Fraternity Under Hazing Investigation for “Stab Pledges Repeatedly Night”
Shockwaves were sent through Texas A&M’s Greek community on Monday, after fraternity Eta Alpha Zeta was put under investigation for hazing. The allegations began following the fraternity’s annual “Stab Pledges Repeatedly Night”.
The ceremony, where freshman are held down and stabbed with anything from sewing needles to broadswords, is held annually to initiate pledges into the fraternity. Eta Alpha Zeta Vice President and senior physics major Tanner Richardson made an official statement defending the ceremony on Tuesday morning.
“This tradition is the cornerstone of a pledge class’s brotherhood and unity. I remember my Stab Pledges Repeatedly Night. Yes, it was difficult to have five inches of cold steel plunged into my stomach, causing me so much pain that my only hope was for death’s sweet, merciful embrace. Today, however, it is one of my fondest memories with my pledge brothers.”
Legal representatives of Eta Alpha Zeta have contested that the tradition is not dangerous for their pledges, as it was standard practice to close any gash with a sewing kit or office stapler soon after it was created. The fraternity also argued that the tradition is entirely optional, and that all pledges volunteer to be held down and stabbed, while their screams are muffled. All pledges have declined to comment on the validity of these claims.
Sophomore political science major and Eta Alpha Zeta member Charles Millwood spoke to the Mugdown about his experiences with the ceremony.
“It was, without a doubt, the moment that changed me from a boy to a man, and I knew from then on that I was an Eta Alpha Zeta. When I see that jagged scar on my body, just like my father’s and his father’s, I feel a sense of brotherhood that flows through generations. I felt truly honored to give that same experience to my pledges this year when I plunged a steak knife into their torsos.”
Critics of the investigation claim that the administration is being hypocritical by allowing members of the Corps of Cadets to yell and force physical exercise, while also condemning Fraternity members for plunging hot, sharpened pieces of metal into their pledges for entertainment.
At this time the Student Conduct Office is waiting for more evidence— or for Eta Alpha Zeta alumni to cease donations— before it progresses with the investigation.
—Space Cadet
Space Cadet, oh, sweet, innocent, naive Space Cadet. Describing Space Cadet is difficult, but we will attempt to do him justice. Imagine a 120-pound, pale, 5’9, glasses-wearing, engineering Corps fish, that dreams of flying to the moon (though he would never pass that flight physical). Space Cadet spends his free time playing obscure card games and watching the live stream of the International Space Station.