Inter Fratres
Initiation in the Frat, lithograph, 1917, by George Bellows, Ohio State '05. Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio. "Described as a nostalgic portrayal of Bellows' Beta days at Ohio State, revealing the artist's sensitivity to the cruelty that all too often underlays fraternity hazing. " -see feature on Bellows on page 194.
Darkness and Ligh When I was General Secretary of the Fraternity, the one facet which I consistently observed about hazing was that it almost always occurred in darkness. It was almost always hidden. From the earliest times in Beta Theta Pi, nonmembers of our cherished brotherhood have been referred to as "barbarians" and we ourselves as the true "Greeks." Now hazing has its defenders, even within our own Fraternity, and about this we must be forthright. Had it not had those defenders, it would not have existed in our Fraternity as long as it has, despite earnest and decided efforts to prevent it. Therefore, let those who would defend hazing come out into the open. Out of darkness and into light, let those who would practice it, or who would encourage their younger brothers to practice it, come forth and be prepared to practice what they preach in the light of day. Let our hazing take place in the public quadrangles of our colleges and universities . Let it be filmed and let it be presented on CNN for all the world to see, and let those brothers who do it and those alumni who encourage it, participate in it. Let the alumnus who argues, "We did it in my day," be given the first egg to cast, and let him be assisted by the undergraduate who argues, "This will build pledge
class unity," while he degrades and humiliates a pledge, for all the world to see. This will not happen, I suspect, and the fact that it will not happen exposes to light the intellectual dishonesty of those who support hazing. It will not happen because if exposed to the light, the world at large would say, "Who then are these barbarians?" Barbarians! The very title we despise. A brother about to be initiated, we say, is brought from darkness into light and not viceversa. In fact, our great ritual is filled with powerful symbols of darkness and light. Shall we be called barbarians when our own ritual teaches us that the power of the mind lifted humanity from barbarism and darkness to civilization and light? And what of our beautiful badge? We know that, so long as one wears it worthily as a true and sincere Beta, the light of the diamond shall never be dimmed. Acts of barbarism and darkness serve only to dim the light of the diamond. The defenders of hazing know this in their hearts, and that is why they will not come forth. They can only practice their practices and argue their arguments under the cover of darkness. In 1876, Beta Theta Pi ridiculed other fraternities which hazed. This was before hazing had insinuated its dark character into our Fraternity. Of the other fraternities, it was
said (The Beta Theta Pi, Vol. 3 No.9, Nov. 1876) " . .. to degrade one whom they had chosen to be bound to them by brotherly ties, by making him a butt, an object of ridicule! Surely no one but a harum-scarum foolish boy would ever dream of such a way of developing the finer feelings of man." Let us, then, be set apart from the other fraternities which continue to haze. Let us go back to the days before 1876 when hazing w· unknown in our Fraternity. Let the others choose barbarism and darkness while we choose the light. Proper discipline is not hazing, but if you eve have a question about whether or not an act which is proposed is, in fact, hazing, ask yourself this question: Would I do this, or permit it to be done, to John Reily Knox, in tt revealing light of day, surrounded by others who would be potential members? You will know what to do . Yours in
kai
B. Hume Morris Centre '68 The Beta Theta Pi/Spring 1993