Participant Workbook

PARTICIPANT WORKBOOK

Slide 2: Workshop Goals

In cooperation with the National Action Network, Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is leading an aggressive anti-hazing campaign intended to eradicate the culture of hazing from Black Greek-letter organizations and the broader community.

Phi Beta Sigma is spearheading this campaign to eliminate hazing culture in an effort to end the pain and suffering of victims and their families and to stop the investigations, lawsuits and expensive legal costs that threaten the existence of black Greek-letter organizations. Each incidence of hazing damages the reputations of black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities and erodes the proud legacy of leadership and commitment to service that these organizations have cultivated over the years. Phi Beta Sigma’s history is rich with examples of outstanding achievement of its members, many of whom have become leaders in their communities. Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network and an honorary member of Phi Beta Sigma, is a partner in this effort.

Slide 3: What is Hazing?

Legally, “Hazing” is defined as an abusive, often humiliating, form of initiation into or affiliation with a group. It can include any willful action taken or situation created which recklessly or intentionally endangers the mental or physical health of another. Hazing has been linked to fraternities and sororities, but it is also practiced by the military, sports teams, bands, and social clubs.

Slide 4: Defining Greek Culture

Fraternity literally means “brotherhood”. Students join fraternities for the advantages that the brotherhood can afford them. There can be scholarships to win, networks to build and most especially, the brotherhood to enjoy. It is very difficult to understand why an organization where the love for a brother, or a sister, is of utmost importance would haze.

Slide 5: Defining Personal Culture

Prospective members are often judged by cultural differences such as:

GENEALOGY – Questions like “Who are your people?” often are asked to determine acceptability.

EDUCATION – Public, Private, Prep School?

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS – Scholarship vs. parents paying vs. working through college.

POLITICS – As Black people we are not all members of the same party; yet we are not always tolerant of opposing party members.

GEOGRAPHY/ADDRESS – Judgments are often based on rural vs. urban, northern vs. southern, or what city/community people come from.

NATIONAL ORIGIN – African/American, Caribbean, American or Foreign born, Accent.

SIZE – Height and Weight are often sources of teasing and bullying.

PHYSICAL DISABILITY – Many people are unforgiving and unwilling to accept people with physical disabilities.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION – Some brothers make disparaging comments about gay men and having joined the frat to be around “Real Men.”

A second tier of diversity exists within and among Black Greek-letter organizations.

• Colors / • Did you pledge Undergrad or Grad?
• Insignias / • Where did you pledge?
• Are you a ‘legacy’ prospective member? / • “Who took you over?”
• Only (fill in the blank) people join that fraternity or sorority!

“The founders of Phi Beta Sigma deeply wished to create an organization that viewed itself as “a part of” the general community rather that “apart from” the general community. They believed that each potential member should be judged by his own merits, rather than his family background or affluence…without regard to race, nationality, skin tone or texture of hair. They desired for their fraternity to exist as part of an even greater brotherhood which would be devoted to the ‘inclusive we’ rather than the ‘exclusive we.’” From www.pbs1914.org

Slide 6: The Roots of Hazing

In black Greek-letter Organizations, the practice of hazing is harmful to members and potential members; the individual organizations and all African Americans in a way that should never happen between “brothers” and “sisters”.

“We can't continue to have a broken intake system in terms of bringing in new members and think that it's going to be safe. And so at some point in time, you're going to need to stop, analyze what you're doing, and then create something that is completely different than what we've been doing in the past…you know, in all honesty, it has always been broken. We've had a myriad of different pledge processes over, let's say, the last 80 years, and most of them have been predicated upon a dynamic between the members, the big brothers or big sisters, and the pledges, you know, who are in a subservient role, and the power construct basically creates an atmosphere where abuses are going to almost always occur. Typically with men, it's physical abuse - wood, you know, throwing wood and things like that. Or for women, it tends to be humiliation, although there are a lot more physical hazing incidents with women over the last 10 years, too.” Lawrence Ross Jr - Author of "The Divine Nine: The History of African-American Fraternities and Sororities in America”

Slide 7: Why Hazing?

Dr. John A. Williams - Executive Director, Center for the Study of Pan-Hellenic Issues – writes, “If you wanted to make a case for hazing in Black fraternities, you have lots of buttons you can push to make a new member accept being "made right" as the phrase goes. You can appeal to his manhood, by reminding him that "only the strong survive". You can appeal to his sense of racial pride by reminding him that the pressures he is expected to endure from "the brothers" is nothing compared to what the "real world" will put on him. These lines are designed to convince a pledge to accept what they are being asked to endure before "crossing the sands" to come into the frat.”

