According to its 2023 Hazing Report, UTD has had no hazing violations or disciplinary actions in the past three years — but despite the lack of reported incidents, hazing remains a frequent topic of conversation among students involved with campus Greek life. On forums like r/utdallas, users have discussed as recently as this semester whether certain pledge tasks mandated by Greek organizations might qualify as hazing.
While routinely dismissed as a mere prank or a necessary tradition, hazing on college campuses is illegal. UTD’s policy UTDSP5003 Section D: Hazing, which follows the Texas Education Code (Sec. 37.151), defines hazing as any reckless act that endangers a student’s mental or physical health during initiation or membership into an organization. This can include but is not limited to forced exercise, sleep deprivation, humiliation or substance use. Beyond physical risk, hazing can ruin mental health and the integrity of student organizations.
In 2017, The Mercury reported that the Chi Phi fraternity was found responsible for hazing after new members were told to perform wall-sits while reciting the chapter’s creed at a social gathering. The university placed the chapter on deferred suspension until 2021, meaning any future violations could have led to immediate shut down. The case followed a 2016 investigation that temporarily halted all Chi Phi activities and remains one of the few publicly documented hazing incidents at UTD.
The Retrograde reached out to 22 fraternity and sorority chapters for an open discussion on hazing, the role secrecy plays in hazing and how organizations handle these conversations internally. Only four organizations — Beta Chi Theta, Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Delta Chi and Delta Kappa Delta — responded over a two-week period.
While all the organizations that responded were open to an interview, healthcare studies senior and Kappa Delta Chi officer Aryanna Rivas was the only one to respond with a firm stance: “Our organization does not tolerate hazing of any shape or form.”
Former Tri Delta member and neuroscience senior Ellie Maguire said they don’t believe hazing is widespread at UTD. They said campus sororities don’t haze and campus fraternities will occasionally have pledge tasks, but that those tasks are “more about building social standing than hurting anyone.” Maguire said that cultures of secrecy within individual organizations, however, can constitute their own form of pressure.
“Secrecy isn’t the rule, it’s the excuse made to cover up bad behavior when it arises,” Maguire said. “The expectation is that if something can be handled in-house without affecting standing throughout Greek life, it will be.”
In Greek life, “chapter secrecy” refers to keeping rituals and internal matters private to preserve each organization’s sense of tradition and identity. Valeria Puente, a speech, language and hearing senior and Tri Delta’s director of risk management and wellness, said that confidentiality within the chapter isn’t about concealing wrongdoing but upholding privileges of knowledge for those who do more in the organization in comparison to new members.
“I feel like it builds a really strong foundation for the members only concept,” Puente said. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it secrecy. Maybe I would say exclusivity would be a better word, we never use the word secret, we always just use Tri Delta only or this specific organization only.”
Puente said she considers it a privilege to be a part of Tri Delta, and part of that privilege means knowledge of internal matters is earned, not accessible to everyone by default.
“It can be really hard to kind of draw the line as to what we’re able to share, what we’re not able to share, but we do take our rituals and all of our member only information very seriously and it’s not like we’re hiding anything,” Puente said. “It’s not like we don’t want other people to know, it’s hard to separate yourself from the organization … a difference between I am here as a representative of Tri Delta, which I am not, compared to like I am here doing this interview, and I happen to be in Tri Delta.”
Organizations can enforce chapter secrecy for their members through threat of legal action, including signing documents resembling non-disclosure agreements. Ryan S., former social chair for Phi Gamma Delta — better known as Fiji — said he was removed from Fiji after raising concerns about racism and sexual assault within the fraternity. Fiji chapter president Jadon Grimes informed Ryan of his removal in an email and warned him against speaking publicly.
“We caution you to NOT disclose anything about fraternity business, fraternity ritual, or anything related to official matters of the Tau Delta chapter of Phi Gamma Delta or our lawyers will be in pursuit,” Grimes wrote in the email.
Chapter secrecy can serve as a way for organizations to regulate what members share and how internal matters are handled. Confidentiality rules protect internal privileges, and members are often expected to address issues within the chapter rather than publicly. Former Alpha Gamma Delta member Alex M. said the culture of control means individual chapters receive little governance from outside sources.
“Most of the national bodies have no idea what goes on in these local chapters,” Alex said. “If the executive officers don’t tell them, there are almost no ways for them to know.”
Adam Joiner, assistant director for Fraternity and Sorority Life, said eradicating hazing will take time and open conversation. The FSL office offers online resources such as the Hazing Prevention Network, StopHazing Strategies and clearly defined hazing policies. With chapters emphasizing confidentiality and internal traditions and with limited public reporting of hazing incidents, it remains difficult to gauge how hazing is addressed within Greek life at UTD today.
“I wish you could just get rid of it in one night,” Joiner said. “But I think just starting the conversation is a basic way to do that.”