August is an exciting time for our great Fraternity. Colleges are back in session, students have new opportunities to learn and lead, and most importantly, we open our doors to the next generation of Phi Delts. A new wave of students are preparing to begin their collegiate journey. While the unfamiliar campus environment may bring some nerves as they adjust to life away from home, we have the opportunity to help them create a true home away from home.

As we welcome these first member classes of the new biennium, let us lead by example and demonstrate what it truly means to be a Phi Delt. To be our Brother’s Keeper—a brother who cares deeply and acts boldly to keep every brother safe.

Remember, true leadership is about making the right decisions, even when they are difficult. By prioritizing risk management, we ensure that Phi Delta Theta remains a place where values are lived daily, where brotherhood flourishes, and where futures are built on a foundation of respect and safety.

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Alcohol-Free Housing

In today’s world, risks come in many forms—from alcohol misuse and hazing to situations that threaten the physical or emotional safety of our members. Phi Delta Theta has taken a clear and unwavering stance: these dangers have no place in our organization. We are devoted to creating an environment where every brother can thrive without fear of harm or misconduct.

Speaking at our Semi-Centennial Convention in 1898, Robert Morrison urged us not to rest on past achievements but to, “guard against elation. Do not look at the past as a thing that should be satisfying; look at it only as something in general that was well done. Thank God for it but go and do something better.”

Our Fraternity has always embodied that spirit of striving for better. Twenty-five years ago, we were not satisfied with the risk management policies in place—particularly concerning alcohol in our chapter houses. While our membership was strong, our General Council knew we could do more to protect our brothers.

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of one of the boldest decisions in the fraternal world. Many said it would be the end of Phi Delta Theta, but today, we are stronger, safer, and more than three times larger than we were back then.

Leaders like Dr. Robert B. Deloian, M. Scott Mietchen, Robert A. Biggs, and my fellow General Council member Tom Balzer, who was the coordinator of Alcohol-Free Housing, who championed this change and reminded us of Morrison’s challenge to guard against elation. In July 2000, Phi Delta Theta became the first Fraternity to implement an alcohol-free housing policy.

As we reflect on this milestone this school year, let it inspire us to continue pushing forward—to innovate, lead, and protect our brothers with the same courage and care. Phi Delta Theta continually strives to educate our members on ways to conduct chapter activities in a safe and responsible manner. Please review Phi Delta Theta’s risk management policies, which include the alcohol-free housing policy. As a member of Phi Delta Theta, you have a responsibility to uphold the values of our brotherhood. One of the most noble duties of membership is to look out for your fellow brothers. If you see certain members of your chapter engage in activities that are illegal or violate Fraternity policies, it is your responsibility to intervene and prevent them from occurring. 

As a dad, I’m proud of this alcohol-free housing policy, and I know many other parents feel the same. These new members are someone’s son, new to campus and starting a big chapter in their lives, and it’s on us to keep them safe. Be your Brother’s Keeper!

Wishing you all the best this semester!

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The strong stance on sexual misconduct prevention is in line with Phi Delta Theta’s organizational commitment to cultivate responsible young men on college campuses. Nearly 15 years ago, Phi Delta Theta implemented its Alcohol-Free Housing policy, a policy that has both championed responsible behavior and resulted in safer environments for its members and guests. The implementation of Taking a Stand will further develop Phi Delta Theta chapters as valuable assets to the campuses and communities where they exist and empower them to fight the battle against sexual assault.

The Taking A Stand workshop is a half-day program that will be conducted at each campus with all members in attendance by the Fraternity’s staff and a selected group of volunteers during 2015 and then every other year moving forward. Additionally, the Fraternity has committed to provide additional prevention components to all of its in-person educational programs moving forward.

For more information on the implementation of this important initiative contact Associate Executive Vice President Sean Wagner.

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Alan: “I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack.” – The Hangover

Mixing brotherhood and alcohol happens every day on college campuses across the country.  Often times, our brothers fail to appreciate the fact that their own “one-man wolf pack” actions and decisions do impact our Fraternity.  The choices surrounding your own personal alcohol use are yours to make, but you can have a positive impact on the safety of your brothers when you consider these five key points when planning events where alcohol will be present.

1.  Location

Deciding where to host a social event or where to hang out with your brothers is of utmost importance.  Ideally, should you choose to drink alcohol, you would do so in an establishment that is properly licensed to sell alcohol. The venue would absorb the risks of controlling, selling, and serving the alcohol. When spur-of-the-moment or even planned events occur elsewhere (i.e. a brother’s apartment), you and/or your chapter could be liable for the events that take place. Just this year we have seen an intoxicated fraternity member shoot a bottle-rocket out of his rear end and a group of sophomores use a water balloon launcher to hit unsuspecting targets all in the name of fun but end with severe injuries and unintended consequences.

2.  Transportation

Many chapters are using designated driver or safe-ride programs to address this key exposure in today’s Greek community.  These programs are a strong attempt to ensure brothers get home safe.  Unfortunately, no matter how well-intended, there have been a variety of significant injuries and even deaths when these programs do not strictly adhere to their design.  The best choice is to use public transportation for those events that occur more than 10 miles away from your campus.  Members who choose to drive themselves and others in their personal automobiles must understand they do so at their own risk as no insurance coverage is available to them for this exposure.

