what happens in the house stays in the house

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE HOUSE
STAYS IN THE HOUSE
THE INCULCATION OF VIOLENT HAZING
PRACTICES, LIBERTINISM, MISOGYNY AND
EXTREME SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN A DARTMOUTH
COLLEGE FRATERNITY
WHY “INCULCATION”?
inculcate |inˈkəlˌkāt; ˈinkəl-|
verb [ trans. ]
+ instill (an attitude, idea, or habit) by persistent
instruction : the failures of the churches to inculcate a
sense of moral responsibility.
+ teach (someone) an attitude, idea, or habit by such
instruction : they will try to inculcate you with a respect for
culture.
SUPPOSED INCULCATION OF AN ΣAE
+ “Service and Philanthropy” (actually: virtually nonexistent in ΣAE)
+ “Culture of Respect and Brotherhood”
(actually: piety only to abstruse traditions; hazing and degradation in the
house, competitive disrespect towards other social houses)
+ “The True Gentleman” (actually: a creed taken ironically or mocked;
tradition of snorting cocaine from the house’s opulently framed copy)
+ “Social Gatherings” as per Prof. Hoyt Alverson’s study, drinking to “blow
off steam” (actually: intensely competitive binge drinking culture)
Since these answers ring false, what IS the core fraternity
inculcation?
ACTUAL
INCULCATION
+ Cult-like worship of alcohol and vomit
+ Development of “masculine” bonds through shared
torture, i.e. hazing
+ Creation of purely male-dominated, male-policed space
+ Weekly gatherings (“meetings”) to share sacrament of
Keystone Light and exchange raunchy stories of sexual
conquests, binges, and petty misbehavior
+ Outlet for repressed homoeroticism
+ Effective system of mutual aid for initiating sexual
experiences with women
+ Guild-like tribal association to either aid upward class
mobility or maintain previously acquired class status—literal
feeder network into “the capital class”
THEORY & PRACTICE
+ Primary Group: “a group that serves as the
principal setting through which people achieve a
sense of identity and have that identity
affirmed” (Syrett 9)
+ “Fraternal secrecy thus serves at least two
functions: it elevates its possessors and it protects
them when they break the rules and laws of a given
society—in this case, the college” (Syrett 33)
PLEDGE MEETINGS—
FORGING THE “PRIMARY GROUP”
Pledge
Trainer’s
“Throne”
Forty
beers
(in
rectangle)
for
one
pledge
who
commi@ed
the
grievous
infracCon
of
exiCng
the
house
from
the
front
door;
pledges
must
use
the
back
door
only
SELF-POLICING THE PRIMARY GROUP
+ Inherently exclusive “rush” process
+ Hazing: Bid Night, Sink Night, Feats of
Strength, Pledge Meetings, Milk Meetings,
Vinegar Meetings, Pledgewear, The True
Gentleman, Hell Night
+ PIMPS and RACS: “At times underclassmen
could be marshaled into acting as
pseudoservants for seniors, a practice called
‘fagging’” (Syrett 18)
“PLEDGEWEAR”
“The Catfish is a slut, the Catfish will sleep with anyone, would you like to sleep
with the Catfish?”
WHO LEADS THE INCULCATION?
+ The “Pledge Trainer Salute”: “HAIL great Pledge Trainer sir I bow down before you
and wish you would go away because your presence is a constant reminder of how
truly LOW I am and only through your grace and guidance can I come to deserve the
name WHALESHIT which you have so humbly bestowed upon me and hopefully one
day I will be worthy of becoming a brother of SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON!”
+ “In order to be accepted, welcomed, applauded by others, they have chosen to
act in ways that win these reactions. This understanding of gender is particularly
helpful in this context because it allows for the educational function enacted by
elder fraternity men in their attempts to alter the behavior of their newly initiated
brothers. The performance of gender is not just imitative but also didactic”
(Syrett 8)
SPACE = POWER
“Our
current
house
was
built
in
1933
and
rests
on
the
eastern
side
of
the
Baker/Berry
library.
