Through the Looking Glass: Let the Hazing Begin
By Yesuto Shaw
Published on Friday, October 19, 2012
My name is Yesuto Shaw. I’m a ’15. And I was hazed.
As the rush period has come to an end, the long initiation process known as pledge term has begun, and certain practices have inevitably begun along with it. After Andrew Lohse’s article purportedly revealed the initiation proceedings of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the College has made many efforts in the past year to crack down on hazing. But these minor policy changes aimed at addressing hazing are not going to change much practically. And this was definitely the case in my experience.
I finished my freshman Spring term knowing exactly which fraternity I wanted to rush in the fall. I had begun to get to know some of the brothers, and I even kept in touch with some of them over the summer in the hopes of beginning to build a brotherhood between us and better judge my decision to join the fraternity. Coming back in the fall, I was excited and ready to go. As I rushed, I enjoyed getting to know my future brothers, the guys who I thought would always be there for me and who would become my closest friends over the next three years.
I looked up to the older brothers with respect. I decided that they would make good mentors for the next few years as I continued to form and define my own identity during my years in college. I could tell that they cared about me and wanted the best for me. They made efforts to reach out to me during the spring, and in the beginning of the fall, they continued to check up on me to make sure that I was doing all right.
After my decision to join the fraternity was finalized, the brothers called my fellow pledges and me back to the house, and everything changed. Suddenly, we were no longer friends. We were not their equals, and they made sure we knew it. We were no longer allowed to look them in the eyes, and our names were taken from us. Throughout the initiation process, we would each be referred to as decimal point values (such as 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, etc.). We were ordered into a position of attention whenever we were at the house, and we had to recite facts about the history of the fraternity and respond to certain prompts appropriately, or else. If we ever messed up, we were punished. They made us do countless numbers of push-ups and other exercises, and they would even place objects on us to weigh us down.
Then it got worse. Suddenly, if we didn’t get our facts right, it was no longer only physical exercise for us — they would hit us. At first, the hits were pretty soft in the chest with their fists. Then they took a sturdy, plastic serving spoon, wetted it and smacked us across the chest with it. As if these activities done in the dark weren’t enough, they ordered us to no longer speak to our friends outside of the fraternity. Our only friends would be our pledge brothers. We could talk in class and at our normal activities, but if we saw a friend on the street, we couldn’t so much as wave, or we would face punishments for ourselves, or our pledge brothers, that night.
Yet still, to be honest, I don’t believe that what they did was done with bad intentions. I honestly believe that they were trying somehow to make us stronger and more able to handle struggles in life. But how they did it was wrong. Sure, the welts from the spoon would go away in a day or two, but they never should have been there in the first place. Sure, one term not talking to our friends is only a small part of our time at Dartmouth, but why should isolation be necessary if developing a connection to our pledge brothers is really worth it? Shouldn’t the fact that we were joining the fraternity mean that we had incentive enough to make it our home? Nobody should have to go through any of that to join any group. And I couldn’t imagine myself putting the next class through the same stuff next year.
So I dropped out of the process. And I reported the fraternity. I still respect the brothers, and I truly do believe that they thought they were doing us some good somehow, but they were wrong. I didn’t think that I was going to report them originally, as I didn’t want to see their reputations hurt. But after confronting them with my concerns, they chose to ignore them. They assured me that it was “beyond them,” that there was “nothing they could do,” because “that’s the way it’s always been.” I didn’t originally think reporting them was necessary because I was fine. No serious, long-term harm had been done to my pledge brothers or me. But I couldn’t help thinking about the ’16s and the ’17s — the ones who would come after me with high hopes of joining a prestigious organization, only to find themselves degraded and abused. That’s when I decided that I couldn’t keep silent. They had to see that what they were doing was wrong and that it needed to stop. They needed to face consequences so that change might actually come.
I don’t believe for a second that the fraternity that I was joining is the only one ignoring the College’s policies and continuing to haze its pledges. I doubt it’s exactly the same at any two fraternities, but if you’re letting any kind of this stupid nonsense happen to you, stop. Don’t just stand it. It’s not worth it. Are they really looking out for your best interest while doing things to you that break not only College policies, but state law? Maybe you can take it, but can you really do the same things to the underclassmen that will come after you? As for me, maybe my hazing wasn’t that bad. Sure, it didn’t involve any alcohol, and we didn’t have to swim through kiddie pools of vomit, or anything like that. But hazing is hazing, and enough is enough. It needs to stop. And its end will come when we, the students, bring it.
