I should start off this piece with the disclaimer that I am a confirmed non-joiner. I have never liked organizations for a variety of reasons, and whenever I violated this personal code, and did join one, I truly regretted it.

That being said, we turn now to the subject of college fraternities-- Greek organizations, if you will.

The oldest social fraternity still in existence as such, in the United States, is Kappa Alpha, dating from 1825. The honorary society, Phi Beta Kappa, started out as a social fraternity at William and Mary college, Williamsburg, Virginia, way back in 1776. So, this is certainly nothing new.

The original purpose of fraternities was to create an immediate social support system for young men far away from home. But, given human nature, it didn't take very long for them to become cliques. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose. After all, people DO like hanging out with those similar to themselves.

Somewhere along the line, though, fraternities began to adopt rite of passage rituals that are far more in keeping with secret societies and military units. Today, these rituals are called "hazing."

Even a casual literature search will yield hundreds of articles relating hazing abuses, and disciplinary action that has been taken against local fraternity chapters. Occasionally, these abuses go beyond the limits of "boys will be boys" good clean fun. I cite but two examples from a large and sorry record.

In 1998, Marcus Polk, a sophomore majoring in computer science at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore (UMES), needed major surgery to reconstruct parts of his buttocks, where so many of the blood vessels were ruptured that he had developed gangrene. According to police, he was one of five UMES students hospitalized after a Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity paddling ritual that went on for eight weeks.

In 1995, a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was required to stand next to what was described as a "blazing fire" with bare legs at a Sigma Alpha Epsilon pledging event. He received treatment for second and third-degree burns, and required skin grafts.

While relatively rare, lawsuits against host universities or the frat's national headquarters have also occurred.

Just last week, the Seattle Times ran a feature story on John LaDuca, freshman at the University of Washington, who committed suicide after SUCCESSFULLY completing a rigorous pledging ritual, at Delta Kappa Epsilon in January, 1998. A few months later, his parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the fraternity.

The Times article went into exquisite detail about the "Hell Week" abuses, most of which were just stupid and annoying, rather than dangerous. I have little doubt that poor LaDuca was a time bomb waiting to explode, and at most, the hazing experience was the final straw.

Regarding those parts of the rituals that are sadistic and homoerotic, it would be well to ask how little self-esteem someone might have, who would be willing to take or dish out such punishment.

Boot camp and football practice hell weeks can at least point to a purpose for their existence. But, a fraternity?

What might be at work here is an odd conceit, similar to a phenomenon I observed as a student. Those of us who attended college in the 1960's remember that the attire--work shirts, boots, jeans--sported by the English, History, and Philosophy professors seemed to be the exact opposite of what their calling might require. If any one of them would have had the inclination or ability to actually perform physical labor, it would have been a scoop.

Likewise, the fraternities, with their best days far behind them, appropriate and then distort rituals, that are a part of traditions foreign to most of their members.

As Sam Goldwyn once said, "Include me out."