Our Very Own Frat Boys

They walk among us; we hang out with them on a regular basis whether it be in class, at the fraternity house, or at the bars. They were initiated with us; they wear our letters with pride as if to say "I'm truly proud to be a Sigma Chi, or a Delt, or whoever."

They're our very own fraternity brothers but not the type of brothers you'd want to have good lines for.

In the Journal of Sigma Phi Epsilon, there's a little section called "Our Very Own Frat Boys." This isn't to celebrate their glorious accomplishments (like being #1 on campus with a 3.54 GPA) but to admonish those chapters who aren't living to SigEp's ideals & standards as well as informing this section's readers that actions such as the ones they listed DO have consequences.

And one chapter in the summer 2007 edition of the Journal really raised my eyebrows: the Florida Epsilon chapter down @ Florida State University. 4 students were arrested on hazing charges & the ongoing criminal investigation is looking into these charges which 31 alleged hazing victims brought up. They were being held in a crawl space at a private residence, not the fraternity house; who knows what they had to go through but to me when it comes down to treating your associate members with respect, this is downright deplorable, just cramping their style by keeping them in a confined space like that. Of course, SigEp got suspended but this is not to say that their time @ FSU is up:

An Alumni Advisory Council was in place to do a membership review on any of the 97 members who wish to remain SigEps, considering that they're wholeheartedly worthy to be SigEps. But if we look at the strong indicators which confirm a fraternity's willingness to improve & keep improving - 4 dudes had 4.0 GPAs & 47 more were above a 3.0 GPA. Talk about a chapter who prior to this incident was pretty focused on academics; the SigEps @ FSU from the looks of things were that type of fraternity without a doubt.

Is this to say that they deserve special treatment in light of all these charges against them? Not exactly; the main HQ & AAC will determine what to do (as they always have done in situations like these). If there is a lesson to be learned, it would be that hazing can happen to any fraternity, anywhere, anytime & it doesn't matter if it's the #1 chapter on campus; the HQs don't discriminate when it comes to weeding out those duders who exhibit the "frat boy" stereotype which has no formal place in the well-being of the Greek system nationwide. The one thing which we cannot do at this juncture is become complacent & say "It can't happen to us." Because from the report given in the SigEp Journal, hazing & its aftereffects can happen to any chapter, even the most elite of the bunch.