Literature Review Blog #5

 

 

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Hoover, Eric. "After a Death, a Question: Are Students Hard-Wired for Hazing?"

            Editorial. Chronicle of Higher Education 17 Feb. 2012, Volume 58 ed.: n. pag. Web.


This article explains WHY people haze. It touches upon the fact that we as a society used to haze African Americans, and now it is being done in higher education organizations such as clubs or Greek life. It explains that hazing is a form of revenge, and people except it to be done to them. Psychologists have found that is all about the strive to carry on tradition, and the obligation a person feels to do so.

Eric Hoover is a senior writer for The Chronicle. He has written numerous stories on adult students, and the issues of the new millennium generations. He graduated from the University of Virginia, and has been recognized by Education Writers Association, among others, and his articles have also been published in the New York Times.

Spotlight parties: Pledges are blind folded and when it is removed, brothers shine bright lights in their eyes while yelling at them and asking them questions about the fraternities history.

Revenge: One taking the humiliation forced on them, and channeling that onto someone else

'The psyche of the perpetrators is that they believe they have the right and a duty to pass on the tradition,' Ms. Lipkins says." (Hoover 1). A member of an organization believes it is their responsibility to keep tradition alive, no matter how violent or inappropriate.

"They experience anger and humiliation when this is done to them, and then they get to complete the circle, they get back their self-esteem." (Hoover 1). They also haze as a form of revenge. They need to earn back some of their pride, and thus begins the viscous cycle.

"These groups are telling all of us, 'here's the way we do things, we've always done things this way, and we're going to continue doing them this way. Yeah, we beat people, we force people to drink themselves to death, we inherently see it as traditional and good, with a few losses here and there,'" Mr. Jones says. "Now the political question for presidents is, what are you going to do with that?" (Hoover 2). Hoover explains that the idea of hazing is not going to end because most people who commit these acts see it resulting in more positive results, than negative.


This article help me prove my point that people haze because of tradition and because of revenge. It proves my point that it is a vicious cycle that will continue for year to come.

Research Blog #9

My argument is that people haze for the reasons of revenge, and that is why it is still around today. It went from being a public issue, to an underground issue that has been highly privatized especially in universities. My counter issue is going to be that hazing is not done for revenge, but for a positive disciplinary action. Some argue that is a necessary right of passage. Kelly R. Taylor, a former NASSP General Counsel and writer at Principal Leadership magazine writes many articles on hazing. She believes hazing is "A prevalent and long-standing view is that hazing is a harmless rite of passage designed to help develop comradery and respect among teammates or other peer groups,” (Taylor 27). Most people think it is due purely out of the strive to continue tradition. However, I believe it is done in order to seek revenge for what was done to older members. I want to show the audience that hazing is not done with good intentions, but bad, negative ones that can lead to death and many other harms to a person.

Research Blog #9

This is an image of Robert Champion. I mention him in my paper because he was hazed on a band bus which ultimately lead to his death. I want my readers to know how horrible hazing is, but mostly stress the reasons why that although it causes deaths, so many organizations still do it. I have a lot of example about fraternities and sororities hazing, but I also want to highlight hazing among other organizations in college as well, so I think this image and this story is definitely one I should use.

Research Blog #7

My case, as recently discussed in my meeting, is to explore the question of WHY people haze, in comparison to my present issue as to HOW people haze and that it is bad. I want to explore the psychological reasons behind hazing, and why it is still around today despite its negative images. In Hank Nuwer's books "Broken Pledges" and Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing and Binge Drinking, he gives a lot of these different viewpoints, and I plan on using these two sources a lot to help improve my case. He has written a lot of books on hazing, and they all supply the reader with a large amount of information on the affects of hazing. So far, none of my research has been able to compare to his two books I am using for my paper.