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In the wake of a college drum major’s death in Florida, a lawmaker from the state plans to introduce anti-hazing legislation when Congress returns in mid-January.

The bill would strip financial aid from anyone sanctioned by a university for hazing or witnessing hazing and failing to report it – including the victim, said Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson.

“Hazing is demeaning, dangerous and, sadly, deadly,” Wilson, a former school principal, told the Los Angeles Times, adding that the death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion warrants a federal response.

Florida has toughened the penalties against hazing, but Wilson said in an interview that, under her proposal, if anyone witnesses hazing – “including the victim, they will tell because they don’t want to lose their federal aid.”

Florida officials have ruled Champion’s death in November a homicide. The incident has drawn national attention and generated soul-searching on college campuses throughout the country.

Wilson, who has yet to draft the legislation, said she also wants the U.S. attorney general to set up a commission to examine ways to stamp out hazing.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2005 signed legislation making hazing that results in serious injury or death a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, even if the victim consents. The bill, the Chad Meredith Act, was named after a University of Miami freshman who drowned in a campus lake while trying to join a fraternity in 2001.

Wilson said that, notwithstanding the new law, “we have had a plethora of hazing incidents,” but prosecutions have been difficult because “you can’t find any victims to talk.”

“We’ve got to take a tougher stance,” added Wilson, who said that she became known as the “haze buster” while serving as South Atlantic regional director for the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. “It’s time to stop it.”

Congress has been considering legislation aimed at bullying, including requiring states to report bulling incidents and expanding programs for teachers, administrators and counselors on strategies to prevent bullying and harassment.

In November 2010, I watched “HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” and saw a piece on the hazing antics at several historically black colleges and fraternities. I took to Twitter to share my thoughts on the issue.

Much of the report focused on Southern University, and man, did the floodgates open as a number of students from the university angrily tweeted me back, cussing, yelling and screaming, with some defending hazing, while others were angry at the national attention focused on their university.

For hours we went round and round, and were joined in the discussion by members of several black fraternities, including my own Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. A number of these individuals actually supported hazing, or “pledging hard” and not becoming a “paper” member who “skated” into the fraternity.

Despite the anger and vitriol, I refused to back down, making it clear that getting beaten for being in a band or fraternity was absolutely dumb.

Here was a young man who went off to college, planning to earn a college degree while leading one of the nation’s most colorful and exciting bands, only to be returned home to his parents in Georgia in a coffin.

While hazing immediately was suspected, we could only speculate about the cause of the 26-year-old’s death. That is, until Friday, when the medical examiner released details of his autopsy, concluding that Champion “collapsed and died within an hour of a hazing incident during which he suffered multiple blunt trauma blows to his body.”

News of the death has rocked the Florida A&M campus, angering its students and alumni, triggering multiple state investigations and leading Gov. Rick Scott to call for the suspension of school President James Ammons. That prompted FAMU students to march to the governor’s mansion on Friday and camp out on his lawn, demanding he rescind the resignation call.

Champion’s death isn’t the first time we have seen individuals in a band or fraternity die. It is incredible that some folks have given their lives — literally — for just being a part of a student group.

State laws have been passed, organizations have been kicked off campuses and national fraternal and sorority groups have paid millions in settlements because of hazing, but we continue to see these stories.

“Why?” is a consistent question that is asked, and at the end of the day, it boils down to power and a desire to demand others kowtow to someone else’s demands in order for them to be accepted.

A decision not to follow through means you can be ostracized, ignored and marginalized. That’s the last thing any young person wants to experience when in an organization.

Every one of these organizations is overseen by adult leaders or advisers. But in truth, fellow students run the show. Normally in a band, a drum major sits at the top of the food chain, but Champion clearly had to bend to the band’s culture to be fully accepted as a member of FAMU’s “Marching 100.”

So what you have is a bunch of students between the ages of 18 and 22 calling the shots and making it clear who is accepted and who isn’t, who gets in and who doesn’t. You aim to please them and no one else. Oftentimes they are leading based on how they were led, and it has been indoctrinated into them that this is the way of life, take it or leave it.

These are powerful forces that can only be changed by peers. Hazing will only be brought to a close when members of organizations make it clear the vile hazing traditions will not go forward. No one today can be hazed if the student leaders make it clear that it’s unacceptable. Yet because of the natural turnover in student organizations, that mindset has to be created and passed on for it to succeed.

