When fraternities get in trouble, we all get hurt.

Girls are really beginning to feel sorry for themselves, because each week it seems like we are missing one more social option for the coming weekend. The term “frat-hopping” will soon become “frat-hop” and maybe even just “frat” if Greek Life keeps cracking down on them.

Probation is even worse for guys. Unless they have a strong underground network, awesome off-campus houses, and/or popular pong nights, their reputation and name recognition just goes down the drain.

This has become a huge problem in the past few weeks, as it is every year at around this time. It’s pledge season, and the scent of hazing is in the air. It is not unusual to see guys get nervous when KT comes around the corner or clam up when asked where they were last night from 10 to midnight. Greek Life is cracking down hard this year, and all of the fraternities are on their guard.

When a student hears that a fraternity may lose everything because they made their pledges clean their suites, drive people around or drink exorbitant amounts of alcohol (as if that’s not what they were planning on doing anyway), they can’t help but laugh. There are national rules and guidelines, and it is understandable that Greek Life wants to be cautious about what Vanderbilt’s hazing situation is. It is hard not to hate on them, though, when considering their current lineup of inconsistent punishments and questionable investigations.

Hazing happens at every fraternity, the trick is just not to get caught. You can have the Chapter of the Year, for all they care and have the most easygoing new member process on campus, but if one of your freshmen has a tough night, your fraternity can be done for. In the mean time, you could have a pledge sent to the emergency room on crutches after a night of “new member activities,” and still not get into any trouble if he is loyal enough to lie.

And what’s the real problem with hazing anyway? It can obviously get a little out of hand — Hollywood tells us that. But in its purest form hazing is a great thing, and fraternities would be nothing without it. Pledge classes form an unbreakable bond through their experiences as freshmen because of what they work through (or suffer through) together. When you see a group of girls on campus, unless they all have tote bags with the same Greek letters on them, you can never be sure if they are all in the same sorority or not. When you see a group of guys together, more often than not, they are all in the same fraternity.

Hazing is just like any other way of building a strong community. Some fraternities have all of their pledges dress up on the same day. How is that any different than a private school that has all of their students wear a uniform? A group of pledges may have to shotgun four beers for messing up a brother’s name. How is that any different than a soccer team punished with sprints after losing a big game? A fraternity may have forced their pledges to perform in Anchor Splash. I don’t know what that relates to, but not many guys would choose to do that sober. Either way, every brother in the house has to go through it, so hazing can really just be seen as pledges putting in their fair share of work in order to connect with all brothers of every class.

Frannie Boyle is a sophomore in the College of Artsand Science.  She can be reachedat .