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“In the Fell Clutch of Circumstance” 437 437 16 “In the Fell Clutch of Circumstance” Pledging and the Black Greek Experience Gregory S. Parks and Tamara L. Brown Despite their long history of civic involvement, community service, and philanthropy , what most people know about black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs) is limited to two areas: stepping and pledging, particularly those mentally and physically violent aspects of the latter known as hazing. Without question, pledging has become a contentious issue for both BGLO members and nonmembers alike. In this chapter, we set out to shed light on this topic by first tracing the history of pledging in general and within BGLOs in particular. Next, we highlight the long-standing concern about, and opposition to, pledging , particularly its more violent aspects. We then turn our attention to the various factors that undergird and propel pledging. Finally, we conclude by providing what we believe are some necessary remedies for the current state of pledging and hazing within BGLOs,some of which depart markedly from what has been proposed by others. The History of Pledging Pledging, like other aspects of BGLO history and tradition, has multiple origins .As notedby other authors in this volume—most notably Gloria Dickinson, Carol Branch, and Sandra Posey—various elements of the pledge process have ties to African antiquity. Given their thorough treatment of this topic, we will not reiterate that history here. However, other historical aspects of the pledge process can be traced, at least in part, to European roots and traditions that are unique to BGLO culture. These aspects are the focus of this section. Hank Nuwer provides a detailed account of pledging and its early, European origins, noting that the hazing component has existed for centuries.1 According to Plato, founder of theAcademy2 in 387 B.C.,the“savagery”of young brownchap16.pmd 1/11/2005, 4:05 PM 437 438 Gregory S. Parks and Tamara L. Brown boys was likened to “acts of ferocious beasts.” During that period, hazing was also an issue in other centers of learning, such as Athens,Berytus,and Carthage. In the sixth century, Byzantine emperor Justinian I outlawed the practice of hazing among first-year law students, but by the twelfth century, hazing was rooted firmly in the halls of European academe. During the Middle Ages, hazing was a common occurrence among male university students,who saw themselves as possessed of a culture of honor. Members of such a culture felt compelled not only to perform acts of kindness to repay good done to them but also to reciprocate for the bad done to them. It was not until the thirteenth century that the term university came into use. Prior to that time, learning institutions in many parts of Europe were termed stadium generale.3 The balance of power at these early institutions rested in the hands of student guilds, which were called universities. Once students allowed teachers to determine which candidates would gain admittance to the teaching profession through licensure, the balance of power shifted. Educators formed their own guilds, and learning institutions came under church dominance and professional administration, further eroding student power. After the rise of universities in western Europe, academic institutions sought to raise institutional standards and prevent charlatans from passing themselves off as scholars. They took on some of the practices of guilds by demanding evidence of scholarship before deeming a prospective teacherqualified . Consequently, these budding scholars endured years of training and were often subjected to hazing by their superiors. Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, boys who attended these institutions of learning also had to submit to hazing, but at the hands of older students. As older students routinely hazed newcomers, the practice became ritualized,and as scholars moved from one school to the next, they took these rituals with them. During the Middle Ages, hazing became a way to teach new students the pecking order and institutional customs.4 Students were humiliated and made to be submissive. At Avignon (France), first-year students were “hit with a wooden object,” while a book or frying pan was used on those at the University of Aix (France). In the fourteenth century, first-year students at the University of Heidelberg (Germany) were forced to don caps with yellow bills. Occasionally, the caps were fitted with horns and animal ears, which were later sawed or pulled off. Older students were also known to extort money from younger students during this period. In medieval England, younger students were often...

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