Another year, another pledge term scandal. After Tuesday's leak of internal emails from Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, I'm sure that many other Greek organizations deleted emails and closed Google groups, fearing that the administration might turn NSA on us and expose house secrets. "Beta is screwed" was my first thought. Many people I spoke with have articulated the same idea. Interestingly, our musings were never focused on what the emails contained, but that once again Dartmouth was in the spotlight. After sleeping on it, I realized J.K. Trotter's article is a hatchet job at best. Hopefully, the administration's response is related to what actually occurred and not the bad press that might ensue.
After reading all of the uploaded material, it is obvious that Trotter picked what he felt were the most sensational emails and spun his article around them. Of the messages not mentioned, we find a year-old reference to "slamming hos" along with pledge missions such as taking pictures posed as a '17 in the TDX basement. Nice try Beta. I kick out '17s with the quickness. But seriously, we have house secrets on display! Where's the sensationalism of the last two years?
So what are we left with? Trotter begins with a roster from bid night where pledges reported their favorite type of porn. In a house with 42 shakeouts, the most salacious write-in is bondage with a question mark. Seriously Beta? Color me disappointed. While the problems with the porn industry are for another time, there's nothing exactly damning about young men mentioning their porn preference.
Trotter doesn't really have enough to work with, so he proceeds with two email quotes where a Beta mentions a brother who was trying to "up his rodding percentage" and another where a brother points out that a blonde girl in a video "looks like she wants to be anywhere else." You all know that I'm not the youngest '15, so I have no idea what "rodding percentage" is. I tried to find out, but the best I could come up with is the ability to attract girls. And I don't know how bored blonde girls are anything more than a simple indictment of the brothers themselves.
Feeling he has sufficient ammunition, Trotter takes these points and spins them to extraordinary heights BDSM and bored women might be funny, "but it's a bit less funny when your house is under suspicion for supplying alcohol to a rapist." Under suspicion for supplying alcohol to a rapist? I know that Hanover Police gets bored, but I doubt they're gathered around waiting to bust Beta for maybe giving beers to a guy who, unless he has a prior conviction, didn't become an alleged rapist until later in the night.
After wrapping up his grand argument, we get to where I thought the really damning evidence might be coming Beta's sink night. The document details different stations where pledges are blindfolded and offered vomlettes! Not really, just drinks. These rooms include such horrors as having to listen to metal. Listen Beta, if you want to give me free beers while I listen to Dillinger Escape Plan, count me in.
The pledges are finally led into the basement, where they are sprayed with champagne like the Giants just won the pennant. Afterward, some singsong ritual called loving cup takes place. Seriously, my having to type "loving cup" is the worst hazing to have resulted from Beta yet.
I've spent most of this article being light-hearted, but the fact of the matter is that the worst in these emails involves blindfolding pledges and yelling at them over silly questions. Sure, the messages contained language that is in bad taste, and I'm sure they'd prefer that the emails not be made public. Poor language, however, doesn't equal the need for punishment. The administration will have to decide how much of Beta's sink night violated the standards on hazing.
A year ago, I wrote an article on hazing in response to some very serious allegations, which included physical abuse. In the last two years there have been multiple accusations of hazing, which have included outright assault, kiddie pools and vomlettes and leading blindfolded pledges through Vermont in the back of a U-Haul. I'm not justifying Beta's practices, but I think they should be viewed in light of their seriousness and not through the lens of some gossip writer.
