In efforts to stop alcohol abuse and violence by their members, two national fraternities have announced they will eliminate pledging, and the nation’s largest fraternity association has embarked on an aggressive public-relations campaign to discourage hazing.
Zeta Beta Tau and Tau Kappa Epsilon, the nation’s largest fraternity, became the first to eliminate pledging, which has been used to initiate new members into fraternities since the 1920’s.
Traditionally, the pledge period -- the time between a student’s being asked to join a fraternity and his initiation as a member -- lasts from six to eight weeks. Many fraternity chapters subject their pledges to hazing during that time, with some requiring students to drink large amounts of alcoholic beverages or to endure beatings by fraternity members.
Under the new system devised by the two fraternities, students will become members as soon as they are asked to join, thereby eliminating the pledge period.
“This is a recognition that despite our best efforts, we have been unsuccessful in stopping hazing,” said Ronald J. Taylor, national vice-president of Zeta Beta Tau. “We wanted to remove the window of opportunity where hazing takes place. Pledging doesn’t make good brothers, it only makes obedient pledges.”
In addition, the National Interfraternity Conference, an association of 59 of the 62 national fraternities, began running -- in The Chronicle and in fraternity magazines -- advertisements that discourage hazing. “There is no place in today’s fraternities for those who think anyone should demonstrate his worthiness by suffering insult or injury,” says one of the advertisements.
“We want to send a message that fraternities do not tolerate silly and dangerous activities,” said Jonathan J. Brant, the conference’s executive director. "`We would like to change attitudes among collegians and alumni.”
In addition to backing the advertising campaign, each of the fraternities in the association plans to intensify programs to make members aware of such problems as hazing and date rape, Mr. Brant said.
The actions by the fraternities and the interfraternity conference came amid increased national attention to pledging and hazing. A series of well-publicized cases -- such as that of a Rutgers University freshman who died of alcohol poisoning at a fraternity event last year -- has sparked calls for reform of fraternities.
Zeta Beta Tau and Tau Kappa Epsilon have been considering banning pledging for the past year. The executive board of Zeta Beta Tau voted last year to eliminate pledging, and members of Tau Kappa Epsilon voted to do so at their convention last month. In addition, Zeta Beta Tau last month suspended its chapters on the Ohio State University and Alfred University campuses for violations, including drug abuse and hazing.
Tau Kappa Epsilon has 171,000 members, including 16,000 undergraduates; Zeta Beta Tau has more than 100,000 members, including 5,000 undergraduates.
Despite growing criticism of fraternities over the hazing issue, membership in the groups has been growing. As many as 400,000 undergraduates now belong to fraternity chapters on the nation’s campuses, nearly twice the number of members 15 years ago.
Fraternity officials said last week they were concerned with the negative perception of fraternities on college campuses. At least five colleges and universities have banned fraternities and sororities in recent years.
“If we had not begun to change, a number of folks said we would be victims of faculty and administrative groups who have had enough of this ridiculous behavior and would have thrown us off college campuses,” said David L. Adcock, director of alumni services for Tau Kappa Epsilon.
Both Tau Kappa Epsilon and Zeta Beta Tau said they had established new programs to emphasize academic excellence, community service, and leadership skills among fraternity members.
Other fraternities seem poised to follow in their footsteps. Kappa Delta Rho voted at a recent convention to abolish pledging, and Phi Sigma Kappa is weighing whether to eliminate it.
The moves to end pledging have not been without resistance. “The vote at our convention was hardly unanimous,” said Mr. Adcock. “There was some rumbling.” But he expects the chapters to follow the new member-induction programs the fraternity has established.