College Hazing: It’s Not Just Fraternities and Sports Team, But Sororities Too

College Hazing: It’s Not Just Fraternities and Sports Team, But Sororities Too

A considerable amount of attention has focused on fraternity and even ports team hazing in the past decade. Certainly, there have been some horrific incidents that occurred, including truly tragic fraternity hazing that ended the bright lives of young people. What arguably has been underreported is sorority hazing. Sorority hazing continues to cause very significant and even fatal harm to young women every year.

Examples of sorority hazing incidents underscore how young women have been victimized on college and university campuses in the United States in recent years, a trend which continues to this day. Sorority hazing at Binghamton University illustrates the point.

Sorority pledges at Binghamton were forced together into freezing showers for extended periods of time. They were also forced to consume pills that causes them to vomit on one another. Additionally, these young women were forced to hold hot hookah coals in their bare hands.

Ongoing sorority pledging practices were particularly degrading at Young Harris College. Pledges of the Gamma Psi sorority were forced to crawl through mud into a freezing creek where they were spat on by house members. Worse yet, pledges were required to stand in a pool of water in which members of the sorority had defecated in.

A hazing incident turned deadly at UCLA. In this instance of sorority hazing, pledges were required to do hours of exercise after which they were forced to walk backward into the ocean. Exhausted from the forced exercise, a wave swept a young woman out to sea. Another pledge attempt to help her and was also swept out into deeper water. Both women drowned in this sorority hazing incident.

The Delta Sigma Theta sorority at the University of Tennessee engaged in vicious hazing practices. These included pledges being punched in the face while vinegar was squirted into their eyes and ice-cold water poured over their heads. Pledges were also punched in their heads and stomachs to the point of concussion and vaginal bleeding.

At Pennsylvania State University in Altoona, pledges were lined up against a wall with their noses touching the brick. Time and again, sorority members would slam the pledge’s faces against the wall. The pledges were also required to clean the floor using their fingernails.

In the book Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities, the documentarian writes of a sorority in which pledges were forced to participate in trivia challenges. If a question was answered incorrectly, the pledges were forced to drink straight shots of vodka. In addition, as the hazing progressed, the pledges were violated with either a dildo, Sharpie, hammer, or knife.

At the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority at Rutgers University, six members were arrested on criminal charges for conduct arising out of hazing. Multiple pledges ended up hospitalized from injuries sustained by being beaten by house members. Some of the injuries were classified as being serious.

A Dartmouth University sorority pledge was admitted to the hospital on the verge of death. She had a blood alcohol content of .399. Death oftentimes occurs at .4 BAC. In addition, the woman had cuts and bruises all over her body. Many of her teeth were broken. Doctors noted that if she would have been forced in ingest even part of one more alcoholic beverage, the woman likely would have died.

If you’ve been the victim of sorority hazing (or fraternity hazing), you’ve definite legal rights that you need to protect. A Doan Law Firm sorority hazing lawyer stands ready to meet with you to discuss and evaluate your case. You can schedule an initial consultation with a sorority hazing lawyer at our firm by calling us at (800) 349-0000 any time of the day or night, 365 days of a year, including major holidays. We’ve represented people who’ve been injured as the result of fraternity hazing and sorority hazing. We’re committed to fighting for the rights of people injured in fraternity hazing and sorority hazing.

A nationwide law practice, we’ve offices located from coast to coast. In addition, we can schedule a virtual appointment online. There is no fee for an initial consultation and sorority hazing case evaluation.

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