Alpha Tau Omega - University of North Dakota

4 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA D oes the mere mention of the William Tell Overture quicken your pulse, low blood pressure meds notwithstanding? Does the music itself, when again heard, prompt you to begin running in place? For many of us, that stimulating music signaled a rite of passage from pledge to active status. Not so anymore. Hazing or scumming or Hell Week was abandoned decades ago by ΑΤΩ at UND. Even in its heyday, Delta Nu hazing was more about sleep deprivation and bonding. When asked, few alumni of 3000 University could recall alcohol or even discrediting games as being a part of that week of transitioning to active status. Recent unfortunate hazing incidents at Penn State, LSU, and Florida State, all involving binge drinking, have caught the public eye and have cast fraternities in a bad light. Understandably so. At a recent conference hosted at the Big 10 headquarters in Rosemont, Ill., representatives of these same three colleges and many others met to discuss "best practices" for recruitment and pledging. Binge drinking and hazing were top agenda topics. With over 12,000 fraternity and sorority chapters in the U.S. and in excess of 750,000 student chapter members, the goal of the conference was to create a national database, including violations and suspensions, to keep schools and parents better informed. The platform is now being assembled and will be presented to the national fraternities and sororities for acceptance, along with endorsement by the 237-member Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. ΑΤΩ National has long had a very specific policy, which is both adhered to and enforced, and reads as follows: HAZING B17 Hazing is prohibited. The term hazing is hereby defined to mean any or all of the following: Any willful act or practice by a member or pledge, directed against a member or pledge, which, with or wihout intent: (a) Is likely, with reasonable possibility, to cause bodily harm or danger, offensive physical punishment, or disturbing pain. (b) Is likely to: (1) compromise the dignity of a member or pledge, (2) cause embarrassment or shame to a member or pledge in public, (3) cause a member or pledge to be the object of malicious amusement or ridicule, or (4) cause psychological harm or substantial emotional strain. (c) Will, unreasonably or unusually, impair a member's or pledge's academic efforts including, without limitation, depriving him of normal sleep. B18 Any requirement by a member or pledge which compels a member or pledge to participate in any activity which is illegal, which is known by the compelling person to be contrary to a member's or pledge's moral or religious beliefs, or which is contrary to the rules or regulations of the member's or pledge's institution of learning. B19 Any requirement by a member or pledge which compels or encourages a member or pledge to participate in any activity, the nature of which would make such an activity offensive and/or unacceptable to, on unlikely to be engage in by, a prudent man. B20 Any requirement, activity, or action which subjects a member or pledge to degrading, demeaning, or deliberately unpleasant and offensive treatment whether physical or mental. B21 Permission or approval by the person being hazed is not a defense. Stay tuned: more on the ΑΤΩ National policy on alcohol and drugs in our next newsletter. Fraternally, Richard P. Anderson '62 With Apologies to Opera Composer Rossini: Hazing Is No More at Delta Nu T his spring, Delta Nu alumni stepped forward to form a Board of Trustees, which acts as one of the three important pillars of formal alumni support to the active chapter. Along with the alumni board and the house corporation board, the Board of Trustees seeks to enhance the experience of its undergraduate membership and extend ΑΤΩ's legacy of excellence. Our board serves as a counselor for the chapter, advising individual officers regularly. Moving away from the traditional chapter advisor model, our group is intended to separate the many roles of the advisor to both provide more local support for the chapter and a stable advisory group. We want to make participation enjoyable and fulfilling for smoother transitions resulting in a lasting organization. Our primary focus has been forging our group, melding alumni from the '90s through the early teens, and discovering how best to allocate our talents and skills for the benefit of Delta Nu. We have also begun reaching out to the current members individually and as a group to learn about their current housing, scholarship, finances, and membership recruitment. In our initial meetings with our newest brothers, it was apparent that they are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to have a better and more productive relationship with their alumni. Moving forward, we have two important goals: (1) to continue building a board able to successfully advise Delta Nu officers through the many challenges they will face as they strive toward true merit and (2) to thaw relationships between the active membership and our alumni. Strong brotherhood is our tradition and our hope is to continue that legacy by connecting the many generations of Delta Nus. OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW Delta Nu Forms Board of Trustees

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