clicked the link. The stories not there now.

What about this story do you disagree with?

Thanks for supplying the direct link, oh wizard of the web! :

That's actually not a bad story.  A lot of good information in it, and it does recognize that the problem is not unique to our alma mater.  However, I stand by my position the way the university administration handled this was too broad brushed and was not done with any sense of proportion. 

As much as I hate to quote someone from the Hell Hole of Ohio, especially this week, this dude had it exactly right:

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said he has no tolerance for hazing that abuses students or anyone else.

He said there is a difference between rites of passages — such as cadets being made to scrub floors or polish shoes at military academies — and hazing that abuses or injures someone.

“Having the snot beat out of them is not a rite of passage,” Gmoser said.

“There’s no place for it, not in Ohio. They can take their fraternal organizations the hell off of these college campuses,” Gmoser said.

I would just amend it to say that his last line doesn't apply to all Greek groups, just those that go beyond the types of "hazing" he refers to at military academies. 

When I posted the link, it was "above the fold" and on the landing page. Like most websites, that changes throughout the day. In the print edition which doesn't change, it's on page one above the fold.

Having worked in public high schools for over 35 years, I can only share what I have heard many times. "My parents won't let me go to OU." Stories in print editions that older folks read only lend to that feeling.

And as for the three sororities, OU closed its investigations "for lack of evidence." Face meet pie.

I'm looking forward to an anti-administration candidate in the student senate election being accused of being a Russian agent.

Lack of evidence? In 2004 they hazed, I saw it, so must be real today.

Did you read the story? The part about the code of silence? It's no surprise that folks suddenly clammed up about incidents. Did you also note that OSU suspended all of its fraternities a few years ago?

I have zero problem with this approach. We owe it to that young man's parents, and, frankly, to all parents who send their kids to Athens, to put these organizations on alert about unacceptable behavior. If my sons were looking for schools today, I'd be MORE inclined to send them to OU knowing that the administration isn't going to put up with this shit.

Read the whole thing and by and large I can't disagree with most of that. That said, perhaps there truly was no evidence and the original charge was false or hearsay. I would however make one big change that Buffalo has done. No pledging first semester. Let the students adjust to college, make friends and begin to figure out what college is supposed to be about. Pledging in the first month or too often does not allow that to happen and young impressionable 18 and 19 year olds get caught up in group think.

And let me be perfectly clear - hazing in fthe form of alcohol abuse, drug use, physical or mental harm is not something that I support or would tolerate. Never have and never will. That said, pledges answering the phone (if there still is a house phone), doing weekly cleanup duty, raking the house leaves and mowing the grass because they are pledges is not hazing to me (I'm sure there are other things that could be included in that list).

How is it that the stat of 80 students dead from fraternity hazing system in the last 15 years not something we are seeing as a major issue?

From the article:

"In the last 15 years, 80 college students have died in connection with the Greek system, according to Hank Nuwer, a professor at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana, near Indianapolis. He tracks hazing deaths and wrote the book “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives.”

Nuwer’s research shows that at least one student has died from hazing-related activity every year since 1959."

This is not an OHIO issue as much as an American university issue. Imagine if 80 college football players (or any sport) had died in the last 15 years from injuries related to the game. It's hard to fathom that the sport would be allowed to continue at the collegiate level.

I was relatively indifferent to the suspension of the fraternities. But a statistic like this makes me think that a serious message needs to be sent. Make them all re-evaluate their practices. Make the university re-evaluate their relationship with them.

Also relevant on the national stage (looking east toward Washington, DC).

From a professor of journalism, no less.