Apparent bigoted fraternity initiation

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Recent accusations and antisemitic occurrences that took place in Fraternity and Sorority Life last week spread across social media platforms and has caused disappointment among the USF community.

Reports surfaced of a Jewish Pi Kappa Phi member having a swastika drawn on his body by the pledgemaster without consent as a part of initiation activities, according to USF Hillel Program Director Sylvie Feinsmith.

She said that while the fraternity responsible has been revealed, the students involved have not been officially or publicly identified.

“Everybody’s passing the buck saying, ‘Oh, it wasn’t us,’” Feinsmith said. “Although there are a lot of people who are corroborating the story.”

Following this act, an anonymous student, believed to be a member of the fraternity, posed as the pledgemaster and posted a hateful and antisemitic message Feb. 16 to GreekRant, a website for fraternity and sorority members to post and rank other organizations.

In a universitywide email sent Tuesday by Dean of Students Danielle McDonald, she said Student Conduct and Ethical Development are investigating both occurrences and will address any problematic behaviors.

A different occurrence involved members of Pi Kappa Phi accusing a member of Sigma Kappa’s Lambda Zeta Chapter of racist behavior.

Upon hearing this, the sorority issued an apology statement via Instagram on Feb. 12, stating the member had been suspended. It was later discovered the claims made by the fraternity were fabricated and false, so the sorority issued another Instagram statement Monday to clarify this.

Pi Kappa Phi also issued an apology via Instagram on Saturday to the sorority member involved as well as the USF community.

The email sent by McDonald addressed this issue as well, requesting students withhold judgements or actions toward anyone accused due to the large cloud of misinformation surrounding the situation.

Elaborating on the ideas of betterment and growth, Feinsmith said the ultimate goal of the investigation is to protect Jewish students and learn from these incidents to improve USF as a whole.

“That’s our goal here. [At] USF Hillel, we’re not in this to admonish someone,” she said. “We’re in this to ensure that our Jewish students feel safe. And frankly, to improve upon the overall culture.”

Fraternity hazing is still practiced in older British schools/Universities and boarding houses.

The idea of initiating freshmen and acolytes is thought to go back to the Romans and free masons, Some of the initiation rites are quite weird.

Many of the prominent establishment in the English speaking world probably were forced to eat sacrificed rabbits, drink out of skulls and chant prayers in pentograms.

The ideas of dark magic/chambers of secrets used in Harry Potter's hogwarts do have some basis in dark practices from the past (probably still practiced in secret now).

Alas the whole thing has become completely out of hand these days where its just an excuse to abuse young kids.

Some traditions are best left in the past. That said if fraternity initiation ceremonies were just a weird little ritual that didn't harm anyone I wouldn't be bothered by it.