O Dear Christian College
Is it sad that this doesn't surprise me at all? I wasn't in a club at ACU, but I knew the kinds of things that went on during pledging and I was always aggravated that some of the clubs -- especially Sub T -- didn't get in trouble for the things they were doing. There was an attitude of "It's all in the name of tradition, besides, boys will be boys" type of attitude on the part of their sponsors and alumni. I really hope they get charged with hazing -- it would be better than some pledge choking to death on his own vomit. I have more to say about this but I'll post it later.
Three social clubs disciplined at Christian college
ABILENE, Texas (AP) < Three Abilene Christian University social clubs have
been disciplined for inappropriate pledging activities, including one
accused of hazing.
The social clubs are similar to Greek fraternities and sororities but are
not nationally affiliated with chapters at other college campuses.
ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said Wednesday his department is
investigating outside reports of hazing at Sub T-16 men¹s social club, but
no pledges have made specific allegations or expressed an interest in filing
criminal charges. Hazing is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas.
The university has suspended all Sub T-16 pledging activities, said Wayne
Barnard, associate provost for student development.
Delta Theta women¹s social club is inactive for the rest of the semester
after its advisers resigned over conflicts with officers about how physical
the pledging activities should be, Barnard said.
Pledging also was suspended for Galaxy men¹s social club after it held an
event that was not approved by the college.
Michelle Morris, vice president for university relations, said the mistakes
of a few clubs or members don¹t represent the values of all groups.
³Social clubs are an integral part of our campus community, and we expect
the officers and members to reflect Christian values in all their
activities,² Morris said in a statement.
<<<
Information from: Abilene Reporter-News, http://www.reporternews.com
Three social clubs disciplined at Christian college
ABILENE, Texas (AP) < Three Abilene Christian University social clubs have
been disciplined for inappropriate pledging activities, including one
accused of hazing.
The social clubs are similar to Greek fraternities and sororities but are
not nationally affiliated with chapters at other college campuses.
ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said Wednesday his department is
investigating outside reports of hazing at Sub T-16 men¹s social club, but
no pledges have made specific allegations or expressed an interest in filing
criminal charges. Hazing is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas.
The university has suspended all Sub T-16 pledging activities, said Wayne
Barnard, associate provost for student development.
Delta Theta women¹s social club is inactive for the rest of the semester
after its advisers resigned over conflicts with officers about how physical
the pledging activities should be, Barnard said.
Pledging also was suspended for Galaxy men¹s social club after it held an
event that was not approved by the college.
Michelle Morris, vice president for university relations, said the mistakes
of a few clubs or members don¹t represent the values of all groups.
³Social clubs are an integral part of our campus community, and we expect
the officers and members to reflect Christian values in all their
activities,² Morris said in a statement.
<<<
Information from: Abilene Reporter-News, http://www.reporternews.com
posted by Deana Nall @ 12:47 PM
14 Comments:
At Thu Oct 13, 02:53:00 PM,
Hoots Musings said…
My daughter is a member of Alpha Kai at ACU, and she said the guidelines against hazing are enforced and the clubs know where the lines are.
Sad some chose to cross them.
Sub T was banned at some Christian colleges, one that I know of for sure.
At Fri Oct 14, 06:45:00 AM,
Jacinda said…
I had read about this as well. Of course, being nosy me, I wanted to read more details about what happened. Maybe you'll find out & post more later?!?!?!
At Fri Oct 14, 09:58:00 AM,
SG said…
My grndfathe was in the original Sub T. My uncle pledged and loved it years later. By the time my cousin got to ACU it was out of control and he ended up de-pledging after a few weeks. Sad to see that heritage go down the tubes.
Siggies were not all that bad during pledging...expect for the mental torture of having to wear nothing but White button-up shirts, long yellow skirts, suntan hose, and white shoes for 6-8 weeks!
At Fri Oct 14, 02:51:00 PM,
Hoots Musings said…
SG,
One of my closest friends in High School was in Sub-T at LCU. It was a good club at one time.
It has been banned at LCU, and I don't think it will be allowed to ever be a club there again.
