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Politics As Usual and the Dark Side of BGLOs
It’s political season. That’s not just the case nationally in presidential, senatorial, and congressional races. It’s also political season in organizations like black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs), and no race is more hotly contested than the one who decides...
Guessing Game: The Consequences of BGLOs Guessing at Solutions
For much of the Twentieth Century, black Greek-letter organizations (“BGLOs”) had few, major—e.g., deaths, law suits, major press—hazing incidents. But once the 1970s came, everything changed (deaths in red): 1977 | ALPHA | Bradley University 1977 | OMEGA | North...
Why the Model for Electing BGLO Leaders Undermines Addressing Hazing
I’m an active member of a number of black organizations—fraternal and professional. In one of the professional organizations, I serve on two committees and have done so for a few years. Last year, during the national convention for this organization, candidates for...
Blind Allegiance, Black Fraternalism, and the Failure to Evolve
One of the great threats that bedevil black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs)—not simply in the context of hazing but more generally as well—is blind allegiance. Blind allegiance is a concept typically studied in the context of patriotism or group identification...
BGLO Hazing: The Solutions Aren’t Simple, but They’re Out There
In recent months, I’ve turned back to revising my book manuscript on hazing within black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs). This will be one of my last books on these groups, and much of my focus at this point is on the range of factors that give rise to and...
NPHC, Inc.: Are They Stealing the Money or Simply Mismanaging It?
On December 7th, I read Gabriel Arana’s piece, “Why the Country’s Largest Minority-Journalism Group May Close,” on Huffington Post. In short, the article highlighted not only the National Association of Black Journalist’s (“NABJ”) financial meltdown. It also...
“Where There Is No Vision, The People Perish”: Why and How We Should Demand More from BGLO Leaders
After my last blog post, I received a lot of feedback—some in the comments section of the blog, some directly to me via email or Facebook. The one thing that struck me was that some people don’t realize how crucial it is that BGLOs have effective and visionary...
Who to Blame for the Continued BGLO Hazing – The Leaders
This week, just a few days ago, it came out in the media that Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity has just been hit with another hazing lawsuit. The reported facts seem peculiar and involve a police officer, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, hazing another grown man—leaving bruises...
You Asked for BGLO Hazing Solutions: Here Are Some on the Fly
One of the lingering critiques of my research on BGLOs is that I don’t provide solutions to the problems they face. This usually comes from those who don’t read my research but rather my blog posts, tweets, and Facebook commentary. Even still, assume I’m a physician,...
THE END OF BGLOS
For many years now, at least as long as I have been a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha—17 years—I have heard that “we are one lawsuit away from being out of business.” I am sure other BGLO members have heard the same thing. I always took it as hyperbole; and over the years,...
