“snitches get stitches”

In an online article titled Hazing Accusations Against a Sorority,  a New York Times author, Tamar Lewin describes two separate situations in which the same sorority is punished for hazining across the nation. In both situations women of Sigma Gamma Rho were accused of hazing using paddles. In one case, a pledge at Rutgers University reported having been hit over 200 times over a span of seven days. After going to the hospital for treatment of multiple welts and bruises six memebers of the sorority were arrested and charged with aggravated hazing. In another case at San Jose State, a young woman filed a law suit which claimed that she and other pledges had been hit multiple times with wooden paddles and spoons and were pushed against a wall and told that "snithces get stitches."  One memeber of SGR reasoned that the hazing was supposed to be "so you could feel what your ancestors went through in slavery, so you will respect what you came from." Four of the sorority members have been sentenced to 90 days in county jail and two years of probation and have been barred from any further involvement in the sorority. The sorority was also suspended for eight years from the college.

It's certainly scary to think that hazing really does happen today and that there are cases across the country that are so real and so damaging to the female pledges involved. Having had such a rewarding new member period myself, I could never imagine in a million years having to deal with either physical or emotional hazing. Reading this story was quite upsetting. It also reminds me however of how lucky I am to be part of my sorority with such great girls surrounding me and looking out for me. Reading this article has definitely inspired me be more alert and cautious of any hazing that may occur here at The Ohio State University. Although it's a potentially tricky situation dealing with minimizing hazing in other sororities and frateritites on campus, I can most definitly start within my own chapter to publicize the negative effects and results of hazing within our communitiy. I feel that awareness is the first jey step to stompin gout hazing.