LETTERS: HAZING MUST BE STOPPED

To the editor:

Initiations, in my opinion, strip the sorority or fraternity of its dignity and defeats it real purpose.

When my twin sister and I attended Southeast Teachers College in 1926, we were initiated into a literary society. I always opposed initiations as well as feared them. At that early date, they were not as strenuous. However, there was nothing elevating about swallowing a raw egg or crawling under chairs that we were asked to do.

Initiations have gradually become more severe to the point even that they appear out of hand.

Today, initiations are referred to as hazings and have even reached the criminal stage. Perhaps many students today become influenced by what appears on television. This crime definitely has to come to a halt.

Morley Swingle's appearance on "Oprah" April 9 is, without a doubt, one of the finest steps in combating future hazing that resulted in the death of Michael Davis, a young university student.

If feel confidant the topic, "Dangerous Initiation Rituals," will have the greatest impact yet on the public and will bring to mind the horror of such an inhuman act called hazing.

PAULA E. KEMPE

Cape Girardeau