University of Texas student's corpse defaced with anti gay slurs

[injest]

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/gen?guid=20070109/45a32150_3ca6_1552620070109-1712669450

people tell me that when you go off to college you meet much more open minded and accepting people...

[David In Indy]

I've heard about this before Jess. My nephew (who is in his 20's told me about it).

Apparently, these kids begin marking on people who pass out. He told me they will only mark on people who still have their shoes on. If the person takes their shoes off before passing out, they will not mark on him or her. 

We never did anything like this when I was a teenager. Things sure have changed haven't they?

That poor woman. I feel so sorry for her and her family.

[dot-matrix]

Some people's kids! That is obscene and unconscionable behavior.   Makes you wonder what kind of up bringing they've had.   And these are the leaders of tomorrow  Heaven help us all   

[Sheriff Roland]

I am of the belief that, yes, university kids, on the whole, are more open minded than their family members, and I cannot for a minute believe that the people who are leaders of pranks a this kind, will continue ta be leaders as they become older. Peer pressure is still a big factor in explainin what happens in fraternity pranks, and I believe that, as time goes by, the intensity a degrading pranks at fraternity initiations will lessen as the reality/consequences of such behaviour becomes more widely know.

In a world where anti gay slurs is still acceptable, our reactions of disgust at such behaviour is essential if we're hopin ta curb future imitations of similar initiation rites, therefore silence is not an option. I am disgusted, not only at the "acceptable" slurs inflicted on the victim, but also at the "acceptable" degree of alcoholism that has resulted in the death of this young man.

And the fact that this information was suppressed for a year and a half (was it suppressed?) only lessens the impact or our reaction.

Jess, the whole world is not like that - not even all of Texas. This is truly a case a the worse possible case a misjudgement by a few people.

[Kelda]

The whole idea of fraternitys is an ailen concept to me - I still don't really understand it all. A very American thing I guess.

Its not done in Europe - what about the likes of Canada?

[Sheriff Roland]

The whole idea of fraternitys is an ailen concept to me - I still don't really understand it all. A very American thing I guess.

Its not done in Europe - what about the likes of Canada?

T'was some 35 years ago since I was "initiated" in my first year a university. Though there was alcool involved,  it was not a part of the initiation, cause a good many newbies were underage (and since then, the legal age for drinking has gone up {ta 19}, while they have removed one year of high school from the curiculum - so kids are startin university even younger than in my days) - but as I recall, our initiation was related more ta fundraising endeavours - there were no fraternity houses.

I do believe that initiation still exists (seems I heard sumthin on the matter from my nephew), but I couldn't tell ya in what way things might have changed in the past 1/3 of a century.

[delalluvia]

I've heard about this before Jess. My nephew (who is in his 20's told me about it).

Apparently, these kids begin marking on people who pass out. He told me they will only mark on people who still have their shoes on. If the person takes their shoes off before passing out, they will not mark on him or her. 

Yeah, the marks were done before the person died.  It's simply an extension of the 'first person to pass out gets a makeover' stuff I've seen at parties.  Now that was funny.  Men, who were always the heaviest drinkers, would crawl under beds and couches in a vain attempt to escape being made 'pretty' with cosmetics and hair accessories/products.

Such anti-gay slurs...in Texas...at a fraternity...not surprised.  They were young men and as a 16 year old relative told me two weeks ago after I chastized her for using the 'that's so gay' expression, she said she picked it up from being one of three female 'trainers' of the football team.

As for the kid laying there for a day dead...I wouldn't be surprised if that was because the party continued for hours and hours into the next day, then everyone was zoned/hungover/asleep to realize anything was wrong.

Idiots.

[David]

Nothing has changed over time.  Sure,  Frats have "No Hazing" Policies, but they just call the same dangerous stunts "Initiations" not hazing.

Kids still die from alcohol poisoning or other bizzarre stunts.    Just do an internet search.  tons of pics of pledges who pass out and have things written on their faces and bodies.   Straight guys think it is hilarious to write "Cocksucker" on the forehead of another straight pledge.    Or "Insert cock here" with an arrow pointing to the kids ass or mouth.   All to humiliate the guy when he wakes up.

Why is that permissible in School?   Try doing that to a coworker if he naps on his lunch break.  You'd go to jail right after you were fired.

