<p>I am not a student at USC, but I’m on that campus plenty because I go to games. Also, I am an alumnus of Kappa Alpha Order fraternity which just recently got their charter back at USC. Many of my friends from my undergraduate days were either Theta Chi or Kappa Sigma, both of which have chapters at USC. </p>
<p>Personally, I got hazed plenty during my time in KA. Unlike some people on this thread I am not shy about telling you what happened because I’ve been graduated for some time now and the idiots that took over the chapter after I left lost it because of poor grades. Not like nationals can do anything anyhow. </p>
<p>As many people have already told you hazing occurs in many different ways. We had to answer EVERY phone call the same way “This is Kappa Alpha Order Pledge (insert name).” We were also required to carry a book with us that required signatures from active members and alumni for the carrying out of certain tasks. None of them caused any physical harm to us and, to be honest, looking back on them, they were pretty damn funny. </p>
<p>Group hazing experiences are generally the worst and these can include doing physical training in crappy weather until you get the tenets of your fraternity down pat, drinking nasty crap that makes you throw up, and swimming in nasty environments. Kidnappings can either go really well or really poorly depending on if the active is a complete d*ck or just wants to kill some time. My pledge quarter was definitely humiliating at times, but overall it was an experience that I wouldn’t change for anything. I think I saw 2 pledges quit during my entire 4 years in the Order and I’m not exactly sure they really wanted to join a fraternity anyhow. They thought you just paid money and got to drink. </p>
<p>That being said, I personally love KA and still talk to all of the old alumni. I’ve been to KA houses across the nation and most of them have generally been cool. I don’t know much about the Kappa Alpha Order colony on USC’s campus, but I hear they’re all cool guys. Members of other chapters in the south might have a problem with the “personal dating choices” of some of the members, from what I’ve heard, but, then again, they couldn’t stand our chapter because we outpartied almost every single one of them and did things our own way. </p>
<p>I definitely encourage anyone thinking of joining a fraternity to consider Kappa Alpha Order. They have many rich ties with USC. USC uses the same colors as Kappa Alpha and Robert E. Lee’s (our spiritual founder) horse was named Traveler. Sound familiar? Matter of fact, one of our old pledge excursions was sending them and two actives down to L.A. for a night (paid for by our chapter), put them up in a hotel and made them go to Greek Escape to purchase paddles for their Big Brothers. They could also purchase things for themselves, but they obviously couldn’t be letters. </p>
<p>Find the fit for you, before even attending my university I was friends with Theta Chi’s. I used to attend their parties because I worked with one of them, when I began going to college, I decided that,despite knowing just about every member, Theta Chi and I weren’t a good fit. The guys in Kappa Alpha fit my personality more. I do not regret my decision in the slightest. </p>
<p>BTW, to counteract some of the points made on this thread, many of these hazing rituals performed by fraternities aren’t as secret as they’d like to think they are. If you ask around enough, you can pretty much figure out who hazes and what they do. Hell, the best people to ask ARE the sorority girls. Guys in fraternities LOVE to pillow talk the girls they’re trying to hook up with and brag about what they made their pledges do. I didn’t date sorority girls for this exact reason, trust me, they will ask and ask and ask what the brothers made you do. Hell, some of them will even go through your stuff to see if they can get your pin or your “secret book.” I’m not saying they’re horrible for wanting to know this stuff or being sneaky in trying to find out, but they’re a GREAT source of information when you’re trying to pledge. Actually, some of the Gamma Phi Beta’s and Phi Sigma Sigma girls knew what was gonna happen to us before WE even found out as pledges. They knew that it “swim in the river” night and told us what to wear/bring before we even went to our pledge meetings. Sure enough, they were right. </p>
<p>The worst people to ask are parents, kids rarely tell their parents the embarrassing stuff they had to do, and most parents are under the impression that their kid is in “just the sweetest group of friends ever.” Luckily for us, two of my pledge brother’s dad’s were members of national fraternities. So, they didn’t ask too many questions when were getting home or leaving at all hours of the night dressed very oddly or looking like crap. They knew.</p>