Bradley University sororities attended an anti-hazing event on Sunday night, which began to open their eyes to the reality of hazing and reinforce the anti-hazing efforts on campus.
Bradley’s Panhellenic Council hosted an event which encompassed a presentation from the National Interfraternity Council titled “Love, Mom and Dad.” In this presentation, three families of hazing victims spoke to students nationwide via Zoom.
Senior and Panhellenic Director of Programming Rachel Becker, who organized the event, said she wanted attendees to “look at the brighter side.” In order to accomplish her goal of lightening the subject, she included an ice breaker to start the conversation about hazing as well as a game of Kahoot regarding Bradley Greek life.
Once the more lighthearted aspects of the event were complete, families of hazing victims told their stories via a Zoom broadcast. Parents of Harrison Kowiak, Max Gruver and Tim Piazza informed viewers of their children’s deaths related to fraternity hazing as well as how they could have been prevented.
Rachel Becker believes that these stories will raise a greater conversation and more awareness about the topic, as well as make Bradley Greek community members more comfortable speaking up when they are informed of a hazing incident. She said “I am hoping that the audience gets the emotional pain that comes with deaths from hazing.”
Event attendee and sorority member Tatyana Pacheco explained that after attending this program, she believes that she should be more aware of potentially harmful situations during Greek Life events and do her best to ensure that everyone is as comfortable as possible. Both Becker and the parent speakers during the Zoom broadcast hoped for participants to react in a similar manner as Pacheco.
Pacheco explained that Bradley has a strict anti-hazing policy. There are punishments in place for those who are found guilty of hazing at the university. Becker mentioned, “Bradley Greek life makes their rounds during social exchanges to make sure there are people following the rules and not hazing.” Despite these efforts, Becker believes the Bradley Greek community could be doing more.
Pacheco said, “The change honestly has to come from the people. Like they mentioned during the meeting, you have to continue to talk about it.” She also stated that she wished the event included fraternity members in the audience so that they begin to make a change as well.
Through this event, Bradley’s Panhellenic Council hopes to make a larger impact towards the efforts to end hazing.