SATIRE: Fraternity faces backlash after refusing to haze
Members speak out after house hosts potluck in yard, carnival for underprivileged children
August 21, 2019
Allegations have surfaced of questionable activities in WSU’s Gamma Gamma Gamma fraternity.
Several pledges reported incidents to Student Conduct of fraternity members partaking in respectable, gentlemanly conduct, resulting in an investigation of the fraternity.
This includes playing beach volleyball in the yard, hosting an annual carnival for underprivileged children and welcoming new recruits with a potluck featuring homemade dishes made by each of the members.
“I’m concerned about the possibility of hazing in the future,” pledge Garth Yeats said. “When are we gonna get to it? I didn’t join to be treated with respect. Respect is for women!”
Yeats said he found the commendable behavior in Gamma Gamma Gamma unnerving, causing him to file a report to Student Conduct.
According to the report, Yeats did not feel comfortable with the activities occurring in the fraternity and that Tri-Gamma was not living up to his expectations, according to documents obtained from the investigation.
This was not the first complaint, as four other pledges had already filed similar reports.
Student Conduct then spoke with fraternity president Brent Mavins to determine the cause of the pledges’ discomfort.
Mavins willingly agreed to a full interview as well as a house tour and open doors to the press.
“You could ask any of my brothers, and I’d bet 80 percent of them don’t know what hazing even is,” Mavins said. “I think a few of them didn’t even go through anti-hazing training. They just know not to assault people, I guess, even if they don’t have a specific definition for it.”
Mavins said he was confused about why pledges were upset over the lack of hazing, but said he was happy to get publicity for Gamma Gamma Gamma.
He said his fraternity usually gets lost in the waves of misconduct reports from other houses.
“We all just get a kick out of being nice guys,” he said. “If incoming freshman pledges want to be hazed, they have plenty of other options.”
Junior member Pedro Greenfield said he’d been wary of the frat’s tendency toward kindness and brotherhood but warmed up to it over time.
He told Student Conduct the reports filed by the new pledges were nothing to be concerned about.
“I almost did the same thing when I was a pledge,” Greenfield said. “But over time, I realized something kind of crazy — you don’t have to abuse people to measure their willingness to be in the frat.”