When I was about to pledge Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. in spring 1989, I met with my four other pledge brothers and made it clear: I’m not getting hit, I will never use alcohol and I will not agree to be hazed.

Even though my older brother pledged the same fraternity at Texas A&M two years earlier without any nonsense, I was making it clear that such shenanigans were idiotic. All five of us agreed and in the four weeks, two days, 16 hours, 38 minutes and 39 seconds I was on line (yea, having to recite such specifics was a part of our process), the behavior that we often heard was associated with pledging didn’t exist.

Yet because of that, we weren’t always as accepted by other fraternity members at other campuses. Our chapter was called soft; we were criticized as not “pledging the right way” and had to constantly defend our manhood.

Me, I didn’t give a damn. I would look others in the eye and say, “In the history of our chapter, only one brother has failed to graduate, and we do nothing with him. Are you guys on the six- or seven-year plan, and can you match our graduate rate?”

From my perspective, we were supposed to be in college to graduate, not to pledge. And if my fraternity was founded as a study group at Cornell University on December 4, 1906, why would we eschew academics?

Even though we pledged the right way at Texas A&M, that peer pressure was still unbearable for some. That summer at our national convention in San Antonio, hazing was on the agenda, and I made it clear I was going to speak. Some other brothers in my chapter pulled my coattails and said, “Don’t tell the brothers you didn’t take any wood (that’s being paddled).”

I yelled, “If we pledged brothers the right way, why in the hell are we afraid to say it?”

Since those days, I’ve never wavered from my anti-hazing position. It is deplorable and shameful to think that someone would beat another person for them to prove something. Prove what? They can take a punch? No. I prefer to challenge his mind, his intellect.

Our goal as fraternity men is to take young men and mold and shape them to be better men. It is not our aim to take young men and train them to be collegiate mercenaries, hellbent on inflicting as much pain as they got onto the first person they have control over.

Is there tremendous value in fraternities, sororities, bands and student organizations? Absolutely. The leadership opportunities are tremendous, and the lifelong relationships are vital.

But what has to be preached and preached and preached to every student, whether they are white, black, Asian, Latino, male or female, is that if they love that frat, sorority, drill team or band, they shouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it for the next person.

Do we need tougher hazing laws? Yes. Do we need universities to take punitive action, including kicking students out who break the rules? Yes. Do we need national organizations to ban chapters for years for egregious behavior? Absolutely. Should fellow student leaders turn in others who break the rules and haze? Of course. There must be a zero tolerance attitude from every state official, administrator, student leader and organization member. To hell with tradition, rituals and “the way we do things.” All that must end. Now.

But we also must raise a generation of young people who have enough confidence in themselves to say, “I will not take a beating just to be accepted by you. I’d rather not have your affection or support if it means putting my life on the line.”

And if that means other students calling you out or teasing you, fine. I’d rather you talk about me like a dog today than be hazed and have my friends search to figure out what to say at my funeral.

It is time to remit dues for fiscal year (FY) 2012!  NPHC, Inc. operates on a fiscal calendar of January 1 to December 31. Annual dues are to be remitted by January 31 of a given fiscal year.

Undergraduate councils are responsible for dues in the amount of $150, Graduate councils with 1-9 Chapters in the amount of $250,  Graduate Councils with 10-19 Chapters in the amount of $300, Graduate Councils with 20-29 Chapters in the amount of  $350.00, and  Graduate Councils  with 30+ Chapters in the amount of $450.

Members remitting dues after February 15 must include a $25 late fee with annual dues. (1) If a council has not been financial in the previous fiscal year that council is responsible for remitting dues for the previous and current year, as well as a $50 reactivation fee (Ex. Undergrad councils = $350.00; Graduate Councils with 1-9 Chapters = $550.00; Graduate Councils with 10-19 Chapters = $650.00;Graduate Councils with 20-29 Chapters = $750.00;Graduate Councils  with 30+ Chapters = $850.00); and (2) if a council has not been financially active within a five year time period, that council must be re-chartered.

Again, you are advised not to wait until the last minute to remit your dues.  Should you have questions or concerns as to your council’s financial status and/or account balance, please contact NPHC National Treasurer at  treasurer@nphchq.org.