[injest]

it all adds to the atmosphere of oppression..they didn't write "Smart!" "good looking" they wrote the WORST things they could think of "FAG" "I'm gay"...

and this is one of the colleges we are looking at...

[Kelda]

Ah, jess... but at any University you have some Idiots. Y

ou're off spring will of course know better and will socialise with the folk that are actually worth it.

but as I recall, our initiation was related more ta fundraising endeavours - there were no fraternity houses.

Yeah - at uni I was heavily involved in the Uni RAG team - and was involved in a lot of inter college/university events. But fraternitys - naah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAG_%28student_society%29

University RAG societies are student-run charitable fundraising organisations that are widespread in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Many universities about the UK, as well as some in South Africa and The Netherlands have a Rag. In some universities Rags are known as Charity Appeals, Charity Kommittees, or Karnivals, but they all share many of the same attributes, and together raise over a million pounds for charity each year.

Since 2000, students from Maastricht University in The Netherlands also raise money for charity in the Maastricht Rag. And since 2005, also students from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and the Utrecht University organize a Rag.

Origins
It isn't known where the name Rag originates, but it is thought to be from the Victorian era when students took time out of their studies to collect rags to clothe the poor.[citation needed] The verb 'Rag' meant to abuse (humorously) someone, and early Rags collections may have 'ragged' passers-by until they made a donation.[citation needed] In modern times "Rag" has come to stand for "Raise and Give" or "Raising and Giving", although this is a backronym. One story has it that the backronym was coined to convince a manager in a large charity of the value of working with student fundraisers.[citation needed] The first Rag in South Africa was started at the University of Stellenbosch by the male residence Helderberg. In South Africa the name RAG is sometimes thought to stand for "Remember and Give".

Fundraising

Rag Week
Traditionally fundraising activities have centered around an annual Rag Week, in which students would take part in many events (and often perform crazy stunts) to raise money for charity. Often these events are themed such as Warwick's 2005 'Carry on' Theme. In most universities fundraising is now year-round and more professional, although hit squads, naked calendars and kidnapping often still play a role.

Rag Mag
Many people will have heard of Rag primarily because of a 'Rag mag' - a small booklet traditionally filled very un-PC humour sold to the local community during Rag Week. Some university Rags with a strong local tradition still sell their (substantially cleaner and funnier) Rag Mags, whilst others use theirs more as information-tools for new students wanting to know more about Rag.

A number of Rags claim to have published the first ever Rag mags:

Sheffield University Rag's Twikker was first produced in 1925. It is also claimed that Manchester University published the first Rag mag, in 1924. An issue of a Rag mag dating from 1923, called "Goblio", is said to be in the archives of the University of Southampton.

Charity Events and Sponsorship
Charity Events: The society organises and runs many events throughout the year for students and the public alike. The events organised vary from university to university, but typical examples include:

Parties and club nights,
Pub crawls, such as Bath Rag's Roman Romp
"Jailbreaks"
City-wide processions,
Pub Quizzes, such as Warwick's weekly quiz
Duck races
Expeditions
Sponsored bungee jumps and parachute jumps.
Manchester Bogle Stroll.
Sponsored hitch-hikes, such as Sheffield's Bummit.
World Record events such as Whoopee.

Rag Raids
Street Collections: Currently known as 'Raids', collectors go out into the streets in different costumes to collect for a specific charity on any given day with buckets rather than the clipboards. Many Rags also organise week-long 'Tours' over the university holidays in which they will travel from town to town, collecting in each one, and raising thousands of pounds for the beneficiary charity.

Megaraids: A Megaraid is defined as a Raid where more than one Rag is present and in recent years these have been organised on a massive scale by charities with some events taking place consistently for over a decade. Charities which have a developed student fundraising events include Barnardo's, Help the Aged, Meningitis Research Foundation, Kidscan, The Meningitis Trust and Cancer Research UK. All Megaraids tend to include a social aspect and often attract former students who still take part.


Successful Rag Organisations
Most red-brick universities have an active Rag, although some like the University of Nottingham and the University of Birmingham still call themselves 'Carnival', presumably from when organising a student-led Carnival was their main activity. In the early years at the University of York, it was a condition of the funding of the Student Union that there would be no rag week of any kind. The current largest Rag organisation is Karnival from the University of Nottingham who made £567,000 for charity in 2005 [1]. For the 2005/06 academic year it is likely that Loughborough Students' Union's record total of GB£626,147.56[2] will make it the leading UK RAG.