By Reed Mateus

Greek Life across the country has an unhealthy relationship with peer pressure and hazing, and that relationship goes far deeper than we think.

Hazing is not well understood. Most people know it’s bad and that it’s bad that Greek life chapters do it sometimes. After all, it has been the cause of at least one student death each year for the last six decades. But it is not well understood how it happens and how to stop it. 

Many Greek life chapter constitutions at U of L strictly forbid hazing, but do not directly define it. They instead point to the U of L Code of Student Conduct for a definition. The Triangle Fraternity’s constitution is an exception to the rule. It not only defines hazing, but also provides an extensive list of what should be considered hazing.

Hazing is generally defined as “humiliating and sometimes dangerous initiation rituals, especially as imposed on college students seeking membership to a fraternity or sorority.” 

Looking beyond the age-old criticism of Greek life as a way to “buy your friends,” sometimes it can cost more than just money. Hazing found in some Greek life initiations is typically painful and exhausting both physically and emotionally, and can sometimes even be life-threatening.

A common and well-known form of hazing is forced consumption of alcohol to a dangerous extent, but the practice also frequently includes some forms of assault, nudity or sexual intimidation, such as forced nudity or being made to perform sexual acts on others. 

Recently released police body camera footage from November 2024 shows police finding dozens of blindfolded University of Iowa Alpha Delta Phi chapter pledges standing shirtless in a dark basement. Covered in various substances, the pledges claimed to be there willingly.

It is unclear how long they would have stayed like this before police interference.

Hank Nuwer, an author and columnist for the Cordova Times known for his work on hazing, puts particular attention on the exhaustion, humiliation and inebriation experienced by pledges. He argues these factors can make pledges easier to isolate and control, and can even create an enforced dependency that makes leaving difficult and painful.

For this reason, Nuwer compares hazing in Greek life to cults.

Additionally, peer pressure makes hazing even more common. For many, joining Greek life is a matter of finding belonging. When one’s social life is on the line during initiation, pledges may feel they have no choice but to go through with it. 

In a 2018 CNN Health article, two students discussed their experiences being hazed. Both of them admitted to knowing about the hazing beforehand. To them, it was a valid price to pay for the resulting sense of belonging.

Joe Hannah Burch, a former sorority pledge at Young Harris College, told CNN about her experiences getting hazed and reporting it. She discussed how the social consequences were not limited to the sorority house.

To Burch, it felt as though everybody on campus knew what she did and hated her for it. The social power held by Greek life organizations on some campuses, and the ways they can use it to instill pressure and fear may perpetuate the status quo.

But these issues aren’t just contained to campuses. An old Cornell University web page, The Power of 2%, listed statistics regarding the career positions of fraternity men, ranging from Fortune 500 CEOs to political positions. This includes almost every United States president since 1825.

While it may seem disconnected, it’s a scary notion that these negative behaviors sometimes exhibited by fraternities and sororities may be behaviors later exhibited by some of the nation’s most powerful people.

“Buying your friends” holds a lot more weight when it’s something done between billionaires. To expose held secrets will have far more drastic consequences than reporting hazing. 

This is not just a campus issue. This is an issue that grows from campus and is perpetuated in the United States.

Though it is daunting, that means change should begin on campus as well.

First, the idea that Greek life is the answer to freshman loneliness should be confronted. Campuses could emphasize student organizations built on shared interests, ones that achieve the same friend group outcomes that many students want from Greek life.

Furthermore, what Greek life means to interested students should be reconsidered.

Joining Greek life is a commitment worth as much thought as possible. Students should be encouraged to think more deeply about what they would get out of the experience, and make a more level-headed judgment with everything in mind.

Reed Mateus is a junior at the University of Louisville majoring in creative writing.

Feature Graphic / Emma Posey