To
this
day
it
is
the
only
greek
house
on
campus
that
was
built
specifically
for
the
purpose
of
being
a
fraternity's
physical
plant.
It
has
three
floors
that
include
two
singles,
two
doubles,
and
four
triples
and
houses
a
total
of
18
brothers
at
any
given
Gme.
All
the
rooms
are
equipped
with
large
TVs,
Queen
sized
beds,
refrigerators,
desks,
chairs,
and
ethernet
access
among
other
things.
Our
brothers‐only
library
and
study
space
on
the
third
floor
has
three
desktop
computers,
large
mahogany
tables
and
chairs,
and
an
expansive
and
diverse
collecGon
of
books,
textbooks,
encyclopedias,
and
other
references.
Our
house
also
has
its
own
washer,
dryer,
kitchen,
a
cinema
screen
projector
with
surround
sound
in
our
living
room,
and
our
own
wireless
internet
connecGon
separate
from
Dartmouth's
wireless
network.”
(Sigma
Alpha
Epsilon
NH
Alpha
Chapter
Website,
www.dartmouth.edu/~SAE)
IS THERE A CONNECTION BETWEEN SPACE
AND MISGOYNY/SEXUAL VICTIMIZATION?
THESIS ON CONNECTION OF HAZING AND
SEXUAL ASSAULT CULTURES
+ As a pledge, you are hazed, demeaned, and violated in the space of the house—specifically, in the
basement. You are expected to perform acts with which you are not comfortable; in short, you
perform those acts because others are, and because you want to gain social acceptance. Caveat
Emptor is a weak but oft-deployed counterargument against this psychological phenomenon.
+ The space of the house is charged with a mystical/sacred significance. You learn and are told that
as a non-brother (as a pledge you are not considered a full brother), you are worthless: you are
“whaleshit” and “whaleshit sinks to the bottom of the ocean”, “whaleshit is lower than low.” Then
you become a brother and are involved in perpetuating this power structure; you “earn” the privilege
to humiliate and demean others (intriguingly, “whaleshit” is also the name given to junior analysts at
JP Morgan).
+ Thus, an attitude is inculcated that implicitly views non-brothers in the space of the brother’s
victimization as open to victimization themselves—because it is a space where “masculine”
dominance and power are constantly performed—and the space implicitly justifies the reduplication
of this traumatic attitude. In a sense, it is haunted by the sediment of past acts of violation.
+ This loop, I argue, keys directly into the dehumanization of women, not just in attitude but in
practice, in the charged space of the house, especially the basement where partying takes place.
“Meetings”, of which one of the main events is trading hook up stories, also take place in the
basement, subtly justifying it furthermore as a space where the patois is one of thinly-veiled, grossly
sexualized misogyny—even when women are present.
+ Not only do the brothers act out the repressed trauma of their victimization on the pledges, but
they act it out on many/any who enter the space of the trauma itself, specifically women.
WHAT ABOUT
“THE TRUE GENTLEMAN”?
"The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds
from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose
self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make
the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of
his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who
is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble
another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or
boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks
with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy;
whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and
feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well
in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and
virtue safe."