3.  Beverages 

At events, chapters should never provide alcohol for their own members or for guests. Using chapter funds or passing the hat violates the Fraternity’s risk management policies. Remember to avoid the use of hard liquor and the mixing of energy drinks with alcohol. If you decide to not use a third-party vendor, each person should bring their own beverage of choice. Given that the clear majority of collegiate fraternity and sorority members are under the legal drinking age, Chapters should offer alternatives to alcohol such as complimentary bottled water or other appropriate beverages.  Food at any event is a welcome addition but you want to avoid salty foods whenever possible.

4.  Pre-Gaming 

Pre and post event activities are commonly misinterpreted as the time where no rules apply. Phi Delta Theta’s risk management policies do not come with a time clock or an expiration date.  Each member is expected to understand, comprehend and adhere to the risk management policies at all times.  If you are unclear ask the chapter’s risk management chairman, president, or a local adviser to review them with you. Younger members commonly use this time to binge drink prior to the registered or planned events. Big brothers or pledge dads should help monitor these activities and step-in when necessary to ensure all members avoid this risky behavior and stay safe.

5.  Event Planning

Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters offers assistance in planning your events to ensure your chapter is in compliance with the rules and regulations of the Fraternity.  The Headquarters staff offers feedback to assist chapters in planning safe events that reduce the potential for loss.  Contact the Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters or visit www.phideltatheta.org for additional information.  You can also visit www.jrfco.com for risk management resources.

While you may get a good laugh out of characters like Alan from The Hangover, repeating the antics you watch on the big screen can lead to real world consequences. Remember to not let today’s fun turn into tomorrow’s evidence.

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“This is your brain.  This is your brain on drugs.”

Years ago, in an effort to fight drug usage, those words were blasted relentlessly on television screens.  The commercial first showed an egg (This is your brain) and then showed an egg perfectly frying in a skillet (This is your brain on drugs).  I think I know what the government was trying to convey with this public service announcement, but I have to agree with the comedian who said, “Yeah, and there’s some stoned guy out there thinking, ‘That egg sure looks good.’”

I don’t expect fraternity men who haze to read this blog and change what they are doing.  So, if you are a hazer and are looking for arguments, ideas, or faults in what I say, stop reading.

This blog is intended for men of character.  Men who believe in the teachings of the Bond.  Men of substance.  Strong men, courageous men.  Men of action.  Men of strong faith. Men who might be heroes.  Men of character.  So, if you think that you might fit one of these categories, read on.

I had the privilege to hear fellow Phi Gary Bender (Wichita ’62) speak at convention a couple of years ago, and he ended his talk with a quote that has stuck with me.  He said, “Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident and money takes wings. The only thing that endures is character. Reputation is what man thinks us to be. Character is what God knows us to be. Reputations are chiseled on our tomb stones, character is what the angels of heaven say before the throne of God. If God knows he can trust you, He will enlarge your territory.”

Wow, that’s a powerful statement.  Character is what compels you to contribute, to challenge, to grow, to change yourself and others.  Character is the quality that determines whether you address the wrongs in your chapter whether they be apathy, alcohol abuse, drug usage, a culture of violence, poor scholarship, or HAZING.

If you are a man of character, you should be compelled to stop hazing in your chapter if it exists.  Here are some tips.

Align yourself with other like-minded men of character.

These might not be your best friends, but you know who they are by their actions and words.  Have a meaningful discussion about how the new members are treated in your chapter and what you think about hazing.  Select only men of character to be your Phikeia educators.

Work overtime to develop Phikeia programming that builds men up, not breaks them down.

Frederick Douglass once said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Don’t concern yourself with what others will think of you.  If you conduct positive Phikeia programming, in a couple of years, the other fraternities will be emulating you.  Be courageous and creative.

Have the courage to confront the hazers in your chapter.

Anyone who hazes is a coward.  There I’ve said it.  Don’t be afraid to gently confront a brother who wants to haze and ask him to explain his motivation for hazing.  Be unwilling to accept “tradition”, “it was done to me”, etc.  I have often found it impossible to reason with someone who is committed to hazing (especially when using words of two syllables or more!), but give it a try.  Confront hazers with like-minded brothers by your side.  Confrontation is not a bad thing.  If you see a situation that is dangerous (especially involving alcohol), confront quickly, forcefully, and physically if you have to.  You won’t get in trouble for doing the right thing.

Rely on GHQ, Province Presidents, University Officials, and Alumni.

First realize that these are not bad people or people out to get you.  No one gains when a chapter closes, goes on probation, or when a Phikeia is injured, or leaves with ill feelings toward the fraternity.  People who go to Alcoholics Anonymous know that the first step is realizing that there is a problem, standing before others and saying, “Hello, my name is XXX and I am an alcoholic.”  If you want to get well, be willing to admit, “My chapter’s name is XXX and we are a hazing chapter.”  Doing this puts you on the right track. Please know that there are many people willing to help you.  All you have to do is ask.

