vandy columnist apparently endorses hazing

"Don't haze me, bro": With those inauspicious words, Frannie Boyle begins her opinion piece in the Vanderbilt Hustler. She begins sympathetically by lamenting the increasing crack-down on greek life imposed by the university authorities. Certainly a common sentiment, and she can hardly be faulted. When she cites a certain guardedness about activities during rush, or she expresses dubiousness as to the propriety of punishments meted out for some pledge events, she sounds like a concerned but sensible writer.

But the wheels completely come off the bus about halfway through the article when Ms Boyle shifts from an sympathetic observer to lukewarm acceptance: "Hazing happens at every fraternity, the trick is just not to get caught," she boldly asserts. Your correspondent, though certainly unfamiliar with the greek scene at Vanderbilt University, would hazard a guess that not every greek hazes there, even just a little bit. And taking sympathy for well-meaning chapters to the length of endorsing coverups of hazing is a stretch (much) too far. The problem is the institutionalization of abuse, not that groups are caught out for it. But Ms Boyle plunges still further, taking a baldly apologistic stance that is best served being quoted in full:

And what’s the real problem with hazing anyway? It can obviously get a little out of hand—Hollywood tells us that. But in its purest form hazing is a great thing, and fraternities would be nothing without it. Pledge classes form an unbreakable bond through their experiences as freshmen because of what they work through (or suffer through) together.

The rest of the article proceeds in that vein. Is Ms Boyle joking? Is this a mordant send-up of other, unnamed persons that really do deny the ills of hazing? Or does she really believe this? The article has none of the normal indices of sarcasm, so the only real thing suggesting mockery is the sheer extremity of her opinion. The reader will have to judge for himself; though the comments seem to be taking it at face value.

Vanderbilt Hustler