To the brothers and sisters who haze, a final word. Know this: It’s not the fraternity or sorority that’s doing it. It’s you. And it’s you who will pay the consequences.
Yesuto Shaw is a member of the Class of 2015.
I respect you enormously for this, Yesuto. Not because it was above and beyond what you should be expected to do as a human and a Dartmouth student, but because you did exactly what a respectable man should do while in a culture that promotes a shameful idea of manhood.
By Independent ‘13 on Oct 19 | 2:37 am
This describes the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. They have a ritual they perform in front of Dartmouth Hall involving a bit of violence and obvious hazing, yet neither S and S nor HPo have done anything about that. It is clear that these and other minority GLOs engage in hazing such as this, yet the College has done nothing to move on them. Additionally, the terms they have to spend in silence to become members is ridiculous. Why would somebody join a social organization to become less social than before and isolate oneself when they’re part of a community already on the margins. I hope the D and the College will follow up on the claims made in this article to ensure en evenness in application of anti-hazing policies.
By Anon on Oct 19 | 6:16 am
Nice try Lohse.
By Anonymous on Oct 19 | 7:15 am
WEll Done Yesuto! This is exactly the kind of action that can finally begin to turn the tide against hazing and violence. Kill the culture that supports it and it will die.
Pledges shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for themselves, and this is a small first step to regaining that empowerment.
By ‘13 on Oct 19 | 8:16 am
considering the sacrifice you are making, and the network you are giving up IN FAVOR of morality, this article is commendable
By thirteen on Oct 19 | 8:26 am
Outstanding piece. When individuals have the courage to speak up for positive social change, we can move forward. I hope you will inspire others to stand up for themselves and their community. Bravo to you and to The Dartmouth for printing your valuable words.
By Alum on Oct 19 | 8:27 am
Thank you for this article Yesuto. I think it’s honest and mature. I’m sure it took a lot of thought deciding to come out and write this, but I think you made the right choice. I agree with the earlier commenter. Your decision to write this and the way you wrote it show what true manhood’s about.
By Timothy Toh ‘15 on Oct 19 | 9:29 am
Personally, I think your decision is admirable, but in the end, misplaced. If you had done as Andrew had done, and reported somewhere like SigEp, I’d be fine with it. Hell, I’d be so proud of you. But no, you reported the one fraternity that has so much to lose, both for themselves and the people that they serve on campus. I wish you would’ve taken the larger picture into account.
By Anonymous on Oct 19 | 9:42 am
You are the lone voice crying out in the wilderness. good for you. Bravo. You will make your children proud of you many years from now, though you may endure some ugly moments in college life now. Doing the right thing is never the easy choice.
By alumalum on Oct 19 | 10:25 am
Alpha Phi Alpha has long been known for physically abusing their pledges and enforcing a no-contact rule with non-fraternity members. Hopefully Dean Johnson and Carol Folt take this report seriously and expel every one of the members, and the Hanover Police will actually investigate hazing for once in their lives.
But too bad we know nothing will happen to them and Dartmouth will just let hazing go on forever because Johnson, Folt, and Chief Giaccone couldn’t care less about students. This is an administration who never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
By Not surprised on Oct 19 | 10:34 am
Thank you for sharing your story Yesuto. Perhaps now others will also find the courage the stand up and demand we change this system to one that no longer tolerates any time of hazing.
By Female ‘13 on Oct 19 | 10:39 am
Yesuto, good for you. I don’t know you well but I am so impressed by your decision to do what you think is right. I believe the system can change if more people question its mechanisms, whether that be by leaving a house as you did or by openly challenging “traditions”. Keep it up, and know that you have many brothers and sisters in your fellow classmates even though you are not connected to them by a series of Greek letters.
By Anonymous ‘15 on Oct 19 | 11:00 am
Bravo, Yesuto.