And, finally,

Look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Is this a man of character at whom I am looking?”

If the answer is yes, you have no choice.  You have to stop hazing.

Dr. Sparky Reardon is the Assistant Vice Chancellor/Dean of Students at the University of Mississippi. He has worked in higher education for 34 years. His primary areas of responsibility have included advising fraternities and student government, leadership development, crisis intervention, organizational discipline and teaching. He has a M. Ed. from Delta State University and a B.A.E. and Ph.D. from Ole Miss. Brother Reardon has spoken to thousands of students at numerous universities, conferences, and conventions. He has also been awarded the Robert Shaefer Award for significant, long term service to Greek Life. In 2008 the Ole Miss senior class honored him with a scholarship in his name and in 1995 he was awarded the initial Thomas Frist Award for his outstanding service to students. He has appeared in the History Channel‟s “Frat Boys”, a history of fraternities in America. He enjoys Ole Miss sports, reading, cooking, and traveling.

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Phi Delta Theta is proud to be a founding sponsor of both the RESPONSE ABILITY Project and the Every|Day Hero Campaign. This blog was created for sponsors of the project and will be shared by a number of (inter)national organizations throughout the day in support of National Hazing Prevention Week, and to raise awareness of how bystander intervention can combat hazing.

As we honor National Hazing Prevention Week, I want to challenge us all to think about the unnecessary and harmful act of hazing from all angles. While there are certainly the two obvious parties involved in, and impacted by hazing — the victims and the perpetrator(s) — I want to address the rest of us who may see, hear or even know about these acts. Much has been, and will be, talked about this week in regards to those impacted directly by these unnecessary acts.

However, I will argue that we don’t talk enough about the third party to hazing — the bystanders. While we are certainly shining the spotlight this week on hazing, it’s also important to include other often related problem behaviors like bullying, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual violence, discrimination and everyday life issues. By including these, it’s safe to say we are all bystanders. We have all witnessed problem behaviors in our lives and, while there have certainly been times where we intervened, there are way too many times we didn’t.

We stayed silent. We laughed along. We walked away. We participated. We froze.

When it comes to these actions — or inactions — from ourselves and others, I refuse to believe this is what we actually want to do in that moment of time. I refuse to believe that we don’t care and want to make the difference for those being impacted. I refuse to believe that we don’t know the difference between right and wrong. I refuse to believe that we don’t want to intervene in problem situations.

And, I refuse to believe that every single one of us doesn’t want to be a hero for others, for organizations we love, and for issues we care about.

I choose to believe that we do care and that we want the best for each other. I believe that every person has values of love, compassion, caring, respect, and acceptance — and these act as our moral compass. I believe that we really do want to intervene and make the difference for others — to keep each other safe and protected — to show dignity and respect.

And, I believe we all want to be heroes in one way or another.

We are all committed to being a certain kind of human being in life and there are actions we want to take as a demonstration of who we say we are and want to be for others. In our own respective and unique ways, we actually say “this is who I am and this is what you can count on me for!”

So, here’s the question: do your actions in life match what you say? Is the “you” that shows up in life — especially in critical momentary situations — a match for who you say you are and the commitments you have?

If I gave you a hypothetical scenario — one where someone was in trouble and needed your intervention — and asked you what you would do, would you say you would intervene in some way? I believe you would. I believe we all would. If you take all the reasons, justifications, excuses, doubts, fears, and rationalizations away from the equation, we all believe that we would intervene in that situation. It’s the noble thing to say and this matches who we say we are in life. But, not so fast…

Let’s look at the Penn State sexual abuse case — already one of the most layered cases of bystander behavior. I believe Coach Mike McQueary really did want to immediately intervene. Yet, what he did and didn’t do became water cooler conversation for days — many of us being armchair quarterbacks for what he should have done.

Here’s my take: what happened to Mike McQueary can happen to all of us on some level — our alter ego takes over. There is the person we are all committed to being in life. Then, in the reality of a situation, there is the “you” that shows up in that moment of time. Unfortunately, it’s not the “you” that you wanted to show up. It’s a “you” that lets fear take over. It’s a “you” that listens to your naysayers, even to your own internal voice. It’s a “you” that does nothing — or doesn’t do enough.

I believe there are times when most of us are no different than Mike McQueary. While we want to believe otherwise, we don’t know what we will actually do in the reality of a momentary choice. We simply want to believe we will do what is right.

How do I know this? What evidence do I have? As I travel the country and speak, I invite audience members to text me and share their stories. I have received thousands of stories on the impact of bystander behavior — as a bystander or as a victim to others being bystanders. The stories are heartbreaking. So many of us have had at least one moment that made a lasting impact on our lives — one that we have never forgotten; one where we have never forgiven ourselves or others.

To the positive, I have had conversations with many of these same people and they share that they do care and they do want to do what is right. I also receive texts, emails, Facebook messages and submissions on our website where people are now taking actions that match their values — they are actually intervening in problem situations. Many of them share they literally would not have done what they did without hearing the message of the RESPONSE ABILITY^® Project and holding themselves accountable.

I hope you are now asking, “How do I ensure my actions match who I am committed to being in life?”  Great question!

