It makes us somewhat sad to announce that the famous Dartmouth Alpha Delta fraternity is will officially be derecognized on April 20th, as reported by TheDartmouth.com. Less than 30 days ago we revealed that Dartmouth students had been whispering about allegations of pledge branding, and it looks like those allegations carried enough weight to shut the fraternity down.
From the announcement:
“Allegations of branding were first reported in national news sites in late March, prompting the College confirm its extension of the fraternity’s suspension, which was due to expire this term. College spokesperson Justin Anderson highlighted a three-year history of disciplinary violations – including hazing, serving alcohol to minors and hosting unregistered parties – along with the announcement of the extension, while AD attorney George Ostler labeled the branding “self-expression” and denied that it constituted hazing. The fraternity’s suspension began last September in relation to incidents during the winter and spring of 2014.”
In our opinion, there is no room for the type of hazing that requires a hot brand to burn someone’s skin. That’s what people do to animals. And while there’s obviously a history of branding within fraternities–historically black fraternities still practice this–that doesn’t make it alright.
That being said, how about the size of the balls on the Alpha Delta lawyers?
“An attorney for Alpha Delta has defended the branding as a form of ‘self-expression’ similar to tattoos or body piercings. The frat said the branding was ‘not organizational’ and neither caused harm nor violated the terms of the previous suspension. The college said it did not find the frat’s arguments compelling.”
That’s exactly the kind of argument that Hoover, Otter, Bluto, and Stratton would have made.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROxvT8KKdFw&w=640]
