many of the institutions of higher learning where college fraternities and sororities could or did function, have barred these organizations from their campuses for the above stated or other similar reasons. Some other colleges are almost continually bothered and troubled with such problems. Several state legislatures have passed laws making all forms and types of hazing and brutality or corporal punishment illegal. Yet. in many of those same colleges and universities, in some of those same states, some student organizations of the type under discussion secretly or openly maim or wound at least a few of those who seek admission to Greek-letter fraternities and sororities every year. Once in a while there is a fatal accident caused by, or resulting from initiations. Such cases bring embarrassment upon both the organization and the college. There is definite and grave responsibility upon the college in this regard. Therefore, the members of such student organizations need and must have sound guidance and strict discipline in the carrying out of their initiation procedure. It is far better to give attention to these matters before a serious and fatal accident, than to bar or expel the organization after such a mishap on the campus. Due primarily to those childish and savage practices; to the harm done to scholastic rating, plus the high financial cost of joining, some of the best and most intelligent and talented students absolutely refuse to submit themselves for membership in college fraternities or sororities. Many of the sounder thinking students note how nledgees are consistently almost made slaves, and persistenty intimidated by the so-called "big brothers" and "big sisters." Some members of those organizations seem to think that pledgees should cater to just about every whim and fancy of the fraternity or sorority members. If the miserable and lowly pledgee even acts as though he or she does not want to respond favorably to the commands of the "noble Greek," then there is the awful threat of the dreaded "black ball." One "noble Greek" black-balled a pledgee because that pledgee refused to supply him with cigarettes for one month. Another "noble Greek" was determined to keep a pledgee out of the fraternity because he (the pledgee) objected to being paddled by members of the organization twice every month. A certain member of a sorority cast a negative vote against a pledgee because that pledgee stopped allowing her "big sister" to wear her best dresses, coats, and shoes. There was another case of a Greek who insisted that pledgees write all of his (the Greek's) class reports. In short, those who are pledged to the Greek-letter organizations must either become almost entirely subservient to the wills and desires of the "noble Greeks," or never become Greeks. Newspaper releases during the past year tell of large and small numbers of pledgees who have rebelled against brutal and inhuman initiation practices on the part of the fraternity and sorority members. But there are still far too many candidates who are so anxious to become Greeks that they will neither make any real efforts to protect themselves, nor make it possible for responsive persons to protect them. After their own savage initiation is over, it seems that almost their greatest ambition is to get revenge on the next group of pledgees who are brave or courageous—or should we say. foolish or stupid—enough to pay from twenty-five to seventyfive dollars for the privilege of being beaten within an inch of their lives; humiliated, and reduced in scholarship, so that they, too, may become noble Greeks. Thus they see the opportunity to get in line to administer savage beatings to other prospective brothers or sisters. To be able to humiliate and horse-whip a handicapped victim seems to give some otherwise weak and puerile persons added status. This is about the only way that some of them have to show their prowess. t Greeks who engage in barbaric practices cannot be classed as anything other than barbarians. Is Beta Beta Phi an organization of noble Greeks, or of savage barbarians?