According to a Northwestern University student, sorority recruitment is hazing because sometimes the girls participating get stressed out and/or cold.
In a piece for the Daily Northwestern, Cate Ettinger explains that the Student Code of Conduct defines hazing as anything that “intentionally or unintentionally” creates “mental, physical, or emotional discomfort . . . for the purpose of initiation into . . . [an organization]” — and that, “as evidenced by the mental, physical and emotional discomfort [she] witnessed” during recruitment, the process definitely qualifies.
“I saw women doubt themselves and be overcome with anxiety; I saw women standing in the snow in heels and dresses, bouncing to stay warm; and I saw the strongest women I know break down and drop out of the process,” she writes.
Question . . . what exactly is her solution to this? For example: If, as she says, girls’ having to stand in cold weather before entering houses is “hazing” because the cold weather is uncomfortable, what does she want the school to do about it? Tell the weather to make itself warmer?
#share#Of course, it’s not clear what she is suggesting, because all she does throughout the piece whine:
“We stand in the snow, freezing, waiting for hours of psychological distress, wondering why the girls at one house didn’t like us enough to call us back and hoping that we are contorting ourselves enough to impress them,” she continues. “Hazing is the ugly reality.”
#related#Hey, Ettinger? How’s this this for an “ugly reality”: Life is going to be full of people who don’t call you back — especially when you’re writing something as ridiculous as this. Wondering if people like you or not is not “psychological distress,” it’s a normal life experience that most people go through every single day — whether they’re rushing or not — and most actually manage to handle it just fine.
Amazing, I know. But I have faith in you, Ettinger. You can do it! Even if you get kind of cold in the process.