FEATURE
Spike Lee’s ‘School Daze’ film, with its hazing scenes, was released. I clearly remember in 1989, then General Counsel Milton Davis at the General Convention state that at that time the fraternity had no lawsuits. That euphoria lasted until October, when Joel Harris died at Morehouse College in Atlanta. While not physically harmed, the emotional stress being in proximity to physical hazing caused his death. I have always contended that this death was the seminal event that led to the 1990 meeting of the National Pan-Hellenic Council’s Council of Presidents at which the leaders made a pact to end pledging in each organization. I started graduate school in January of 1990, and that’s when I really began to look at our challenges from a scholarly perspective. So, I have been studying the changes as they have occurred. The first decade of the membershipintake era saw lots of trial and error. New programs were followed by moratoriums, as college brothers tried to find ways around the new processes to continue the tradition of pledging. A tradition, that based on my study, few really understood and for which no empirical data existed to suggest it worked. In 2003, my book Black Greek 101 was published. Part history, part new empirical research, it was an attempt to define where black fraternalism was and how it got there. I felt that it made sense to offer suggestions about a way forward, and one of those ways was to develop a structured pledge program. I didn’t feel that pledging was a bad thing, and that if we had a process that focused on learning the history and traditions as well as how to operate a chapter and overall leadership development, this could be beneficial. I went on a book-signing tour during the first half of 2004. During the tour I had an additional epiphany. While at the Black Greek Leadership Conference in February of 2004, I led a session about developing a process that would eliminate hazing. Some fraternity men from a school in North Carolina told me it
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was a good idea, but there would be things that they do that are unique to them, and would have to be added. It was at this point I had to acknowledge that no one would follow one process. I began to look at our organizations not as international groups, but a loose connection of groups. We were not able to franchise fraternity, because every chapter would make the product differently. Throughout the rest of that spring I tested my new theory and came to the same conclusion. In fact, I openly asked, through an editorial, if black fraternities and sororities should simply abolish college chapters, as it appeared there was no way they would follow the rules. I became a college president in 2004, and while my active research subsided I still kept up with the major trends and annually worked a hazing case as an expert witness (although most of my cases involved predominantly white fraternities and alcohol-use). The hazing news stories during that decade and today revealed a new twist. As law enforcement became more engaged, and more people were arrested, the news revealed a trend: older people had become key players in perpetuating hazing. I developed a term for this group: extended adolescents. These people, normally male (using that word intentionally) were in their mid-20s to early 30s; left school with a degree or not; usually unemployed or underemployed; and obviously unable to establish themselves in the world of adults so they sought to fill a need for importance by influencing gullible undergraduates. For many college brothers, these are the most important voices they hear. They could care less about the chapter advisor, the campus advisor, the regional vice president or the fraternity’s national general president. They laugh at university presidents, and other experts on the subject, such as Brother Lawrence Ross, and scholars like Brother Gregory Parks. They listen almost exclusively to the extended adolescents, and the results have been disastrous. This brings me to my final epiphany. In 1998, I assisted Brother Ralph Johnson in establishing the College Brothers Academy. Alpha was the
THE SPHINX