Attached is the link to the remittance form http://www.nphchq.org/docs/2012Remittanceonline.doc

Also use this link if you would like to remit payment online  http://nphccouncildues.eventbrite.com

The National Pan-Hellenic Council of Marquette University Presents The 2012 Brew City Stomp Down Step Show Sponsored By City Year Milwaukee

On Saturday, February 4, 2012, the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Marquette University once again brings you Wisconsin’s largest step show- and this time it’s BETTER THAN EVER. Featuring the organizations of the Divine Nine: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho, and Iota Phi Theta.

With a special guest host, music by Marquette’s very own DJ Poizon Ivy, and the most talented, most LIVE step crews from across the Midwest all on the Riverside Theater stage, the 2012 Brew City Stomp Down Step Show is sure to be one show you don’t want to miss.

Tickets will be available beginning Friday, December 9, 2011 at noon. General admission tickets are $20 (+ taxes and applicable fees). Tickets can be purchased online at www.pabsttheater.org/show/2012BrewCityStompDown, in person at either the Riverside Theater box office (116 West Wisconsin Avenue) or Pabst Theater Box Office (144 E. Wells Street) Monday through Friday from noon until 6:30pm, or through the box office by calling 414-286-3663.

Like in previous years, this event is guaranteed to sellout- plan to get your tickets early! For the latest updates on the show be sure to follow us on twitter: @brewcitystomp.

Please direct any questions or concerns to brewcitystompdown@gmail.com.

Lincoln University students are mourning the loss of one of their own.

One student is dead and two others injured after a car crash on Friday, according to the Daily Local. The accident happened around 9:35 p.m. at Lincoln’s campus in Lower Oxford, Pa. The Daily Local reports the three students were inside a 2004 Chevrolet Impala which traveled across the road and into a tree off Ashmun Avenue near Dickey Lane.

The car burst into flames, killing passenger Anthony Washington, 21, of Forest Hills, New York. Driver Phillip Tomsic, 21, of Grand Junction, Michigan and passenger Kadeem Fulmore, 21, of Rochester, New York were taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center with severe injuries.

Police credit Lincoln University students for helping to save the lives of Tomsic and Fulmore. The Daily Local reports that students used fire extinguishers from their dorms to control the flames. By the time firefighters arrived, they say the car fire was almost out.

Washington was a business major, president of the school’s Iota Phi Theta fraternity and named “Mr. Legacy” for the school’s homecoming court, according to the Daily Local. All three victims were seniors scheduled to graduate in May. The Daily Local reports their families have been notified.

Students visited the school’s chapel for counseling. Plans for a school memorial service will be announced on Monday, according to the Daily Local.

State police say it appears that all three students were not wearing seat belts, according to the Daily Local. They continue to investigate the cause of the crash. Anyone with information on the accident is urged to call state police at 610-268-2022.

Karen, a young lady 16-year old, is confronted by her family’s generational curse of destructive behaviors. With no help, no resources, and no way out she becomes a victim of the world she tries to escape…Her mother’s debt becomes her own, her only friend has turned her back on her, and the world she lives in places her in a parallel universe.  A comparative account of a young lady facing questions that society regards as non-existing….

Introducing the dramatic stage play, “My name is Karen,” written and directed by Anthony Wallace of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. (Tau Kappa Kappa), Starring Cynthia Simmons Boyce of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc (Delta Delta), Erika Taylor of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Delta Upsilon) and Keith Bullock of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc (Tau Kappa Kappa).

The Relevance of Black Greek Scholarship

Professor Matthew W. Hughey, PhD (Sociology, Mississippi State University)

Professor Gregory S. Parks, JD, PhD (Law, Wake Forest University)

Every few months or so a story about Black Greek-Letter Organizations (BGLOs) graces the news.  These narratives generally follow a predictable tone and timbre.  The story sets-off with a obligatory homage to the singular founding of BGLOs in a time of Jim Crow racism and quickly transitions to a roll call of the “Who’s Who” of Black Greeks like W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Huston, or Huey P. Newton.  The narrative then wraps itself around the intersection of BGLOs with other self-help, civically engaged, and fictive kinship organizations, from the black church and literary societies to Prince Hall masonry and civil rights organizations.  Usually, the author will then place a well-aimed shot off the bow in reference to E. Franklin Frazier’s critique of BGLOs as little more than loutish members of the “Black Bourgeoisie” and what Du Bois called “The Talented Tenth.”  But to bring the story back to an even keel, the narrative sails through BGLOs current social programs and philanthropies, while the supposed civic exceptionalism of blacks is implicitly praised through BGLOs “lifelong” membership in comparison to traditionally White fraternities and sororities.  The story then shifts to a grave tone in reference to “allegations of hazing” that bring reputational and financial damage.  Not to miss a beart, at some point stepping is illuminated as a double-edged symbol—the mainstream voice and vehicle for Black Greeks or the latest installation of ethnic buffoonery for white consumption.  Perhaps, just for a touch of effete humanity, the tale begins to wrap with a nostalgic call for BGLO’s return to innocence and is finally capstoned with an important, yet often unanswered, question akin to the following: who are BGLOs today and what are they to do?