At Sat Oct 15, 03:06:00 PM,
Deana Nall said…
Jacinda -- I'll post more if I can get an update. The story ran as a news brief in the Houston Chronicle Friday. And this broke just in time for ACU's centennial Homecoming! I worked for ACU for several years and trying to handle PR when this kind of thing happens can be a nightmare.
SG -- I remember my sophomore year, when CP and I were roommates in Sikes, a stressed-out squig knocking on our door one morning. She said, "Do you have any of those really ugly dark brown pantyhose?"
I said, "Umm, I haven't even seen a pair since about 1981."
Nope, never envied the squigs!
One advantage to wearing colors, though. Chad pursued me for an entire year before I decided I would go out with him. He had started pledging GSP and I thought he looked so cute in his tie.
At Sat Oct 15, 05:06:00 PM,
Jacinda said…
As if making us wear the dark hose wasn't bad enough.......we had to wear them with white shoes! ugh! Such a fashion statement!
At Sun Oct 16, 08:46:00 AM,
Kyle said…
I had a friend who was depledged from Sub T because he started getting sick and the Subbers thought that hey would get in trouble if it was found out to be because of him. He pledged GSP that next year and told us horror stories. With that said Gamma sig pledging was no picnic, but it was more like boot camp than anything else. Lot of running.
I hope I'm not crossing some line here. About two years into the club thing and the secrecy started sounding less important, especially since GSP didn't do anything illeagal (at least when I pledged.)
At Mon Oct 17, 08:57:00 AM,
Sarah P said…
Personally, I considered having to wear a yellow skirt that came just down to the point in your calf where you actually look like a "calf" and suntan hose (I didn't even own hose until then, let alone SUNTAN) all the while hearing, "Squig Sarah, where's your pledge pin? Is that gum in your mouth? And what's my name and hometown?" hazing...
Let's just say none of us dated much that semester...
At Tue Oct 18, 01:05:00 PM,
Mark said…
I googled "Galaxy, Abilene Christian University, and hazing" and this is one of the sites it returned -- a little further down the list of course.
Deana, I don't know you, but if you "really hope they get charged with hazing," you might want to rethink that. I certainly hope no one, least of all a college student doing a stupid, but innocent thing gets charged with a class B misdemeanor. Does the behavior need to change? Maybe, but let's learn what happened before jumping to conclusions. This is why we have law enforcement to investigate.
It would be preferable to "some pledge choking to death on his own vomit," but the two aren't an either/or proposition.
At Wed Oct 26, 06:12:00 AM,
Deana Nall said…
Cowboy -- I am entitled to an opinion, and my opinion is that Sub T has been out of control for years. One member told me they were happy when they got kicked off campus because then they could have pledging off campus without any supervision. And it's anything but innocent. Hazing tragedies have happened at other schools, so why wouldn't it happen at ACU? You might be enlightened by looking at www.stophazing.org.
At Mon Oct 31, 01:14:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I was in Sub T-16 at ACU from 90-93 and outside of pledging being physically and mentally tiring, we were never asked to do anything that would put us in harms way. Most of the rumors on campus at that time about our pledging was just that rumors and we all laughed at some of the things we heard we were doing. In my years we were very good in intramurals, almost won Sing Song and had several members go to law and medical school including one that went to Harvard Law. I do know that in recent years it has got out of hand and needs to be reeled in.
At Sat Nov 26, 08:18:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hummm....I'm a little late with this comment. But really in truly, there are worse things happening with students at ACU. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
At Thu Feb 02, 04:29:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Lets just say that, if what I've heard is correct, they're lucky no one died and they're lucky no lawsuits are being brought against Sub-T or the school! Idiots.
And, btw, I went to ACU and was in a social club. Don't recall anything "bad" from years ago but it's obviously gotten out of hand.
At Mon Mar 19, 12:31:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
I was there back then too and was also in subT. Things would always seem to be a little out of hand but not "quite" crossing the line. If someone were gunning for the club they could have had an issue with some of the stuff that happened. Back then I thought it should be tough to make sure we had people with a back bone in the club. I still feel that way now, but it should be done in different ways. For the most part it was all good, sometimes the mob rule would take over, but usually someone would step in and calm it down.
Post a Comment
<< Home