Black Issues in Higher Ed. Focuses on Frat at Norfolk

[Blueknowledge]

I believe the total law suit was for $500,000 and one of the gentlemen suffered a punctured lung. I've stated my position on this, and therefore won't beat you over the head on this issue. I just hope I can win a few more advocates before it's too late.

Blueknowledge

[legacypbs]

Once again I ask read my post...

A Prophytes view...

[kira1920]

Blueknowledge....It seems as if our opinions are always opposite. I read a couple of your posts and it seems as if you have a vendetta against undergrads. I don't know where all of this is coming from. Maybe when and if you were an undergrad you had some bad experiences or maybe frat and sorors didn't like you :) . I don't know. But getting rid of undergrads is not the answer. I pledged as an undergrad and that is an experience that I wouldn't change for the world. Instead of putting undergrads down maybe as an older member you should try to mentor these young brothers. Let them know the right way to run a process and maybe a lot of this wouldn't happen. I am in a grad chapter now and I am very close with my undergrads. I f you show them that you support them, you'd be surprised at the change you see in them. Of course if you keep putting them down and talking negative about them they feel that they can't talk to you. And then they feel like they can't come to you with bigger issues. I don't know how many advocates that you'll get on this issue.

Of course I don't agree at the events that went on at Norfolk. In know way am I agreeing with what they did. But if these brothers would have been taught the right way to bring new members in then it would not have gotten to the extreme. I am against hazing. But there is difference between pledging and hazing.;)

[Blueknowledge]

Please read my answer on this topic on the Zeta board. For the record, I did not have a poor undergraduate experience; however, I am critical enough of our process to understand the reform that is needed, and the people that have to institute that reform. Also, we need to be clear that the "rationalization" of violence, which we've renamed, for all intents and purposes, "pledging", is a social construct. It is a socially negotiated value that someone created that we've, over time, objectified so much that we can't even imagine a new membership process without it. Sorry, if I no longer agree with the dominant discourse and order of "reality."

But frankly, I'll be more blunt - since it is evidence and a chronology of events that you appear to want.

After I "pledged", I still participated in "sets" for a couple of years. During those two years, I came to increasingly question the purpose of "pledging" as a logical and "normal" activity. Finally, I happened to go to a set that was so disturbing, YOU would NEVER have to ask me this question. My sister, I saw a man brutalized in a fashion that was so bad, it was damn near animalistic. This man's skin, his back, his chest, etc, had imprints and severe bruises all over it. I tried to stop the set (it wasn't my campus and they weren't "my boys") but there were too many people doing their thing to hear my voice. I couldn't bear to watch and I walked out of the set and vowed to fight (even if I'm by myself) against this destructive behavioral norm that we've created. But as your response shows, I'm clearly in the minority and losing the argument.

Nevertheless, I no longer believe in this world view. And I care too much for us, as a race, and the organization, to allow the dominant construct to go unchallenged.

So, maybe we continue on for 10 years, or maybe we'll last another 20, but certainly, all BGLOS are on their last leg, unless they reassess their values, and change their ways.

Blueknowlege

Note: That man that I saw assualted by "my brothers", never did make it into the blue and white because the undergraduate chapter didn't take care of the "paper work."

Please tell me where there's a justice and moral authority in our "system."

[kira1920]

I am in way trying to rationalize violence. As I stated I am opposed to "hazing". Pledging doesn't neccessarily have anything to do with physical punishment. What you saw at that "set" was down right hazing. I would call it Assault. But that is not the norm nor does that describe the events of every undergraduate chapter in the organization. I just honestly don't believe in punishing the collective for the mistakes of a few. That's like saying because a couple of young black men rob a bank so now we can't let any young black men in the banks. How would that make the other young black men feel that didn't do anything wrong. It wouldn't be fair to them. As this wouldn't be fair to the undergraduate chapters who are abiding by the "rules". You have to look at all the positive things that these undergrads are doing on their campus and in the community. It is so easy for people to always see the negative. In fact a great number of graduate members were exposed to "Greek" life as an undergrad. Our founders were undergrads.
I agree that something has to be done. I just don't think that terminating undergraduate membership is the answer. Whether you like it or not that is the future of the organization.:)

[Blueknowledge]

This notion that "hazing" is isolated must be challenged. There are too many of these "incidents" to reconcile. I have provided a series of links to what we've become. We use to be the avant-garde, but now, I'm not sure. Nevertheless, this notion that "pledging" occurs more than "hazing" is more semantics than real.

I ask that we read with some level of objectivity rather than trying to justify our past actions.

http://www.jointcenter.org/focus/pdffiles/sep99.pdf

http://www.kappabetasigma.org/Are_Frats_Relevant.html

Note: One researcher has estimated that since 1985, that over 800 REPORTED incidents of serious violence (broken bones, damaged kidneys, ear drum damage, eye damage and even DEATH) have occured within BGLOs. We all know that for every incident that gets reported, there are, at least, 20 more that never see the light of day. It is a part of the fabric of our culture; it is not "isolated."

Let's end this and become leaders.

Blueknowledge

[legacypbs]

It is stated that hazing and pledge can occur seperately, my question is how?