We want to provide you the three critical tools I have put together as a framework for being equipped and empowered in life — no matter your age, roles in life, or gender — to make the difference you want to make and to be a hero. These are three life skills you can use for the rest of your life — in any moment when you say there is a problem.

To get these critical tools, go to the Phi Delta Theta page on the RESPONSE ABILITY Project website and take the Every|Day Hero pledge. Once you take the pledge, you will immediately receive an email from me with a link to download a PDF of the three tools and also view a special training video.

In closing, I refuse to believe you don’t want to make this difference. I refuse to believe there is anything you want more than to live out this pledge in your life. Go ahead, try and convince me otherwise — I just refuse to believe we are anything less than caring, loving, extraordinary human beings who just want to make the difference for others, for our organizations and for issues we care about.

I refuse to believe.

And this is what allows me to believe in the good in all of us.

Mike Dilbeck is Founder & President of the RESPONSE ABILITY Project and also Founder of the Every|Day Hero Campaign. Every year, Mike speaks to thousands of college students as a CAMPUSPEAK speaker and member of the National Speakers Association. When he is not traveling, he works on expanding the RA Project, writing articles and blogs, conducting training and workshops, and appearing in the media. 

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The year was 1978, the date the 26^th of February. It was a post-dawn Sunday morning and cold as only a city on a Great Lake can be. I was visiting my parents in Buffalo. Coffee percolated on an oven burner as I spread out an issue of the Buffalo Courier Express. The Courier’s front page sucked the wind out of me. The lead headline was big and black. My mother, wearing her oft-washed robe and plastic curlers, asked me what the story was about that dismayed me so.

“A young man named Chuck Stenzel had perished at a fraternity party,” I said. He’d died of alcohol poisoning.

I’d belonged to a fraternity at Buffalo State College that once had been connected to a national. But by the time I pledged in 1965, the then-chancellor of the State University of New York had converted all national fraternities and sororities to local chapters.

The local chapters kept the traditions, bylaws, and secrets of their previous nationals but lacked the important oversight the parent organizations had provided. The Chancellor would abandon his crusade but eventually unregulated, wild local SUNY chapters would endure hazing deaths at Plattsburgh and Geneseo.

My own local fraternity at Buffalo State College had more guidance than most because of strong faculty and alumni involvement. Nonetheless, our pledge period included the sort of pranks that caused my working-class, no-nonsense father to roll his eyes. He’d driven me to campus and dropped me off just as a brother confronted me verbally and handed me a concrete block with Greek letters.

“This is what I send you to college for?” he said at supper that night.

He was a wise man, my Dad. But I shrugged off the hazing nonsense, got in, and had a wonderful fraternity experience. Through the fraternity I would find my life’s calling as a writer.  My mentor was and is a faculty brother named Fraser Drew who had interviewed the likes of Ernest Hemingway to make his English classes more intriguing. He and I co-wrote a book together when he was 97.

Thus, my impetus to write about hazing never occurred until graduate school when I attended the University of Nevada. There I frequently observed alcohol-fueled hazing by a wild bunch of athletes. Some of these students were high-status guys—not only good ballplayers but good students who were active in student government. A minority, unfortunately, were dangerous and would mock their pledges when they got drunk and vomited.

Their hazing consisted not only of crazy pranks but dangerous amounts of alcohol. Their liquor-guzzling made anything I’d experienced at Buffalo State seem like choir practice.

In the spring of 1975 I chanced to enter a Reno bar called the Little Wal on a Hell Night. I observed a pledge half-conscious under the pool table who foamed at the mouth. I nudged an acquaintance and asked him to walk with the young man until he sobered up, which he did without hesitation. But that’s all he did. He lacked the foresight to see a close call and go back to his brothers demanding an end to the dangerous drinking.

In October of 1975, another Hell Night was held far from campus. Unbelievable quantities of alcohol killed a giant Wolfpack football player named John Davies and left another pledge with brain damage. The incident ignited a wakeup call in me.

I learned that alcohol can and does kill. I watched previously well-regarded students become  “killers” in the minds of student body members.

I had another revelation in time. As a bystander, had I taken more action such as writing an expose for the student paper, John Davies might not have died.

The death of John Davies came back to me as I read about the death at Alfred University. There in my mother’s kitchen I made a decision. I would write a serious article about fraternity hazing. The next time I traveled to Los Angeles, I approached Human Behavior editor, Marshall Lumsden, with a proposal and he accepted.

Lumsden was a writer’s editor, a veteran of journalistic wars at the Los Angeles Times and Saturday Evening Post. He didn’t care a hill of beans about my own little hazing experiences. He wanted to know the stories behind the deaths of kids like John Davies and Chuck Stenzel.

I wrote the first draft and then a second and third. Lumsden met with me at a coffee shop on Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles. We met there so often I thought Lumsden must keep his typewriter there.

Always he wanted more sources, more documentation, more research. I had taught a continuing education course at UCLA. I plunged into scholarly research in a big way and found the few available studies on hazing. They were all in abnormal psychology or Higher Education.

