Frat Boys: Inside America's Fraternities This World

This programme contains very strong language

and scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.

America's frat boys.

Notorious for hard drinking...

..and even harder partying.

Bound by a secret world of rituals...

He chose me. Bond has been made.

..and lifelong bonds between fraternity brothers.

I can smell the other side, put it that way, and I want it.

I'm doing it, there's nothing stopping me.

Its members go on to become some of the most powerful

and influential people in America.

Do I think he's putting in the effort that we all have put in

to become a brother? No, I do not.

But they are also institutions accused of creating

a culture of sexual abuse...

Woke up in this bed, like,

with no clothes on and I had no idea where I was and I was so scared.

..and brutality towards its new members.

I just remember that I was lying there on that floor

and I didn't think I was going to make it.

I'm not a man at all, brothers, I'm a weak boy.

Here we have Kappa Sigma.

They are one of the fraternities on campus right now.

Across America, thousands of college students pledge allegiance

to a fraternity or sorority each year.

Most are named after ancient Greek letters.

It's a tradition stretching back 250 years.

In the back you have Kappa Alpha Theta.

It's down there, you can barely see it.

It's pretty nice. And then you have Sigma Chi on the left.

Fraternities are elite clubs that provide

accommodation for their members.

There's over 120 different national organisations.

This is the AZD house, Alpha Xi Delta.

Ben is in his third year at the University of Central Florida.

A fraternity is a brotherhood.

It's an organisation of like-minded people who are just

kind of together to meet a common goal.

A sorority is the same thing but with women.

You have an opportunity to meet so much more people,

to become something greater than yourself.

INTERVIEWER: So are you generally kind of the most

successful people on campus?

I don't want to stereotype, but, yeah, we are.

We're way more successful.

Fraternities supply 3 billion worth of housing

across university campuses, and to live in a fraternity house

can cost students up to 2,500 per term.

It's an investment in yourself, to get an experience

you really can't get anywhere else in the world.

This is the Gazoni Family house on the right.

Ben is a brother in the Gazoni Family, an independent

fraternity that has broken away from one of the national groups.

This is Fish Bowl.

This is called Fish Bowl because they built a fishbowl into the bar,

which is pretty cool.

-Big Momma's house!

-This is Brandon.

The fraternity is currently home to 78 active members.

When I grow up I want to own a business.

I want to be a dentist and become as successful as possible.

I want to be an engineer.

I want to become a sports agent

and represent all the top athletes in the sports world.

But that's going to be a little side job for me.

In order for me to become successful and wealthy,

I'm probably going to want to own my own company.

You've always got to dream big.

I want to drive that fast car, live in a big house, have a lot of kids.

Always have high expectations for yourself.

We're killing the rest of the bottle...

Where's the bottle?

THEY CHEER

They also have certain expectations

of the girls who come to visit the house.

I'm sure there's many uses of this pole

but we typically... It's just like an attraction.

People come to this room, like, "Oh, my God, a stripper pole,"

and then come in and have fun.

So when we finish the bottle we use the top of the shelves

to put it there, showcase what we drink.

-A trophy case.

-Yeah, a trophy case.

What's this up here?

I don't know what you're talking about.

It's just, uh, bras and underwear.

I mean, people forget it and leave it there.

I don't know, it just happens, you know?

We are by far the most fun people you will ever meet in Greek life.

We have more connections,

we have more friends,

we have more fun than anyone else.

I have no idea why anybody at any school would not want to be

a part of Greek life, the Gazoni Family,

or anything greater than themselves in general.

It blows my mind.

But there is more to being a frat boy than booze and sex.

Many hope it will lead to a life of power, wealth and success.

These are the members of Alpha Kappa Alpha,

who are the members and staff.

These are people who work on The Hill.

All of these women are destined for greatness.

I don't know one AKA who fell off the beaten path.

Frederica S Wilson joined an African American sorority

at university aged 18.

She is now an influential member of the US Congress.

This is my favourite here.

Whenever you see the two of us, I mean, there's that connection.

You know, it's not just a casual acquaintance.

Is this on the...?

Air Force One. Mm-hmm, President's plane.

And that's another one on Air Force One

and I have another one on Air Force One.

I have many more pictures, but if I knew that I was going to

have this many pictures I wouldn't have blown them up so big, so...

Membership of a fraternity or sorority can last

way beyond graduation.

It's a wonderful world of friendship, of service,

of love, for life, for ever.

It is one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.

In this Congress,

75% of the men belong to a fraternity...

..and maybe 40% of the women belong to a sorority.

But most of those members aren't African American women.

