Marching Band Hazing at FAMU

[burgerbob]

None of that where I marched.

We had horror stories from the nineties that no one wanted to repeat.

When everybody is good enough, then there's no reason for hazing.

[Geoff]

As have I. I drank my blood, too.

Shhhhhh...

:)

[Kevin Doherty]

Geoff.

I started marching in 1960, never in DC because of other priorities, I marched in a major college program-also concert band and jazz ensemble Like Bob, I was never hazed because it was unacceptable.

Rather than Shh, we should be exposing this abuse and get it stopped. I hope you were not abused. but if so, I am sorry.

[JimF-LowBari]

Hazing turned one of the best baseball players ever into one of the biggest jerks ever...

Cobb had problems before he got hazed in basball (mother shooting dad for one). But sure it didn't help. And it gave him another reason to hate his team mates.

Yeah put someone thru Hell to become a "brother". Had a roommate in college who spent a hitch in the Army before going to college (how he paid tuition). He pledged until he realized two things:

1) If I wanted some a-hole to order me to do stupid/harmful stuff I would have stayed in the Army.

2) Make pledging a group sound like the most important thing in the world. Tell the guys who were shot at how important being a <place letters here> really is.

Must have been why the XGI (think about it) group had a low opinion of Pledge Week.

Edited May 4, 2012 by JimF-LowBari

[bersurkman]

We enjoyed our "rituals" back in the day. Is there something wrong with a rookie talent show?

How about our "rookie swim"? Once a year after a good rain, we would make the rookies lay down and splash in puddles while singing the corps song.

Is that "hazing"?

Where do you draw the line?

[year1buick]

Geoff.

I started marching in 1960, never in DC because of other priorities, I marched in a major college program-also concert band and jazz ensemble Like Bob, I was never hazed because it was unacceptable.

Rather than Shh, we should be exposing this abuse and get it stopped. I hope you were not abused. but if so, I am sorry.

We weren't abused. (Unless you consider countless hours of tracking--or having to listen to Bob Smith-- as abuse, LOL) Geoff's "shh" was more of a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that a within-the-corps tradition (or rite of passage, you could say) was being discussed on the board. (Hence the "smiley" emoticon of my post as well.) Nothing sinister.

[ranintothedoor]

@ bersurkman: I would consider it hazing when the "rookie/noob/pledge" is forced to do something against his/her will. When I was pledging KKPsi, I opted out of doing an event because I didn't feel comfortable with it, and it was totally understood and accepted. Therefore I didn't think of it as hazing because I had a clear out if it was going to make me uncomfortable. That experience itself cemented for me that I wanted to be a part of the organization.

Traditions become hazing when they are forced upon the initiates or members and there is an atmosphere of compliance-or-else.

[MotoSurfBass]

Is there something wrong with a rookie talent show?

There's no such thing...

[84BDsop]

When everybody is good enough, then there's no reason for hazing.

This.....so much this.

I was never hazed in BD....I got three snuggies, but that was because I earned them, not because it was some rite of passage.

You acted like pros, you got TREATED like pros....simple.

[soccerguy315]

so... if someone is struggling with one of their drill moves, then it is ok to haze them? am I misunderstanding posts 11 and 19?