Then I read a breakthrough book called Groupthink by Yale University professor Irving Janis. I rewrote my article once again employing this theory to explain Davies’s death and took it to Lumsden at the coffee shop.

“Well, good,” he said. “Interview him.” Interview the legendary Janis?  I was intimidated, but I said “OK.”

I sought Janis out. He only turned out to be Buffalo-born and a wonderful and brilliant scholar, but he grasped immediately how the Groupthink theory applied to fraternity hazing.

What was the Groupthink theory?

Basically, in the interest of maintaining camaraderie and good will, a group won’t challenge individual members that display reckless tendencies such as hazing. They put aside moral qualms and piss all over their national’s and founder’s moral values and put newcomers in harm’s way, covering all up when the risky behavior causes injury or death.

I remember my relief having one last cup of coffee with Lumsden when he pronounced my article finished.  It appeared in print in October of 1978.

The result was a response like no magazine piece I’d ever done or would do. Human Behavior was deluged with letters from readers.

One came from the mother of Chuck Stenzel, the pledge whose death I had read about in my mother’s kitchen. (Unknown to me until much later, Eileen Stevens had photocopied my article and sent it to anyone she could think of–prompting many of those letters). Eileen wrote me from New York that she had read my story and was starting an anti-hazing organization called the Committee to Halt Useless College Deaths. She wanted to meet with me the next time I was in the city on publishing business

We met for lunch in Manhattan. She brought a computer printout of hazing deaths she had paid for out of pocket. I began studying hazing in earnest, applying for a Gannett Foundation fellowship to write a book on hazing. Its title was Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing. University personnel and even members allowed me to interview them, lending their resolute anti-hazing messages to the book.

But that was then and this is 2012.

Some amazing things have occurred to me. I write a column for Stophazing.org. I am writing my fifth book on hazing and maintain Twitter and Facebook sites on hazing.

HazingPrevention.org named its anti-hazing hero award the Hank Nuwer Award in my honor, and Phi Delta Theta took over the funding of the award.

My Alma Mater, Buffalo State, hosts the Hank Nuwer Hazing Collection, my philanthropy, and it is a repository of all available hazing research for students and scholars to use.

But I am unsatisfied. Hazing still claims one or more deaths a year as it has every year from 1970 to 2012. I am in awe of an amazing network of Greek leaders all coming together in the interest of putting an end to hazing.

However it is not enough. Ending hazing should be simple, really. Stopping hazing isn’t like finding a cure for cancer where so much needs to be DONE. All you, I, Greeks and athletes and band members everywhere need to do is nothing, really. Just don’t haze, and you and I will put an end to the more than 160 deaths overall from hazing that exist on the list I still keep.

My Dad was right. He didn’t send me to college to haze. He sent me to acquire a set of values and a mentor and a trade. I won’t give up fighting against hazing in part because fraternities such as Phi Delta Theta won’t give up and motivate me.

Let us work together to make hazing a best-forgotten relic of the past. Just imagine what an amazing undergraduate fraternal experience there would be if hazing were ended, and all the time spent fighting an illicit practice were put into service to one’s chapter, school, national–and society itself.

Hank Nuwer teaches journalism as an associate professor at Franklin College. He resides in Indiana and has property in remote Alaska. He is the grandfather of two and roommate to a Labrador retriever named Dogzilla. His last book was The Hazing Reader for Indiana University Press. Phil Delta Theta supports the Hank Nuwer Antihazing Hero Awards given out each year by HazingPrevention.org.

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I’ve been asked to write a few articles and blogs since becoming an alcohol awareness speaker.  I always find I do my best writing in the airport.  So hello from Denver International!  I don’t know if it’s the 12 dollar wraps, automatic flush urinals, or the 9 passenger horn-honking golf carts that inspire great writing.  Or maybe it’s the fact that this is the only time that I can focus with absolute 100%  concentration without the distractions of everyday life.  When you have a 3 hour layover in Denver, what else are you gonna do?

As an alcohol awareness speaker, I am constantly following the news wires and national media to discover bad decisions resulting from the use and abuse of alcohol.  One of the more interesting stories of late involved a group underage drinkers.  Underage drinking is against the law, and right from the start, has a tendency to produces negative consequences.  Duh.  I don’t know if you are in the know on this one, but you have to be 21 to consume booze, a fact that used to really bother me until January 1991 when I turned 21.  It’s funny how every person under age 21 is an enormously aggressive advocate for changing the drinking age.  You know the whole argument, “I can die for my country in battle, I can vote, but I can’t drink a beer.”  then something magical happens… You turn 21 and you don’t care at all anymore about the drinking age laws.  There is a 5 year window when you want the drinking age changed.  Age 16 to age 21 is the demographic of this social movement.  Not enough people in this window to change the law, even with 97 University Presidents that agree with the law change because they see 19 year olds dying of alcohol poisoning.  Surely the 19 year old would drink less if it were legal.  At least they wouldn’t have a criminal record for something they are going to do anyway.  Then you turn 21 and you can drink;  so you let the 16 year olds worry about it.  Not your prob anymore.

