Recently, Chun "Michael" Deng, a nineteen year old pledge of Pi Delta Psi at Baruch College died of apparent blunt force trauma to the head during a routine hazing ritual. This ritual, known as "glass ceiling," essentially entails the pledge to be blindfolded, carrying a twenty pound weight, and having to navigate towards a brother calling to them, while other brothers attempt to put hinderances in the pledge's path. Apparently, Deng fell backwards, hitting his head and becoming immediately unconscious and unresponsive. Some fraternity members claim they saw him pushed, but couldn't identify the instigator or be sure that the push was even the cause of the fall as it was dark in their surroundings. Later, three brothers drove Deng to the hospital, where Deng was put in critical condition and put on life support. He died soon after. The fraternity president insists that this was an isolated incident and has disassociated with both the Baruch College branch of the fraternity and any members involved Deng's death. Additionally, the school has made a statement asserting their innocence saying that Deng died during an unsanctioned pledging event and speaking of their "zero tolerance policy regarding hazing."
This is a truly tragic event. My heart goes out to Michael's family and friends as they cope with this loss. Pledging rituals are infamous for injury coming students, which begs the question, why continue them? I understand that tradition is important and meaningful, particularly in a greek setting, but is there no way to modify these traditions to ensure the safely of the participants? Furthermore, in this particular case, the brothers didn't exactly demonstrate a keen ability to discern a fatal situation. The fact that they drove their own car instead of calling an ambulance shows that they were completely out of it and put their brother in more danger. Maybe if they had called for medical attention immediately after the incident, Michael would still be alive. These rituals are dangerous and warrant more restrictions or at the very least a medic nearby.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/justice/new-york-college-fraternity-death/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Personally, I find things like that ridiculous because it is hard to respect tradition if people are dying from it. Especially in modern times we should know better
ReplyDeleteIt's always sad to hear stories like this, especially since he was so young. Most schools have zero-tolerance policies for hazing and just because that's in place doesn't mean you should go off-campus just to haze people.
ReplyDeleteTradition is not always a good thing. Hazing, even when not dangerous, is a barbaric and degrading way to assert power over others.
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