St. Petersburg Times
Published Thursday, September 14, 2006

A Times EditorialAlthough academic study is central to college life, many students find meaningful experiences in fraternities and sororities. They often meet lifelong friends, business partners and mates. But the initiation, which often involves hazing that student pledges must endure to join these groups, is abusive, sometimes fatal and always indefensible. In 2001, an 18-year-old University of Miami freshman drowned while pledging. In February, Marcus Jones, a Florida A&M University sophomore, was beaten so badly over four days with wooden canes that he had to be hospitalized. His wounds required more than two dozen stitches and a drainage tube, and his left eardrum was ruptured. Other students were alledgedly beaten along with Jones.

Now five of Jones’ “big brothers,” members of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, are headed to court. They are charged with violating the state’s anti-hazing statute, a third-degree felony if serious injury or death occurs. If convicted, they can be sentenced to up to five years in prison. Until last year, when state Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, led the effort that resulted in Florida’s antihazing law, hazing was treated as something of a “boys will be boys” problem that could be handled with disciplinary actions such as expelling the abusers or banning the fraternity from campus for a number of years.

Lawmakers were right to criminalize hazing, because too many students apparently lack the maturity to draw the line between abuse and legitimate tests of the will, endurance and suitability of pledges. If the FAMU five are convicted, their punishment should match their crime as a warning to other would-be abusers. Over the years, university officials nationwide have tried to educate students about the dangers of hazing. The lessons have not reached everyone. Perhaps the prospect of going to prison will get more attention. The college experience should be about learning, having fun and becoming adults. Greek organizations still have a useful role to play in that experience. But the physical abuse of pledges has no place in college life.

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