Author Topic: Four U of VT students charged with Brokeback-related hazing (365.com)  (Read 5242 times)

Offline Lynne

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"(Burlington, Vermont) Four members of a University of Vermont fraternity were charged Monday violating Vermont's new hazing law after pledges were made to dress up as gay cowboys.

The Phi Delta Gamma chapter was suspended last month after the allegations first arose. The four charged are all officers of the fraternity.

Police said that fraternity members required pledges to wear cowboy clothes similar to those worn by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain." The pledges were then allegedly were taunted with homophobic comments.

At least one student complained to campus police.

The charges are the first to be laid under the new Vermont law. 

"We issued tickets for hazing," UVM Police Chief Gary Margolis told WCAX television Monday night.

"It's a civil violation of the state of Vermont, a $1,000 fine. Those were issued to the four officers of the board"

Margolis said underage drinking was also involved.

UVM Vice President Annie Stevens said the fraternity will remains on suspension and its members face possible disciplinary action by the university."


The link is here:

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/05/050806vermont.htm

I'm reassured that the Universisty has policies to handle this and that Vermont even has criminal statues that can be applied...When I think back to my own sorority memories, I could make a long and stupid list, much of which is mitigated by youth, but I cannot think of anything hateful.  I definintely don't find this funny.  Maybe I'm getting old?
-Lynne
"Laß sein. Laß sein."

Offline twistedude

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Don't think anyone finds it funny...gee, Two Crows Joy?
"We're each of us alone, to be sure. What can you do but hold your hand out in the dark?" --"Nine Lives," by Ursula K. Le Guin, from The Wind's Twelve Quarters

Offline Lynne

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Don't think anyone finds it funny...gee, Two Crows Joy?

Julie....not sure I understand the Two Crows Joy reference - I thought I was caught up with my fanfic reading, but maybe not...I'll check it out.  Is it just because that story is set in Vermont?

Vermont is probably one of the most liberal states you're going to find in the U.S., particularly considering the lack of large metropolitan areas.

A point I wanted to make, which I think I fumbled, is just that there's a definite line between what's funny and what is not and that line cerrtainly has some gray areas on both sides which vary with the individual.  Not really having the whole story, I cannot say for sure where this hazing businesss falls for me, but my first reaction wais *not funny*.  On the other hand, the Brokebunny Mountain cartoon had me laughing until I thought I would bust a gut.  I just don't want to lose my sense of humour and perspective on the journey.

-Lynne

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Offline Lynne

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Here's a follow-up article that details the penalties involved for the hazing infractions:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7003507889

-Lynne
"Laß sein. Laß sein."

Offline Aussie Chris

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Am I so out of touch?  I mean I just read this and cracked up:

Vermont's anti-hazing law was passed after a 1999 hazing scandal at UVM in which members of the hockey team were accused of forcing freshman players to drink warm beer until they vomited and march in an "elephant walk'' while holding each other's genitals.

Can't you just see it?  I wonder if they had Mancini's music playing as well?  Maybe it's just me, we don't get a lot of hazing in Australia.

As for the BBM references, well yeah they probably shouldn't be going around taunting each other because that only reinforces more fear and bad behaviour, but I have a little trouble understanding what they did that was offensive to anyone other than the poor sods that were being hazed.  Are people equating hazing with sexual discrimination in this case?
Nothing is as common as the wish to be remarkable - William Shakespeare

TJ

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Two Crows Joy
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2006, 03:12:41 am »
http://www.athamz.com/archives/dec00.html

Crow Lore

One Crow Sorrow
Two Crows Joy
Three Crows a Wedding
Four Crows a Boy
Five crows Silver
Six Crows Gold
Seven Crows a Secret
Never to be told.

<poem contributed by [email protected]>

Crows have in many cultures, been a bird used in divination,
ritual, art and storytelling. They are also the totem animal
for people born in the sign of Libra. The crow was regarded
in many periods as a messenger of death or harbinger of
misfortune; a number are said to have flown around Cicero's
head on the day he was murdered and crows were said to possess
magical powers. This may have something to do with the crow's
cry of 'cras' - the Latin word for 'tomorrow'.
The crow, as "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" puts
it, 'symbolizes contention, discord and strife'. The ravens,
of the crow family, owe part of their sinister reputation to
their odious habit of picking out the eyes of corpses - as
the wicked are warned in Proverbs. It's colour, black,
invested the raven with ideas of darkness, oblivion and
death.
In ancient Greece the raven was an attendant of Apollo.
The Norse people believed that their god Odin possessed
two ravens, which flew around all day collecting information.
In the evening they would perch upon his shoulders, giving
him the latest news they had gathered - a highly economical
form of secret service.
In both the Old and New Testaments the raven figures
frequently, and in Christian history. The ravens fed Elijah,
and St. Benedict is often depicted with a raven at his feet.
It was a raven that brought St. Paul the Hermit a loaf of
bread.
The keeping of ravens at the Tower of London is a strange
tradition, for it is assumed that bad luck will result if they
leave the place. Yet the building itself has so sinister a
history that, far from relieving the all pervading gloom of
the place, some think that the presence of the ravens
heightens it.
A more genial legend persists in the Welsh superstition that
if a blind person is kind to a raven his sight will be
restored. In Cornwall the superstition persists that the soul
of king Arthur took the form of a raven for which reason one of
the species could never be shot. In Brazil a similar belief
exists - it is held that the human soul can inhabit the body of
a raven.
Another pleasant superstition is that crows can bring you good
luck. If you see one flying, your wish will come true as long
as the crow does not flap its wings before going out of sight.
If it should, the wish might still be granted if your cover
your eyes. If the bird is no where in sight when you uncover
them, you'll get your wish.
One curious feature of the behaviour of crows is their seeming
capacity to hold 'courts' at which, by numerous accounts, they
pass judgement and carry out summary execution of such of their
numbers as, for some mysterious reason, they consider deserving
of it. As Edward Stanley, the Victorian naturalist put it:
In the Northern part of Scotland, and in the Faroe Islands,
extraordinary meetings of crows are known to occur. They
collect in great numbers, as if they had all been summoned,
for the occasion; a few of the flock sit with dropping heads,
and the others seem as grave as judges, while others again
are exceedingly active and noisy; in the course of about an
hour they disperse and it is not uncommon, after they have
flown away, to find one or two left dead on the spot.
Another writer (in Dr Edmonston's "Shetland Isles"), says that
these meetings will sometimes continue for a day or two, before
the object, whatever it may be, is complete. Crows continue to
arrive from all quarters during the session. As soon as they
have all arrived, a very general noise ensues, and shortly
after, the whole fall upon one or two individuals, and put them
to death; when this execution has been performed, they quietly
disperse.

Offline 2robots4u

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Re: Four U of VT students charged with Brokeback-related hazing (365.com)
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2006, 09:58:36 pm »
I was surfing this forum and came across this thread.  Interesting, to say the least.  I had heard the crow poem before, but could not recall the lines.

As the crow is used in many cultures as the harbinger of death, I found it extremely interesting that the caw of the crow is the only sound heard in Jack's bedroom scene when Ennis raised the window.