- John Walter Wayland. Virginia, 1899
TENSIONS BETWEEN OFFICIAL AND
UNOFFICIAL FRATERNITY TEXTS
+ Our Dartmouth ΣAE’s pledgebooks and pledge questionnaires are rife with misogyny that
plays a role in perpetuating a grossly sexualized view of women at the College. Brief examples:
“Never settle for less than a three hole girl” -ΣAE ‘11
“My dick is called Inception because you won’t even know when it’s inside of you…wait
what?” -ΣAE ‘13
+ Contrastingly, ΣAE’s handbook, The Phoenix, paints a very antiquated and naïve portrait of
male-female relations in the fraternity house, including a section on “Courtesy With Women”:
“Few would doubt that women are favorably impressed with a young man who ‘appears
well in any company,’ who is sensitive about appropriate behavior, whether in formal or
casual situations […] If she does not want the courtesies or gives you a disparaging look,
rest assured you are doing the proper thing and most will still appreciate it. Regardless,
be willing to adapt and respect her wishes.” (37)
“Few would doubt that women are favorably impressed with
a young man who ‘appears well in any company,’ who is
sensitive about appropriate behavior, whether in formal or
casual situations […] If she does not want the courtesies or
gives you a disparaging look, rest assured you are doing the
proper thing and most will still appreciate it. Regardless, be
willing to adapt and respect her wishes.” (37) MORE UNOFFICIAL TEXTS: DRINKING & DOMING SONGS
“Rigsby’s”
(To the tune of Dartmouth drinking song “Son of a Gun For Beer”)
“From Rigsby’s Road to Finnegan’s Bend we’re gonna get drink tonight,
The faculty’s afraid of us, they know we’re in the right,
So raise your glass, another glass, as high as high can be,
For as long as sex and liquor lasts, there’s gonna be SAE!
“Beta House”
“In the Beta house we sit with our fingers dipped in shit
And our balls are playing checkers on the floor.
When the SAEs walk past,
We stick our fingers up our ass.
I don’t wanna be a Beta Anymore.
Oh! I think I need another drink, I think I need another drink,
I know I need another drink, for the glory of SAE.
I’m an asshole, I’m an asshole,
I’m an asshole ‘til I die.
But I’d rather be an asshole,
Than a Beta Theta Pi.
We are the men of SAE and we don’t give a damn,
We came to school to break the rules and cheat on each exam,
To hell, to hell with Alpha Chi, to hell with Psi U too;
And if you’re not an SAE, to hell, to hell with you!
‘Cause I’m Phi Alpha Born and I’m Phi Alpha Bred,
And when I die I’ll be Phi Alpha dead!
So rah rah Phi Alpha Alpha.
Rah Rah Phi Alpha Alpha,
Rah Rah Phi Alpha Alpha, S-A-E!
Oh! I think I need another drink, I think I need another drink,
I know I need another drink, for the glory of SAE.
Got a Phi Alpha girl in my Phi Alpha bed
And when she goes down
I get Phi Alpha head!
So Rah Rah Phi Alpha Alpha.
Rah Rah Phi Alpha Alpha,
Rah Rah Phi Alpha S-A-E!”
So gather round you women, and listen to our plea
Don’t ever let an SAE an inch above your knee,
For he’ll take you to his cabin, and fill you with whiskey,
And soon you’ll be the mother of a thousand SAES!
Oh! I think I need another drink, I think I need another drink,
I know I need another drink, for the glory of SAE.”
“Airborne Rangers” (Call/Response)
“No there are no Airborne Rangers in KDE/In KDE
No there are no Airborne Rangers in KDE/In KDE
Cause they’re all on their knees,
Begging ‘give it to me please’,
No there are no Airborne Rangers in KDE!”
MONEY = POWER
+ The Dartmouth Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon has an endowment of
well over $1,500,000, in addition to very wealthy alumni and donors,
and has both a sophisticated insurance policy and access to some of
the best legal representation in the country.
+ Dues per term per member are $350 cash for the “social fund”, and
$400 college-billed for the “house fund”— $2,100 to $2,800 total /year
+ When I was a member of the fraternity it spent on average $25,000
per term on alcohol alone—about $100,000 /year
+ Hazing-related alcohol costs are separate, and also in the thousands.
+ Binge drinking affects the decision-making centers of the brain and
fuels a predatory culture of rampant sexuality wherein brothers are
constantly colluding and conspiring to “get each other laid”.
+ However, In my experiences at Sigma Alpha Epsilon, rohypnol and
other date rape drugs were never used or discussed, to the best of my
knowledge
HOW CAN THIS SYSTEM BE REFORMED?
