# Experiences with and opinions on hazing

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-and-opinions-on-hazing/37314>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 17, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-and-opinions-on-hazing/37314 "2000-10-17T20:51:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/experiences-with-and-opinions-on-hazing/37314/1 "2000-10-17T20:51:38Z")

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I’m not sure if this is the right forum, but I’m curious as to people’s opinions of high school and college hazing, and  
any experiences they might have had, whether as hazer or hazee. Was it voluntary association based, as when joining a fraternity or other club, or was it status based, like when freshmen get harrassed generally, just for being freshmen?

What do you think qualifies as hazing? The closest thing to it I encountered wasn’t until my junior year in college, when I was pledging a non-greek quasi-fraternal club. We pledges had to call the actives “Future brother, sir!”, and were also subjected to a demerit system, which was however  
hardly enforced. Supposedly also you could get blackballed  
by two active members, though no one in my group was. When  
the next batch came along, I was an active member and had the upper hand. But because of the very mild nature of all  
this I hesitate to compare it with honest-to-God hazing, as when pledges (or underclassmen) are driven miles out into the country and left to find their own way home, beating,  
forced-drinking, and so on.

Any comments?