“Police have charged two Syracuse University fraternity members for an outdoor hazing stunt that could cost a pledge four of his fingers due to frostbite. … [Y]oung men pledging the Nu Alpha Phi fraternity were taken to a city park … and made to do exercises, including push-ups and crawling in the snow, while not wearing gloves. … One of the pledges … may lose his ring and pinkie fingers on both hands because of severe frostbite. Police on Wednesday arrested two frat members and charged them with hazing. … Syracuse University has suspended the frat involved in the incident. The other [pledges] … were not cooperating with police,” CBS News reports. He’ll probably sue the fraternity, but good luck with that.
Why don’t colleges just wash their hands of frats for good and be done with it? Nothing good comes from the Greek system. They’re elitist, they encourage drunkeness and rape, they’re rowdy and bad neighbors, they teach bad judgment, and they certainly don’t contribute to academic achievement — the ostensible reason for going to college in the first place. Colleges can’t prevent students from joining voluntary off-campus associations, but they don’t have to aid and abet them. They can ignore them, and just because they can exist off campus doesn’t mean colleges have to let them be part of campus life.
Photo: Future leaders of American government and business, circa 1960s. Now you know how our country turned into such a clusterfuck.