So anyway back to the underage drinkers.  They were charged with underage drinking, minor consumption, and open containers.  Yes, they were in the car, which means one of them got a DUI.  He was pulled over for nearly hitting a pedestrian on campus.  Oh boy could this have been worse for this young man.  Hitting a pedestrian, causing bodily injury or death, can change lives in a second for so many people involved.  19 year old drinking.  Underage DUI.  Sounds like any weekend at any university in any city.

Okay here’s the kicker… The driver of the car was a 19 year old football player being recruited to play football at the University of New Mexico.  The car he was driving was the SUV of the Head Coach of the football team at the University of New Mexico.  He was driving the coach’s car, drunk, on a Saturday, to the the stadium, on game day.

Just a few bad decisions here, huh?

It took less than 24 hours for the university to fire the head coach.  This was the final straw that the university needed to sever ties with him.

Every time I see a story like this, I try to put myself in the shoes of the people involved.  I imagine all of the scenarios where I could possibly put myself in a similar situation, and think about how I can ensure that I NEVER make the same mistake that they did.  We really can learn from other people’s mistakes.

Let’s put our fraternity shoes on for a moment.  There are so many parallels between this example and the fraternity world. A big brother purchases alcohol for his little brother; an executive board purchases alcohol for a rush party; an alumnus purchases alcohol for a tailgate before the big game. Any “over-aged” person – from a 21 year old member, to a member of the executive board, to the chapter advisory board, to a random alumnus – that enables any underage member of the chapter to drink, is putting himself, the student, and the chapter at risk. The “Coach” and the “Player” are putting their futures and the chapter’s future in jeopardy.

When an underage person is caught drinking, the first thing the police do after that initial arrest of the minor in possession, is find out who helped the young man obtain the alcohol, and then they arrest that person as well.  Don’t be like the coach in New Mexico who enabled his player to drink underage, drive while intoxicated, and almost commit vehicular manslaughter.  This coach is lucky he is not facing a murder trial.

Every decision has a consequence even if it initially seems harmless.  Think before you act, especially when that decision impacts others directly or indirectly.  You always need to keep in mind that you will be held accountable not only for your own decisions but for the decisions of others that you’ve enabled with your actions.

Adam Ritz is a media personality and keynote speaker.  Follow him on twitter @AdamRitz

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Standing among others at the international arrival gates, I waited for a friend to arrive from abroad.  I noticed a TSA agent walk a gentleman over to the chairs in the waiting area, where he was told a wheelchair would be there for him shortly.  Over the next 30 minutes, I witnessed a simple but measurable act of kindness and social responsibility.

The gentleman was thin and walked gingerly.  He appeared peaked and pale but determined.  A couple nearby, waiting for their daughter, also observed the gentleman.  After about 15 minutes, the father approached the gentleman and asked when his flight was departing.  A brief consultation revealed the gentleman’s flight departed in 30 minutes.  For some reason, he was wheeled out of the secured area and left to await another wheelchair to take him to the ticketing counter.

It was no one’s job to check for this gentleman’s departure time, make sure he made his flight, or arrived at the correct gate inside the terminal.  It was no one’s job to check on him or to call again for the wheelchair.

The father waiting for his daughter to arrive from abroad took the initiative. He asked if he could escort the gentleman to the ticket counter.

I do not know how long this gentleman would have sat in that chair and I do not know if anyone else would have taken action.  We all stood there watching, as bystanders.  Only one person took the initiative to step up and take action.

Each October, we ask student leaders to address alcohol abuse during National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week (NCAAW), held annually the third full week of October.  We ask you to educate your peers and hold awareness events to remind students that most of their peers make healthy choices, drink at lower-risk levels (4 or fewer drinks in a sitting for males), and designate a sober driver.  We ask you to make a plan for a safe night out and to always designate a sober driver.

In addition to these events, we encourage you to take your programming one extra step.  We invite you to be an everyday hero – to raise your voice and be sure those around you stay safe.

The concept of an everyday hero means anyone can take action.  There is no need for superpowers, X-ray vision, or large muscles.

Simple actions such as speaking up when someone is leaving with a person they will regret in the morning or stepping up and taking the keys from someone who wants to drive after drinking are ways to be that everyday hero.  Actions can include calling for help when you are concerned about someone who is drinking too much, who is insistent on driving after drinking, or who is becoming angry or violent.

However, it is much easier to talk about stepping up and often more difficult to put those words into action.

In 2008, the University of Arizona, in partnership with collegiate entities including the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and The BACCHUS Network, developed an empowered bystander intervention and skill development program.  The program explores the reasons people do not intervene in problematic situations and offers the opportunity to learn and practice skills for intervening in the future.

The Step Up! program is centered on the idea that “teaching people about the determinants of prosocial behavior makes them more aware of why they sometimes don’t help.  As a result they are more likely to help in the future.”

The program explores the reasons why people are bystanders in situations in which they know (have a “gut feeling”) that something is not right, rather than are empowered to step up and take action.

Researchers identified three variables that influence the likelihood of a person intervening, and the biggest determinant is whether or not there are other people around.  Known as the Bystander Effect, people are more likely to help when they are the only bystander than when others are present.

This means that at a party or event, we are less likely to intervene or call for help if someone has been drinking heavily or is passed out.

