Whenever there is a tragedy regarding a fraternity or sorority hazing incident (yes, sororities as well), there is the invariable call for the end of the “Greek System.” We would disagree with such a rash move. On numerous campuses, fraternities and sororities do good and not harm, they teach social skills and networking and contribute to college life.
However, I also know that our society has radically changed over the years. A young man of 19 in a college fraternity today, bears little in common with a student in 1941; a student facing the prospect of going off to war or having to help support his family. We ask relatively little of young men and women today and unfortunately, expectations are often set very low, especially when it comes to ethical behavior.
All too often, we believe that a young person’s ability to navigate the software in a hand-held “device” is an indication of great maturity and access to some futuristic code to the universe. In truth, he or she is often still a kid lacking in maturity, wisdom and ethical decision making.
So that I am not accused of gross generalization, I do know young men and women who are very mature for their age, and who make solid, thought-out decisions for themselves. These young adults can often claim good parenting and mentoring. Unfortunately, they are in a minority.
Tracy Connor, writing for NBC News (September 15, 2015) in an article entitled: “37 Face Charges in Hazing Death of Baruch College Freshman Michael Deng,” details the hazing death of a student trying to be accepted into a fraternity.
“A grand jury has recommended charges against three dozen members of a New York City college fraternity in connection with the death of a freshman who was killed during a ‘brutal’ hazing ritual, police said on Monday.
Five of the young men face third-degree murder charges. Police and prosecutors are expected to announce details at a Tuesday morning press conference.
The victim, Michael Deng, went on a weekend retreat to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains with the Baruch College chapter of Pi Delta Psi in December 2013 and never came home.”
The victim was blind-folded, then forced to haul a backpack filled with sand, while being beaten and tackled. Thirty-seven young “men” took part in the ritual. One of the tackles forced him to fall backward, where his head struck a rock and he blacked out.
The president of what?
Here is where the ethical decision making completely broke down. After the student became unconscious, the students involved were clueless as to the proper course of action. Instead of taking logical action, they called the president of the fraternity long-distance to tell them what to do.
“After Deng blacked out from a head injury, other frat members delayed taking him to the hospital, instead calling the fraternity’s national president, Andy Meng, who allegedly advised them to hide Pi Delta Psi regalia.”
The fraternity president’s advice was more concerned with the fraternity hiding all traces of the fraternity’s identifiers than in getting the young man emergency help. The student was delayed in getting emergency medical help for more than two hours. This contributed to his death.
Predictably, some of the 37 are crying foul because they were “just there” and not directly a part of the assault that led to the student’s death. Of course, the president of the fraternity has now lawyered-up, claiming he was not responsible for long-distance medical treatment.
In my opinion, everyone was responsible to some extent. Some perhaps more than others, but everyone had the ability to dial 9-1-1 and anyone of them could have done the right thing – no one did. The lawyers for the fraternity members who were “just there” claim that their lives should not be ruined. This is why lawyers cause so many of us so much ire. None of the bystanders did what a mature person should have or could have done.
Despite his protestations to the contrary, the fraternity president could be the most culpable of them all. They looked to him for advice and his advice was more concerned with covering up than getting the young student immediate emergency treatment.
The adults
This case underscores not only a lack of maturity, but the lack of an ethical decision making process. Because many adults are failing in teaching younger people to make good choices, we wind up with 37 grown children watching another child as he died of (presumably) a cerebral hemorrhage.
I would not want to see all fraternities and sororities shut down, however I do want to see much more adult involvement. Whether hazing should continue or not is a debate that has raged for decades, but it is clear that boundaries must be set.
Adults with an ethical understanding of the issues can do that. Grown children who have little or no sense of ethics cannot.
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