Thousands of college students will pledge fraternities in search of brotherhood and lasting friendships. But after all of the uproar about the dangers of hazing—is it really worth it?
LGBT ally and eternal heartthrob Nick Jonas stars in Goat, a newly-released movie highlighting the dark side of fraternities, emphasizing how important brotherhood can be for some young men, and the lengths they will go to try and find it. Based on a true story about a 19-year-old who decides to pledge the same fraternity as his brother and goes so far to prove his loyalty that he ends up putting himself in danger, Goat's story isn't so different from many others.
Here's a round up of 5 hazing horror stories that prove just how far some will go to prove they belong.
Warning: Some of these stories are really, really intense.
10 frat members at New Orleans' Tulane University poured a mix of pepper spray, cayenne pepper, and boiling water down the backs of their pledges in 2008. After two of the pledges had to be hospitalized, the 10 frat bros were charged with aggravated second-degree battery and the fraternity was no longer recognized at Tulane.
In 2012, Darthmouth pledges had to swim in a pool filled with an extremely vile mixture of feces, rotten food, and semen. It was even reported that others had to eat vomit omelets. Gag.
A drunk pledge allegedly agreed to allow Kappa Sigma 'brothers' to brand him with the fraternity's greek letters during a ski trip in 2010. He was so drunk that he passed out, but the brothers didn't let that stop them—they branded him one more time, leading to third-degree burns that took the pledge six surgeries to recover from.
4. The Date Rape Party (Trigger warning: Rape)
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's Tau Kappa Epsilon frat was under investigation recently for drugging women with a known date-rape drug at a college party. The police report states that men and women were distinguished from each other using black and red X-marks on their hands, and the women were discouraged from pouring their own drinks. The police report also states one of the victims spoke further about the incident:
"She recalled a fraternity member got upset when she went behind the bar to pour drinks and was physically removed. She also told officers she had a 'weird feeling and sensation prior to blacking out.'"
5. Guns With Blanks
According to a first person account, one night, a bunch of frat guys "got bored" and decided to call over a few pledges to do impromptu crunches and sit-ups. Then, a lone fraternity brother pretending to break into the house marched into the room with a gun to startle the pledges. One of his brothers walked up to him to make sure his gun was only filled with blanks and the guy shot him two times. According to 'B Rad's' account, the two shots killed the bro. The brothers spent the rest of the night finding a place to bury the body and hide the gun and encouraged pledges to join them if they wanted to be "true brothers."
With stories like these, it's no wonder many are growing skeptical of popular fraternity pledging traditions...
Watch the trailer for Goat below, and let us know your thoughts and concerns about hazing and college frat culture in the comments and on Twitter.