You can increase your chapter’s confidence and ability to raise its voice and take action by becoming trained in and then training your peers in the five decision-making steps for intervening:

1. Notice the event
2. Interpret the event as a problem or emergency
3. Assume personal responsibility
4. Know how to help
5. Implement the help

The Step Up! program is available at no charge.  You can download the facilitator’s guide, student book, and PowerPoint from their website.

Although the program was designed with a focus on student-athletes, the core content is applicable to any student group.  We encourage you to take time this Fall to consider how you can increase the likelihood you and your friends will take action: to pick up a piece of trash, to call for help when someone had too much to drink, or to talk to a friend about his or her drinking, smoking, eating habits, or other health and safety concerns.

As leaders on your campus and within your chapter, we ask you to take on many roles – as an educator of correct information and resources and as a friend who will talk with a peer or brother when concerned.  We also ask you to be role models and to be willing to put into practice what you ask and expect of others.

And the next time you or I see someone who seems to have been forgotten, we will walk over and ask him if we can be of assistance.  We just might be that everyday hero to him.

Andrea Zelinko is the Director of Alcohol Abuse and Impaired Driving Prevention Initiatives for The BACCHUS Network and Coordinator of the Coalition of Colorado Campus Alcohol and Drug Educators (CADE). She has been with BACCHUS for eight years. She also serves as editor for The Peer Educator, BACCHUS’ bi-monthly publication on current events, trends, and campus happenings in peer education. Andrea joined BACCHUS after completing her Masters in Student Affairs and Higher Education at Colorado State University, where she also advised their peer education group.

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I have a six year old.  He is a great kid.  But I already know he is not the tough kid in the pack.  However, he is also not the mean one or the one that picks on others just to be spiteful.  But, inevitably the nice kid is always worried about what the mean kid is going to do to him.

We have a neighbor.   He is a year younger than my child.  He is the tough kid…the one that might hit you or kick you just because he has the guts to do it.  He is the one riding a bike before everyone else, the dare devil, the free spirit.  His name is Hoagie…with a name like that you will be tough.  I like him but I also know he is going to pick on my guy given the opportunity.

Recently we were at a neighborhood party.  My son approached me and reported that he was certain that Hoagie was going to hit him.  To be honest, based on what I had observed, I thought it would happen as well.  However, I looked at him and said to him what I say to college fraternity leaders on a daily basis…”Focus on what you can control.”  My son looked at me kind of funny but I went on to say “Can you control if Hoagie hits you?”   He quickly replied “No.”   So I said, “What can you control in this situation so you don’t get hit?”  His eyes lit up and he quickly said “How fast I run…I have to run faster than Hoagie.”  And my guy had the confidence to deal with the situation and he RAN.

I have had the great opportunity to work for Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity for the past 11 years.  I was hired after an alcohol related death of a new member and soon after I came on staff we had another alcohol related death of a new member.  At that time our National President challenged me, our staff and a committee of experts to “fix it.”  To be honest, I was overwhelmed.  However, through a strategic planning process created by the Higher Education Center and with the expertise of some wonderful professionals, Pi Kappa Phi created a plan and it was a plan that gave us the ability to focus on what we could control.  Since 2003, we have reduced our claims from 11 to 0.  From that plan, our insurance fee per man has gone from $250 a year to $163 if you pay early.  Has our organization fixed the alcohol problems on American college campuses?  Absolutely not; however, have we provided education, training and mature adult guidance and something is working.  The only way we have seen these improvements is from our student members making safer choices and focusing on what they can control.

It is National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week: the time of the year when we educate and challenge college students on the topic of alcohol.   You are fraternity men.  It is no secret that every study states that fraternity men drink at higher rates than the average student.  Don’t be offended by the statistic but don’t be proud of it either.   This week we challenge you to think about “what you can control.”

So, here again, you are just a fraternity man…one guy.  But, you are ONE GUY…what can you control?    Some thoughts…you can control how much alcohol you consume in a given night.  You can control if you are the member coordinating and providing alcohol to minors.  You can control if you see a friend making a high risk or illegal decision and if you choose to intervene.   You can control if you hand your little brother alcohol on big brother/little brother night (one of the most dangerous nights in a man’s new member period).

If you are an officer, you can’t control what every member does.  And you can’t control what people do before / after an event; however, you do control the planning of the event and the behavior expectations during the event.  Look around your chapter facility…are your members bringing alcohol into the house?  You can’t make your members drink responsibly or prevent them from drinking underage, but you can provide them with a safe alcohol-free environment that encourages responsible behavior.  Is the chapter using funds to purchase alcohol?  If you are leader, take control and stop the practice.

You get the point…you can control more than you think.  One person is not going to fix the alcohol challenges on American college campuses.  But, focus on what you control.  Simply, do your part.

Lori Hart is the Director of Alcohol Education for Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity and speaker for CAMPUSPEAK, Inc. In 2007, Lori was recognized by Campus Activities Magazine as “Speaker of the Year” and “Female Performer of the Year” for her contributions as an on-campus speaker in areas including relationships, alcohol and Fraternity and Sorority Life. She is the 2009 recipient of a “Distinguished Service Award” from the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors and the 2010 recipient of the “Dr. Karleem Riess Award” from the Southeastern Interfraternity Conference. 