By Anonymous ‘14 on Oct 19 | 11:30 am
Thank you for speaking up about this. With all the talk about how the administration is targeting practices of wearing flair or fraternity symbols or even groups that wake their members up to take them for breakfast, we can sometimes forget that there is real hazing going on behind closed doors. Giving people numbers instead of names, hitting them, and forcing them to be isolated from their friends are exactly the types of practices that are unacceptable and need to stop, but it’s hard or impossible to address them without people talking about them openly. Andrew Lohse was unfortunately the worst possible person to do so, and did it in the worst possible way. I’m really glad someone we can respect has finally come forward.
By Leah ‘12 on Oct 19 | 11:36 am
Yesuto, you’re the man. We need Dartmouth and the World need more people like you.
By 15 on Oct 19 | 11:38 am
I fail to see how Yesuto can claim that he still has “respect” for the brothers. If he had respect, he would take other action like reporting them without publicizing and attempting to being down the entire institution. I don’t think this kid knows how much of a devastating effect this article can have on a fraternity that is already struggling on this campus. Well done destroying everything, Yesuto.
By Female ‘15 on Oct 19 | 11:42 am
Yesuto, thank you! I think your decision to report was brave and right – this community needs to look in a mirror. Yes, it is us. We create an atmosphere of loneliness and fear, and clime where ‘everything is fine at all times’, and we all pretend we are comfortable – while no one is. Thank you for stepping out out the mass and speaking up!
By ‘14 on Oct 19 | 11:51 am
The manner through which you choose to react to the process is extremely selfish. Have you considered the possible consequences of writing an article on this, open to everyone? This is absurd and you seem overly sensitive. I hope to never meet you.
You chose to join an institution with a legacy much larger than you are (and will ever be). By writing this article you place your values above every man who is a part of that system, and above the organization itself.
Remember, you are not a martyr.
And no I am not a part of any fraternity – nor do I know what fraternity is discussed in the article – thus my opinion is unbiased.
By Anonymous on Oct 19 | 11:56 am
Yesuto,
I belong to a fraternity and during my pledge term I was hazed. Not physically as you were by any means, but rather with alcohol. That being said, both in the moment and retrospectively there was never a time that I was at risk of harm from alcohol and never a time that my older brothers weren’t watching closely to ensure my safety. I enjoyed my pledge term. In fact I loved it. And now I cannot fathom what it would be like not to have the group of men whom I call brothers to depend on. All that being said, we have ceased all hazing activities as of this year to avoid the possibility of adverse consequences for the students we have chosen to become our mentees, our friends, and our brothers.
While I applaud your bravery in standing up for yourself, not tolerating hazing, and reporting the fraternity that hazed you, I wonder if an article posted in the Mirror achieves what you have set out to do. You reported the fraternity in question, as you should have, and they will stand trial for their actions. They can’t haze people anymore and it’s highly likely that they wont continue to exist as an organization anymore. However, now in my next med school interview I’ll be asked about how I ever thought it was ok to continue hazing pledges as I was hazed. When I go home for Thanksgiving my relatives will tell me about how I shouldn’t beat pledges with kitchen utensils make them swim in feces and eat vomit like all the frats at Dartmouth do. Perhaps most shockingly, the pastor whom I would call my most influential mentor called me this morning during class and I answered because he would never call unnecessarily. He asked if I was violating people’s human rights in my fraternity.
You mention that you are trying to send a message to frats, 16’s, 17’s and classes to come. Is that message not sent by what will happen to alpha phi alpha? If you insisted on writing an article, why attack the greek system as a whole? Why must you attack my personal relationships? I have done nothing wrong to my new members. please look before you leap, as I dont think you realize the repercussions of your actions for people’s individual lives.
By Frustrated on Oct 19 | 12:13 pm
Wow, the Administration’s new anti-hazing policies are working WONDERS! I wonder which random walkthrough caught these beatings at work? The anti-flair policy clearly stopped this silence pact in its tracks!
Obviously, the higher-ups at this school still have no idea what actually goes on during pledge term. Until they do, nothing will change, and it will take brave individuals like Yesuto publicly standing up for themselves to start a change in our seriously screwed up culture. Unlike Lohse, this kid is worth listening to. I’m lucky in that I was treated with the utmost respect during my pledge term, but if any members of my house had ever degraded or abused me in any similar manner, I would have done the exact same thing. Props.
By Affiliyated ‘14 on Oct 19 | 12:16 pm