Such prose has quickened in frequency over recent years.  Between 2006 and 2014, six of the nine BGLOs that constitute the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), will hit the century mark.  This is a milestone so significant enough that multiple stories on BGLOs have graced the pages and airwaves of PBS, NPR, Essence, Diverse Magazine, The Root, and The Black College Wire (to name just a few).  Despite the uptick in coverage, the question of what BGLOs are in the Age of Obama remains a call with no significant response.  Sure, there have been replies that run the gamut:  BGLOs are doing just what they need to do.  They are corrupted by financial mismanagement and egotism.  Black “Greeks” are little more than “educated gangs.”  They should be more selective in membership.  Or … they are simply no longer necessary or relevant to Black Americans today.

So as not to add to, and drown in, the cacophonous sea of voices on BGLOs, we bring to the table a combined thirty-plus year experience as BGLO members and our training in law, psychology, and sociology.  Hence, in synchronizing the methodologies and insights of legal and social scientific inquiry, we may now precisely examine, diagnosis, and prescribe on the who, what, when, where, why, and how of BGLOs and their attendant debates.

Toward this end, we follow a path already blazed, but not well-beaten.  Within the past decade alone, the scholarship on BGLOs has formed its own corpus. Walter Kimbrough’s Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, And Challenges Of Black Fraternities and Sororities (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2003) elucidates the history and culture of BGLOs.  Ricky Jones’ Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities (State University of New York Press, 2004) and Elizabeth Fine’s Soulstepping: African American Step Shows (University of Illinois Press, 2003) bring to light sophisticated treatises on hazing and stepping, respectively.  Gregory Parks, along with Tamara Brown and Clarenda Phillips, co-edited African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision (University Press of Kentucky, 2005) and in so doing, gave a comprehensive and scholarly volume on the history, culture, and contemporary issues facing BGLOs.  Moreover, Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun (University Press of Kentucky, 2008) edited by Gregory Parks and Black Greek-Letter Organizations 2.0: New Directions in the Study of African American Fraternities and Sororities (University Press of Mississippi, 2011), edited by Matthew Hughey and Gregory Parks, together cover an array of social scientific, humanities, and legal methodologies to bear on the contemporary issues facing BGLOs.  On the horizon, we will see an incisive and controversial book, Gregory Parks and Stefan Bradley’s edited volume entitled Alpha Phi Alpha: A Legacy of Greatness, the Demands of Transcendence (University Press of Kentucky, 2011) that provides a sobering analysis of one organizations’ identity as a call for broader BGLO identity analysis.

These works bring scientific evidence, methodologies, and proposals for action to bear on various topics: For example, the roots of growing BGLO undergraduate cultures that extol anti-intellectualism, hyper-masculinity, thuggishness, and promiscuity over scholarship and personal refinement.  They address the cultural competency of Greek advisors who are often focused more on white fraternities and sororities to the detriment of BGLOs.  This works examine the apparent conflict of faith and fraternalism alongside the taboo topics of gendered and sexual violence, misogyny, and heteronormativity within BGLOs.  This scholarship takes into account the unconscious antiblack racial bias among BGLO members themselves.  And, this growing body of work has examined legal and educational scholars’ take on the causes of hazing, its legal ramifications, and proposed solutions on how to end hazing for good so that no one may ever again die in pursuit of letters on his or her chest.

