The scenes depicting fraternity pledging in the movie Animal House might be slightly exaggerated, but the intent spelled out by the actions is alive and well in some of the nation’s fraternity houses. Some of the results of these pledgings and hazings have been fatal, and to prevent those “lone wolves” out there from inflicting any more harm on new members, we feel the idea of national pledge banning is one with sound motives and implications.

Fraternity systems have come under fire in the past for many reasons, some of which the Star has reported and some of which have generated strong disagreement from our readers. But now, almost all who have been polled on the issue are in agreement; hazing must go, and education must be considered the main component in the pledge process.

The pledge process was designed to educate perspective members on the values of fraternity life, the history of the fraternity and the positive results one can measure after sharing experiences with other brothers. The idea behind the hazing process is nothing but a very dangerous deviation from the original, well-intentioned plan.

The consumption of mass amounts of alcohol, the physical pain inflicted and the emotional scars left behind after being humiliated in front of your peers are not conducive to a positive life style for anyone. The robust feeling of “Yea man, I drank that sucker until I couldn’t drink any more,” is an immature and asinine sense of accomplishment.

The fraternity system is one of value and it has many good things going for it. As it is with all organizations that have to deal with the changing times, the frat system is exercising public consciousness and good public relations by re-evaluating the pledge process. If all frats would follow the lead of Tau Kappa Epsilon and Zeta Beta Tau, only good things could follow.