<p>To the OP:
Hazing at Vanderbilt is a reality but a dwindling one. Greek life has changed drastically in my 3 years here. A lot of this coincides with the increasingly strong academics and Vanderbilt’s push upward in the rankings. Since my freshman year, 4 fraternities have been kicked off campus/had their charter revoked. Sig Ep lost their charter freshman year, Phi Kap last year. Phi Delt got kicked off my freshmen year and are back. Phi Psi received 2 years of suspension and will return next year and DKE recently came off of two years of probation. Pi Kappa Alpha will be kicked off campus next year. Currently Kappa Sig, KA, AEPi, Phi Delt, Lambda Chi and ZBT are on probation. ZBT will likely be suspended for a long time due to a hazing incident. ATO just came off 5 months of probation. The school has attempted to water down the fraternity system by pushing for new “unhoused fraternities” which started with the creation of FIJI earlier this year. </p>
<p>Furthermore, school rules regarding pledgeships have changed. My freshmen year, the rules were limited. Granted, the same “rules” regarding hazing were in place (Vanderbilt has a no hazing policy; everything falls under hazing), but it was common to be pledging daily until 3 or 4 in the morning. Starting last year, the school instituted curfews at midnight on week nights and 3 am on Friday and Saturday. Now, as of last week, the Office of Greek Life demanded that pledges get one day of the week off from pledging and now the hours between 11am-4pm are “optional hours” where they don’t have to be pledging. In my opinion it’s a shame. The sleep deprivation was bad, and I’m glad that’s something they’ve worked to change, but many of the new rules cheapen the process and unfortunately for the pledges mean that the older brothers will feel that the new process is not commensurate with what they went through.
Just my opinion, but most of what I stated is a fact.
Feel free to PM if you have any other questions.</p>