Wow, this story is really amazing and truly frightening. I'm not against the Greek System at schools, but hazing like this just confuses me. What would make a group of young men think that they needed to put up with this to join and organization? And what would make the current members think that this was necessary to put people through? How does this at all meet the mission of the fraternity as set forth in it's website? : "The mission of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is to promote the highest standards of friendship, scholarship, and service for our members based upon the ideals set forth by our Founders and as specifically enunciated in our creed. " What makes straight boys so crazy?
What sorts of programs can educators and students do to assist with this kind of hazing and homophobia? Clearly part of this hazing process was to degrade these men; and somehow making them into "fairies" was the most degrading thing that they could come up with. And then once they were "fairies," suddenly that made them vulnerable to sexual assault. The logical line is so troubling to follow. Thoughts?
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From 365gay.com
Police are investigating a hazing ritual at a University of Central Florida frat house that including forcing pledges to wear "fairy wings", women's under garments, diapers, and possibly rape.
Police were called to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity by a person reporting to have heard screaming, sobbing and moaning coming from the house. A police report said officers found pledges in various forms of undress on their hands and knees and there was a heavy smell of beer, vomit and urine throughout the house.
The report said that one pledge was nearly passed out and wearing pink fairy wings and women's underwear. Another student was found passed out on the floor. He was wearing a pink tank top, women's underwear and a blond wig. A third student, a rainbow-colored wig and a diaper was found in a corner crying and in pain. Three pledges were taken to an area hospital.
WKMG television reported that "a number of devices" were found in the house leading police to believe some of the students had been sexually assaulted. Police have declined to say if any the pledges have alleged they were raped, or if rape kits had been used on any of the three taken to hospital.
The university has begun its own investigation to determine whether the schools anti-hazing policy had been violated. Sigma Alpha Epsilon is one of the oldest fraternities on the campus. None of the members are speaking with the media. But, the frat's national headquarters in Evanston, Illinois said Thursday that it has disbanded the chapter. "Our board does not feel it's worth the effort to rehabilitate the group," spokesperson Brandon Weghorst said Wednesday. He said as many as two-thirds of the chapter's approximately 90 members may have been involved.
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from cnn.com
Two fraternity boys want to make lawsuit against "Borat" over their drunken appearance in the hit movie. The legal action filed Thursday on their behalf claims they were duped into appearing in the spoof documentary "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," in which they made racist and sexist comments on camera. The young men "engaged in behavior that they otherwise would not have engaged in," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit claims that in October 2005, a production crew took the students to a bar to drink and "loosen up" before participating in what they were told would be a documentary to be shown outside of the United States. "They were induced to agree to participate and were told the name of the fraternity and the name of their school wouldn't be used," said the plaintiffs' attorney, Olivier Taillieu. "They were put into an RV and were made to believe they were picking up Borat the hitchhiker."
After a bout of heavy drinking, the plaintiffs signed a release form they were told "had something to do with reliability issues with being in the RV," Taillieu said.
The film "made plaintiffs the object of ridicule, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress, loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community," the lawsuit said.
John: Yeah, someone just sent me that Borat piece earlier today. Fraternities get themselves in trouble (i.e. Duke) because they mix two potentially dangerous things together: mob mentality and copious amounts of alcohol. Those kids in the movie knew what they were doing and saying even if they didn't know what the footage was being used for. The release they signed entitles the production company to use the footage in any way they want to.