Fraternity Guy Jokingly Tells Sorority Girls To Do Pushups, Central Arkansas Rules That It Isn’t Hazing

El Taco10 years ago

After a university review, a practical joke between two Greek houses has been ruled simply a practical joke and not hazing.

Wait. No way that can’t be right. They’re shutting the whole thing down for being outrageously offensive to all of society, correct?

The video surfaced earlier this month out of the University of Central Arkansas showing new Alpha Sigma Tau sorority members doing pushups at the direction of a fraternity guy.

Here is the video:

“Y’all are one pledge class. Y’all need to start acting like one pledge class. So why are y’all just still sitting here when your pledge sisters are doing pushups? Y’all need to become one,” Sigma Tau Gamma junior Jordan Bailey can be heard saying in the video.

After the entire new member class drops to the push-up position while giggling, a few elder sorority members chime in with “push ups don’t require talking” and “some of you are faking it and I need you to actually do it.”

Ah. The memories…

Even though UCA’s Hazing Policy includes forcing members to do push-ups, the university’s student run newspaper says officials found a few key differences in this situation.

From the Arkansas Online:

“We as an administrative team … concluded – I think 100 percent concluded – that it was not hazing. It did not rise to a level of hazing,” Roberts said. “What we have is a bad practical joke.”

Roberts said if Alpha Sigma Tau’s senior leadership had asked the new members to do this, then the team may have investigated it as hazing.

“We have a roomful of new members, a guy walks in with a friend, and he just basically asks the girls to start doing pushups, and a few of them start doing pushups,” [Dean of Students Gary Roberts] said. “So somebody records it, and that goes out as a hazing video.”

…

“They thought it was funny,” [Associate Dean of Student Life Wendy Holbrook] said. “[Bailey] said, ‘I’m your pledge dad,’ and they were like ‘Pft, you’re not.’”

Holbrook said Bailey was at the Alpha Sigma Tau house visiting a friend before he walked into the sorority chapter room.

“Then immediately after it was done, it’s not like they tried to drag it out. They were like ‘that was joke, I hope y’all don’t take it seriously,’” the anonymous Alpha Sigma Tau new member said.

WATCH: Alpha Sigma Tau Pushup Video Council Ruled ‘Practical Joke’

Well I’ll be damned. Looks like we have some sensical leadership over there at the University of Central Arkansas.

It was pretty easy to see this was all a joke, especially when one of the older gals recording can be heard on video saying in total disbelief “they’re actually doing it.” But, then again, jokes coming out of the Greek community don’t always go over well (i.e. Old Dominion SignGate 2015).

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Greek scandal story without someone getting butthurt over the ruling so here’s a lovely op-ed in the student newspaper. [WARNING: Forcing yourself to read the op-ed may be considered hazing.]

Good thing there’s not this much uproar every time a fraternity guy asks a sorority girl to get on all fours..

[via Arkansas Online]