My very first blog post focused on sorority recruitment and how to be able to learn about the recruitment process. For those of you who can’t tell, I am a part of a sorority and proud of it. Another thing that I am very proud of is the fact we as a Greek community have a strong stance against hazing. Here at Eastern Michigan University we have a no tolerance hazing policy, which means that if any organization Greek or not is caught hazing, they are removed from campus. We as a Greek community organize a week long campaign to show that we do not haze.
In Professor’s Luttrell’s book “Social Media How to Engage, Share, and Connect” she mentions how there has been an increase in visual social media. “The need for and rise in the incorporation of images will undoubtedly increase in the coming years” (Luttrell 111). By using photos, it increases attention brought to social media campaigns, which is one thing we do for Anti-Hazing Week. My own chapter Sigma Kappa has a nationally recognized Anti-Hazing Week called RespΣΚt Week. I am currently in charge of planning both the RespΣΚt Week and the campus wide anti-hazing week. Both of these campaigns are used to show not only the Greek community but also the non-Greek community that we do not haze.
As a PR move, this is beneficial because it reflects a positive side of campus organizations and Greek Life to the community. So what is hazing? HazingPrevention.org defines hazing as “…any action taken or any situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment or ridicule and risks emotional and/or physical harm to members of a group or team, whether new or not, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate”(HazingPrevention.org). Anti-hazing week is an event that is displayed all over campus through different methods. These methods are as follows:
- Banners: The banners in the Student Center are hung up and pictures are displayed. The pictures are of members of Greek Life in their letters with their hands held up in the “stop” position. This is to represent the #TheseHandsDon’tHaze. Campuses all over use this hashtag to bring awareness to anti-hazing policies. This banner idea is new this year and was created by myself.
- Social Media Campaigns: Throughout the week, there will be different social media challenges. Each day the different chapters will be encourage to tweet out anti-hazing facts or support with the #HazingStopsWithUs
- Lobby Tables: Lobby Tables will also be set up in the Student Center so as people walk by, they can sign the anti-hazing pledge. Once they do this, they will get a purple ribbon to show that they signed the anti-hazing pledge.
- T-shirts: The volunteer staff of Greek Judicial Board, including myself, which is the board that listens to different cases if something goes wrong within the Greek community, will be making shirts that have the #HazingStopsWithUs and the Greek Life symbol on them. These T-shirts will be worn throughout the week and extras will be sold to anyone who wants one. The money raised from the shirts will then be donated back the official hazing prevention website which can be found here.
- Chalking: Sidewalk chalk is done all over campus to raise awareness as people walk to and from class. There will be different facts about hazing and prevention listed. It is suggested that people chalking take a picture with their sidewalk chalk and #HazingStopsWithUs.
All of these different ideas for the anti-hazing week are promoted throughout campus to bring awareness to those within and outside the community. The whole anti-hazing week is to bring attention through different social media campaigns, pictures, and anything else relevant to helping others understand what we do and do not stand for.
References
Luttrell, R. (2016). Social Media How to Engage, Share, and Connecr (2nd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23hazingstopswithus&src=typd
https://twitter.com/search?q=these%20hands%20dont%20haze&src=typd
What Hazing Looks Like. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://hazingprevention.org/home/hazing/facts-what-hazing-looks-like/
haileyhunter3.wordpress.com 
I think it is awesome how many visuals that Greek life created to use as promotional material to show that they don’t participate in hazing. The more visuals means that the more people are seeing your message, and will also help people to actually believe what you are saying. Including multiple visual platforms to display your message and making them visible throughout all of campus shows how invested the Greek life organizations are invested in it, and in turn will make people realize how seriously it is taken on Eastern’s campus. I am happy that you wrote a blog about this matter and explained EMU’s Greek life views and campaigns against it. I know that I personally automatically think of hazing as being a part of joining and have always been automatically reluctant to ever consider joining a Greek life organization because of that and I’m sure many other people not involved in it that don’t know many people who are share the same feeling. What a great campaign to utilize public relation strategies into!
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I think that it great that the Greek organization and everywhere on campus is anti-hazing and if they do hazing the group or person they get kicked out of the University. There’s so many people that don’t want to join a Greek community because you here all of these story’s back in the day of new members that would get hazed. I think that it is great that Eastern has no tolerance for it. So people that want to going a Greek life they can without feeling like they’re going to have to do something to be part of the group. Also, I liked the idea that your sorority is going out and companying the anti- hazing with the hashtag These Hands Don’t Haze, banners, social media campaigns, lobby tables, t-shits, and chalking. So no matter where you are on campus you will know that there is no hazing when it comes to all organizations. I this would make more people want to join sororities and not be afraid and they can make friends and have a good time. You seem that your very involved in this campagna and passionate about your sorority and I love reading the different things that I write about what’s going on in your sorority.
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I really enjoyed reading this blog. I am also in Greek Life, so I was already aware of this. But, I think it’s really awesome how you are planning both weeks for you r own chapter and for Greek Life as a whole. It’s so nice to see all of the different promotional tools that were used for this week. This week is very important for Greek Life, because it really helps reduce the different types of stereotypes that Greek Life has. I also, saw the banner in the student center and thought it was a really good visual! Good job on thinking of that! It’s really nice to see how all of this relates back to PR. We see so many different social media campaigns and its amazing to see all of the aspects that are put into these campaigns to make it so successful. Good job on the campaign. You seem to really know how to get people to use the hash-tag and get involved!
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