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Hazing:  As the International President of Phi Delta Theta, I realize that anytime I say or write this word many of our members, both undergraduate and alumni, roll their eyes and expect to hear yet another lecture on the litany of reasons why hazing has no place in the Greek movement in general, or in our Fraternity specifically.  However, this piece isn’t directed at the members of Phi Delta Theta.  Instead it is directed at one of the most powerful, thoughtful and influential men in the world of sports: Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the National Football League.

You see, while the words “fraternity” and “hazing” are often associated together, the problem of hazing exists in many areas of our society including professional, college and high school athletics.  I refuse to accept the common perception that hazing is just a college fraternity/sorority problem.  In fact, I believe that national fraternities and sororities, and their respective chapters, do more to try and combat hazing then any organizations I can think of.  I realize that the Greek system gets most of the focus and I realize we have yet to completely end these practices within our own organizations, even though we have been waging the fight against hazing for decades.  However, we Greeks cannot combat hazing alone without key partners joining with us to end these stupid, pointless, harmful and sometimes dangerous traditions.  In fact, it makes it more difficult for us to combat hazing in our own ranks, when the media celebrates acts of hazing in shows such as the HBO series “Hard Knocks,” where it humorously profiled hazing in the NFL this past season.

That is why I was so pleased to read this past week that Jack Del Rio, Head Coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, has banned hazing this year from the Jaguars rookie training camp after things got out of hand in 2010.  Coach Del Rio defended his decision by saying that players needed to have more respect for each other in order to be better teammates.  And with his simple order, hazing stopped in the Jaguars training camp.  And just this week Jason Garrett, Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys, followed suit with a similar ban for his team.

For a coach to take this step in the NFL is important because it can trickle down to other NFL teams, and then into collegiate and high school athletics.  Ask any high school athlete, coach or referee about hazing and you will hear some incredible stories.  You can simply Google “high school sports hazing” and read an astonishing number of deplorable stories.  The NFL serves as a role model to high school and collegiate athletes whether it accepts the role or not.  And when hazing is accepted, and even celebrated, in the NFL, it makes it more acceptable at the high school and collegiate levels by conditioning students that hazing is an acceptable team-building behavior.

I am asking NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for help.  Last September, I wrote Commissioner Goodell a letter asking for his leadership in addressing hazing in the NFL and offering as help Phi Delta Theta’s 30 years of experience in fighting the issue.  That request for help from the Commissioner and offer of assistance by our Fraternity stands today.  The NFL sets the tone for many norms in our society and the players, coaches and owners do indeed serve as role models for our youth.  Their leadership on any issue can make a difference. Their leadership to join the fight against hazing just might even save a life.

At the time I wrote Commissioner Goodell last fall, there were many other things on his plate including the recently completed contract talks between the players and owners.  Those talks are now completed, the players are back in training camp and the NFL will most likely have another record breaking season.  Unfortunately the Commissioner missed an opportunity to ban hazing with the recently completed collective bargaining agreement.

While I realize that there is much the Commissioner’s office does throughout the year on a wide variety of issues, I would hope that he may see the steps recently taken by the Jaguars and Cowboys as an opportunity to use his position of leadership to begin stamping out hazing in the NFL.  His actions now may help lead to the elimination of hazing in other levels of sports, which can also help us in our fight against hazing.  Commissioner Goodell has the unilateral ability to draw the line in the sand regarding behavioral standards in the NFL, an authority he has used in the past to deal with other issues which are viewed as a threat to the league and/or its players.  I believe the Commissioner has the decency to take a stand that can affect thousands of young men and women who may never play in his league. And beyond the illegality of hazing in many states, it’s just stupid, wrong and harmful.

I’m not suggesting that we blame hazing within our organization on the NFL – far from it.  Phi Delta Theta will continue its on-going efforts to stamp out hazing in our own organization regardless of what others do.  However, I am suggesting that the active and vocal leadership of Commissioner Goodell on this issue could impact many parts of society for decades to come.

Commissioner Goodell, you have the ability to unilaterally stop hazing in the NFL.  All it takes from you is the stroke of a pen.  Please consider joining us in this effort, as it will have very positive consequences far beyond the gates of the National Football League.

Brother Mietchen is the General Council President. Scott is a 1984 graduate of the University of Utah where he earned both his B.S. and MPA. He has served the Fraternity as a chapter consultant, chapter adviser, house corporation president, province president, delegate to the NIC and member of the General Council from 1994-2000 and 2004-Present. Scott became an Iron Phi in 2010. Professionally Scott is President and Managing Partner of Fund Raising Counsel, Inc. (FRCI), the oldest fundraising consulting firm in the Intermountain West. He was recognized as Fund Raiser of the Year in 2006 by the Utah Society of Fund Raisers. Prior to joining FRCI, he served as Vice President for University Advancement at Utah State University. Scott, his wife Lisa, and their children, Abby (17) and Alex (14) live in Salt Lake City.

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