There is some degree of this. Add to it that the school's disciplinary processes (and administrators) would probably love to stick it to a "privileged" fraternity, and you have stupid decisions getting made.

I was exposed to different frats at different colleges although I was never a member.

College-A, drank like fish, had a maid and food service and were unruly. Total spoiled brats.

College-B, told members who they could be friends with, one guy that joined would no longer talk a friend and myself. However before he left he tried to convince us to join with him. Claimed they had copies of all the calculus tests (collected over years/decades), some members acted as tutors for other members so everyone did well. They seemed to share everything, I suspect even girlfriends if she would go for it.

A bit too cultish for me.

They had more than enough virgins to sacrifice though.:D

There are good frats and bad.
You only hear about the bad ones.

The timeline, as presented in one of the article I looked up, is nauseating to read.

How anyone, let alone numerous dickheads, can be that callous goes beyond the fear of getting caught.

These guys failed to look after their pledge. They failed at the most basic level of responsibility to their future brother.

I went and found it....disgusting :(. I just can't fathom....

Well, sure. Hazing is against the rules at EVERY university. So is being mean, and so is drinking a beer under the age of 21, and so is speeding. That doesn't mean stupid kids won't do it with and to each other.

Pledged, yep....partied, yep...girls, yep..."hell night" during pledging, yep...something like what was described in the article?...not a ****ing chance. Folks in the house looked out for each other (and anyone else that happened to be around)

Early '80s, 18 to drink, so you started in high school on fake ID's and keg parties and had to go home to your parents...taught you some self control. Different era now.

KC....I'm guessing you went to school somewhere down-east?SmileWavy

Yep. Late 80's. We never had any forced alcohol as a part of hazing. There were already some high profile cases of alcohol poisonings and deaths in the frat system nationwide then, and our national org was handing down rules to help protect us. Midway through, we couldn't have kegs anymore, so we brought in pallets of Natty Light and other crap beer. Now, there is zero alcohol in the house which is a bit sad, IMHO.

I'm still friends with quite a few folks from college, both frat brothers and others. Overall it was a decent experience.

While I generally agree with the entirety of your reply the current draconian drinking regs did not result in the first stupid decision, making pledges drink that much.

And ultimately thats where the buck starts.

Yep, went down as a Jr in hs for some scholarship weekend thingy....had the SAT scores to raise the average at MIT, so it was a choice :). Partied my azz off making almost straight A's in Computer Science, but man I did some REALLY stupid stuff there....I fit right in.
When I landed my first gig at IBM (RTP) in r&d, many couldn't fathom why....I was gifted, and didn't choose State :)....different strokes.....Arrr!

The poor decision trail can be (at least) traced back to joining a frat.

My dad always had poor decisions making skills and his short-lived college career ended when he drunkenly fell out of his Beta Theta Pi second floor window and broke his back as a freshman. He continued on to a stellar life of drinking (rehab x3), smoking, and gambling his life savings away. Awesome.

Some anger in there, Pavulon?

Lots.

Yep, no one ever comes out of a fraternity and leads a successful life.

Tool

What is preventing you from describing how belonging to a fraternity enriched your life?

New details in Penn State fraternity death - CBS This Morning - CBS News

Just wow.

Though I never was part of a fraternity I too have life long friends from college.

Respectfully there is ONE person in charge of what happened to your dad. Sorry.

Sure, I understand that. However, it appears there will be several held accountable in this death and it shines a light on that fraternity and its members.