“It's hard to tackle because it's ingrained in the culture. The idea of pledging is ingrained in the culture, and particularly among men. One of the issues is that pledging tends to validate the people who actually go through it. There's a sense within African-American men that once you've actually gone through a pledge process, you've achieved something, and you've also validated your manhood. That's why if you look at some undergraduate chapters in particular, you'll see things as basic as the frightening chapter nicknames like Terrible Tau or the Bloody Beta. It's to give the general public an idea that the men who belong to this particular chapter are tough. And oftentimes, you have African-American men and women who are coming to college campuses looking for some sense of achievement, and when you do that and build it up over years and add oral tradition, it's really difficult to actually get people to actually change.” Lawrence C. Ross Jr., author of "The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities."

Slide 8: Methods of Hazing

SUBTLE OR MENTAL HAZING:

While hazing typically includes all behaviors that emphasize a power imbalance between potential new members and other members of the group, “subtle hazing” often is taken for granted or accepted as “harmless” or meaningless. Subtle hazing typically involves activities or attitudes that breach reasonable standards of mutual respect and place potential new members on the receiving end of ridicule, embarrassment, and/or humiliation tactics. Potential new members often feel the need to endure subtle hazing to feel like part of the group or team.

Mental Hazing can be brutal and leave lasting psychological scars. Some hazing victims report that the mental hazing they endured was worse than being physically abused.

· Assigning demerits

· Silence periods with implied threats for violation

· Deprivation of privileges granted to other members

· Requiring prospective members to perform duties not assigned to other members

· Socially isolating new pledges

· Line-ups and drills/Tests on meaningless information

· Name calling

· Being yelled at or cursed at by other members of the team or group

· Requiring prospective members to refer to other members with titles (e.g., Mr., Miss) while they are identified with demeaning terms

· Personal servitude

PHYSICAL OR VIOLENT HAZING:

Behaviors that have the potential to cause physical, emotional, and/or psychological harm.

· Branding

· Paddling

· Repeatedly punching a member in the chest, using a knuckle to harden the blow until the pain becomes excruciating.

· “Bringing the knowledge" – the pledge bows his head while either standing or kneeling, and a fraternity member jumps down off of a chair or bed slamming a dictionary or other large book onto the pledge's head.

"This is what slave masters did to slaves, and my only true reward was that I have an opportunity to be

a slave master as many times as I want when it's all over"…………. Kappa Alpha Psi member, Tennessee State.

CYBER-BULLYING

Cyber-bullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people. As it has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it.

Examples of cyber-bullying include communications that seek to intimidate, control, manipulate, put down, falsely discredit, or humiliate the recipient. The actions are deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior intended to harm another. Cyber-bullying as defined by The National Crime Prevention Council is when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.

GENERATIONAL CELEBRATION OF HAZING

Stories about hazing are passed down through the generations. When someone talks about how great/valuable/funny hazing is, challenge that position. Do not shrug and laugh at a “back in the day” story. Seize the opportunity to educate and to remind current chapter members that we are not back in that day. The “good old days” probably were not that good to the person who was enduring hazing at the time. Time softens and distorts that type of bonding experience. The “I did it and it didn’t kill me” theory must be put to rest.

“Old-school” brothers or sorors who crossed in the past often tell wives' tales about what they did “on line” to black Greeks who currently are on campus. And those current black Greeks use the “old school” stories to convince unsuspecting college students that the only way they’ll get respect is by pledging underground. Hundreds of aspirants will succumb to underground hazing, hoping that by “pledging” they will earn the respect they crave.

From an alumni brother…."One of the things that brothers do is, we sit around and tell pledge stories, It's almost a comparison of who got beat the worst, as if it's some type of honor how badly you were beaten."

ALCOHOL AND HAZING

While hazing does not necessarily involve alcohol use by either current or new members, alcohol consumption often is either a central or contributing element. Under most codes of conduct, any consumption of alcohol, other drugs, or other substances that is "an explicit or implicit condition for initiation to, admission into, affiliation with, or continued membership in a group or organization" is hazing. This definition is applied regardless of the level of pressure to drink.

Slide 9: Is it Hazing?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Would I feel comfortable participating in this activity if my parents were watching?

• Would we get in trouble if the Dean of Students walked by?

• Am I being asked to keep these activities a secret?

• Am I doing anything illegal?

• Am I risking arrest by participating in this activity?

• Do I want the burden of having a criminal arrest record when I apply for jobs?

• Does participation violate my values or those of my organization?

• Is it causing emotional distress or stress of any kind to me or others?

• If someone were injured, would I feel comfortable being investigated by my school’s administration or an insurance carrier?

Slide 10: Hidden Harm:

The concept of Hidden Harm relates to the fact that we don't know everything about the newest members of our organizations. We don't even know EVERYTHING about our best friends. Someone who has just joined an organization or team could have an unknown health condition that would make him or her highly susceptible to serious repercussions from hazing.