Despite this growing body of scholarly evidence, the aforementioned stories about BGLOs rarely draw upon the knowledge therein.  Consequently, it is rare that one finds a balanced, yet critical, debate over BGLOs that transcends sound-bite snippets or talking-head, split-screen argumentation.  BGLO members, on average, seem unwilling to seriously (and in an informed manner) raise and discuss issues like hazing, non-black membership, colorism, homophobia, class elitism, substance abuse, financial mismanagement, and misogyny.  Further, non-members seem either largely indifferent or overly critical.  But BGLOs—because of their combined successes and failures—still matter.  Like it or not, BGLOs have an estimated 1.5-1.75 million members worldwide and over 6,400 chapters.  Eight of the nine member organizations of the NPHC are among the oldest black campus organizations on predominately white campuses and are one of the strongest nationwide social institutions in all of black America.  The continued entrance of undergraduate, graduate, and honorary members into the fold of BGLOs today signals their import and potential.

This column—hosted by Progressive Greek and Phi Beta Sigma Frater Kevin Davis—will regularly address BGLO related concepts, conditions, and controversies in a rigorous, but accessible, format.  Our goal is to bring the inter- and multi-disciplinary tools of academia to help separate the wheat from the chaff on a topic overburdened by emotion-laden opinions, member chauvinism, nonmember haters, uninformed opinion, and uncritically accepted traditions, folkways, and norms.  We look forward to your participation as we labor to intersect the power and potential of BGLOs with the tools of scholarship.

Fraternally,

Drs. Hughey and Parks

CLICK HERE FOR CONTEST  DETAILS & RULES

Grammy-Nominated R&B Singer Syleena Johnson launches national step competition

Chicago, IL- August 5, 2011-Attention all Greek letter organizations of the National Pan- Hellenic Council (NPHC), Grammy-nominated recording artist, Syleena Johnson wants to know who’s boss. In a partnership with The Boss Network and Progressive Greek Magazine, Syleena Johnson launches a promotional campaign and contest for NPHC members nationally.

Syleena is known for the distinctive vocals on Kanye West’s “All Falls Down” and for her own hits like “Guess What”, “Hypnotic” and “Another Relationship”. With four albums under her belt , Syleena’s back with a new hit single called “A Boss” from her fifth album “Chapter V: Underrated” set for release September 27th, 2011.

Since Syleena is a member of the NPHC (Zeta Phi Beta Inc.), she is looking for the best Greek letter Sorority and Fraternity step team to show her who’s boss. Each step team must submit a five to seven minute video showcasing their team’s performance, be from a Greek letter organization, and members of an Undergraduate or Graduate Chapter from the NPHC.

There can only be one team from each chapter and all team members must belong to the same chapter. Each team must use at least 60 seconds of Syleena’s song “A Boss” in their performance. The overall theme of your routine must be tied into the song. Judging will be based on how well you incorporate your own style and creativity into being “A Boss”.

The winning Sorority and Fraternity will each receive a $1,000 donation to their chapter and a special appearance from Syleena on their college campus (with school approval) or chapter sponsored event. Step up and show who’s boss. Must be at least age 18. All entries must be made via video response to Syleena Johnson’s Are You “A Boss” Step Competition announcement on YouTube @ www.youtube.com/syleenajohnson .

This contest is sponsored by Progressive Greek (www.progressivegreek.com) and The Boss Network (www.thebossnetwork.org). Contest ends November 1, 2011. If you are a business or non profit organization and want to partner with Syleena Johnson or make a donation for this contest, please contact Dr. Syleecia Thompson at dygmanagement@gmail.com.

For more contest details and rules contact: Kevin Davis at Kevin1914@progressivegreek.com or Melissa Jordan at Thisizhowwedoitevents@gmail.com

To enter the contest go to: www.youtube.com/syleenajohnson

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The Forum at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) served as the stage for the annual Battle of the Greeks Step Show on Friday night. The show consisted of six acts by the Delta Xi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Alpha Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta, Beta Nu Chapter of Iota Phi Theta, Joliet Area South Suburban Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Epsilon Xi Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma and Omega Psi Phi.

Coming into the show, the competition was tough, Alpha Phi Alpha having won the Sprite Step Off would surely be a formidable competitor for any of the fraternities. With only two sororities competing, the Delta team being an alumnae team, The Zetas would surely have to bring it to show who runs the show at UIC.

A packed house watched as six teams battled it out for bragging right on the stage, but only two winners were crowned. The crowd waited anxiously for the scores to be announced after the show. In the end, Phi Beta Sigma and Delta Sigma Theta took top honors at the step show.

Show creator and member of Phi Beta Sigma, Rasheed Howard used this year’s show as a platform to increase the awareness of HIV/AIDS in the community by providing free testing for over 1,000 responsible college students and adults.