+ First, the College needs to honestly evaluate the physical, emotional, and psychological
health effects of hazing, the molten core of the school’s dysfunctional culture—not solely in its
literal form, but how it bleeds outwards into other behaviors such as sexual assault,
alcoholism, drug abuse, and a culture of classist entitlement.
+ JYK’s argument that withdrawing recognition of the fraternities would drive hazing practices
“underground” was/is fallacious. Perhaps male to male hazing would persist in some form (as
it does on sports teams and in musical groups), but dereifying the power of these fraternity
spaces is, in the interim, the only way to make them safe.
+ Until, of course, a suitable alternative can be devised. If such an alternative is possible, the
only way I’d see it functioning is by making social houses coeducational and highly regulated.
+ Following my membership at SAE, I was also a member of a coeducational undergraduate
society at Dartmouth, Panarchy. Men and women respectfully coexist in Panarchy’s space.
Though binge drinking and drug abuse occur there, those practices are not driven by a highly
organized patriarchal program; they are matters of personal choice. Hazing does not occur in
Panarchy.
+ Sexual assault is significantly less prevalent in coeducational spaces.
+ We do not live in a single sex culture. Fraternities stunt the development of the male psyche
at a particularly vulnerable age, in some cases completely warping young men’s view of
sexuality, power, dominance, and substance abuse.
METHODS TO ACHIEVE REFORM
+ Leveraging the media to create accountability, inform the public (and in some case inform the
administration itself), and provide oversight—like the Rolling Stone article accomplished
+ Direct action: protests, “occupations”, leaflets, alumni petitions, etc. Many alumni, especially
alumnae, oppose the Greek system and are an under-utilized ally in putting pressure on
Parkhurst to undertake the dramatic reforms required to make fraternities safe spaces.
+ Working “within the system”—IFC, Panhell, GLOS, Parkhurst—to alter policy is also an option
(endless committees etc.)
+ However, in some cases, attempting to work within the system is ineffective, as the
stakeholders have too much to lose and thus put PR over people and are occasionally deceptive.
+ I experienced this deceptiveness attempting to work with JYK’s Chief of Staff and fmr. VP of
Alumni Relations David Spalding, who, in so many words, admitted to The Dartmouth that he
essentially tipped off ΣAE that there was going to be a “sting operation” by HPD, advising them
“not to haze” at the same time he was aware that authorities were going to surprise the fraternity
with an investigation of their hazing (<http://thedartmouth.com/2012/01/25/news/hazing>)
+ In the same article, Spalding obfuscates that “he
did
not
recall
seeing
photographic
evidence
of
hazing
in
a
November
2010
meeGng
with
Lohse”,
though
I
had
with
me
a
whole
dossier;
I
vividly
remember
Spalding’s
aghast
facial
expression
as
I
showed
him
the
pictures
and
described
the
hazing
I
and
others
experienced,
and
others
were
planning
for
the
newest
class
of
pledges.
+ If we can’t trust Parkhurst to deal with this problem honestly, whom can we trust?
+ Ourselves—we need to “crowdsource” a solution to this problem if the College won’t take
sufficient action.
PROGNOSIS
+ Those advocating for progressive reform of fraternity
life stand against steep odds: big money, intense
secrecy, centuries of tradition, “institutional pathology”,
and Parkhurst’s aversion to honesty for fear of poor PR.
+ At Dartmouth, the College charged the whistleblower,
and then designed an investigation of 27 ΣAE brothers
that permitted them to all see each other’s answers to
sensitive questions—thus allowing them, with little
difficulty, to corroborate a false story. They were cleared
of their hazing charges.
+ At Cornell, the brothers charged criminally with the
wrongful death of George Desdunes—who was found
dead from alcohol poisoning with his hands and feet
zip-tied after an ΣAE hazing event—were acquitted.
+The prognosis for change is a poor one indeed.
WHEN WILL EVERYONE STOP
DRINKING THE KOOL-AID?