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"  I was part of a sorority in college and while I never got hazed, I did hear rumors that other houses made their new members sleep in coffins for a night and run errands for the older girls. (Creepy and random but not overly terrible.) Frats were another story, of course. Guys I know were forced to wear diapers with yogurt in them for days (guh), listen to the same song on repeat for 12 hours straight, and\u2014of course\u2014drink more than any guy ever should over the course of one night. This was just the way it went. Personally, I could never understand how, say, sitting with rotting dairy products in your drawers showed your loyalty to a group of dudes. But maybe I&amp;#039;m just a dumb sorority girl. In any case, a whole lot worse goes on at other frats (and some sororities) across the country where new pledges have been hazed to the point that they get alcohol poisoning and, in extreme cases, end up dead. We know how powerful the herd mentality is and when a bunch of beer-drinking douchebags are said herd, really stupid decisions are made. But this mentality extends past college and, believe it or not, into politics: There&amp;#039;s actually a frat/sorority lobbying group\u2014nicknamed FratPAC\u2014that&amp;#039;s been trying to block potential legislation to ban hazing. Because this is &amp;#039;Merica and if we want to make a freshman go to Chem 101 with yogurt in his pants, we will goddammit. The legislation in question was sparked by Lianne Kowiak, whose son was beaten to death during a hazing ritual and who&amp;#039;s been working with Fredierica Wilson, a representative in Florida, to bring an anti-hazing bill to Congress, as well as establish an anti-hazing committee. FratPAC, however, has been pressuring Wilson to step the eff off, reports Bloomberg. Because, according to the group&amp;#039;s president, we don&amp;#039;t need anti-hazing laws, since college and Greek codes of conduct, as well as criminal laws, would take care of would-be hazers. (The group also raises thousands of dollars every election cycle, so there&amp;#039;s some monetary incentive for Wilson to drop the cause.) But, clearly, hazing still takes place\u2014even if there are major consequences for those enacting it and even though frats and sororities continue to deny it does (as Kowiak&amp;#039;s son&amp;#039;s frat did after his death). Having a federal law would likely shine a brighter spotlight on what really goes on behind those Greek-lettered doors during pledging, particularly &amp;quot;Hell Week.&amp;quot; If there&amp;#039;s one thing that frats and sororities pride itself on, it&amp;#039;s secrecy. While the idea of being in that inner circle appealed to me in college, and even though I understand the long-standing tenet of being loyal to your house, neither of these things are more important than young people&amp;#039;s lives. If Greek system peeps want to buck the stereotype of being exclusive, careless, stuck-up, ditzy, mimbo-ish snobs, well, they&amp;#039;re doing it wrong. Want more from Natasha? Follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook. Photo: exclusive media group "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a14555/fratpac-hazing/>