Fraternities were formed in 1776 as secret literary dining clubs

with many similar rituals to the Freemasons.

Ever since, they've mostly been a bastion of America's

white middle classes.

Today, what's known as Greek life has played

a role in the lives of many of America's elite and powerful.

From Hollywood movie stars to the bosses of some of America's

biggest companies, these still quite secretive societies form part of

a network that reaches high into the upper echelons of American society.

Nearly half of America's presidents have pledged to a fraternity.

It's just that one little thing that gives you an advantage

over another candidate for a position to say,

well, we're fraternity brothers,

and so we obviously subscribe to the same values

and the same beliefs, and so therefore,

if I'm the candidate for a job, you may say,

well, you know, he represents qualities

that we are really looking for, because I know what those are.

If you are a Tau Kappa Epsilon and you are 23 years old

and you are looking for a job in a new city,

you have, as a list of resources,

a complete group of people that you are part of,

and you can send a resume to or you can make a phone call to.

And you as well as they have pledged lifelong brotherhood,

and it works to the benefit of many people.

In Florida, a new intake of students are about to try

and join the Gazoni Family. But new recruits will have

to prove themselves before they can enter the brotherhood.

This kid has been washing this guy's car for ever.

-The hose doesn't reach, man.

-That's awful.

The recruits will go through an intensive ten-week period

called pledging where they will be tested to see if they fit in.

I'm going to have you move my entire bed to the left

and you are going to take this sponge

and this bleach and you're going to remove any mould that you see.

So, like, any of this black shit.

To demonstrate their loyalty,

the pledges have to do all the menial jobs around the house.

I just want you to hang all my clothes,

spray them with wrinkle release, unwrinkle them.

-Um, that's it.

-All right, cool.

Pledge number 12.

It's James...

..and he's just going to hang up my clothes. Hm?

-I thought it was Jordan, not James.

-Is it Jordan?

-Thanks, man. Love you too, Bro.

-See, I'm confused.

Just hang the shirts and throw the pants in the dresser.

Button-downs first, then long sleeves, and then T-shirts

and then, if you don't have enough hangers, athletic shirts.

Pledging is a period before you are a brother.

It's kind of a test run to see

if the organisation is actually right for you.

You follow through the process

and then you earn your place in the organisation.

Ben is definitely...

He's a well-respected brother around here.

He's definitely a good guy to... not necessarily idolise

but try to follow in their footsteps, kind of thing.

I'm originally from Leicester, lived there for 15-and-a-half years.

I moved here in my second year of high school.

I'd never even heard of a fraternity until I moved to America.

I didn't even know what it was.

I'd seen it referenced in a couple of movies

but wasn't really paying attention to it.

Didn't realise how much of a big deal that was

until I moved out here and out here it's...

It's a big deal.

Why do you want to be part of a fraternity?

A lot of people just think it's about going out and drinking

and everything - they have other stuff too.

You get to meet a cool bunch of people

and a lot of your friends that you keep for the rest of your life

you meet in college,

and it's a really easy way to meet a big group of people.

You get to meet the right people, who you want to talk to,

and essentially it's also a good way of, like, getting connections

outside of college that could help you link up with jobs and stuff.

-All right, not just to get girls.

-Absolutely not, not just that.

It's a bonus.

One day I'll have someone doing this for me,

that's the best way to look at it. And everyone has done this.

It's not like we're singled out

and we're the only people that have done this.

Everyone who's up there, even the President, has done this.

You know, you earn your stripes, I guess.

This is not coming off.

-Hey, man.

-What are you going to start with?

-The normal stuff.

-OK.

-Let's go down the line.

-What's your major?

-Finance.

-And what do you want to do with that?

I'm going to be a financial adviser and stockbroker.

Before I graduate I'm just trying to trade a lot.

-Favourite quote?

-Favourite quote?

"They say money can't buy happiness but I'll take my fucking chances."

Nice.

'Part of the pledging process,

'you have to get to know all the brothers.'

What's the point of joining an organisation

if you don't know anyone in it?

So every week you have to interview a certain amount of brothers.

You have to get to know them, ask them certain questions -

when they were initiated, their families, whatnot.

Best tip for pledging?

Um, just meet as many girls as possible.

The more girls you meet, the more girls that like you,

the more likely you are to get through.

Biggest fear?

Not being successful.

-Same as everybody else.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Makes sense.

-And the last one - ass or tits?

Dang. Tits.

-All right, I'm done.

-All right, cool.

Jordan is one of 25 pledges

trying to join the Gazoni fraternity.

I'm going to go through this,

so hopefully you guys have everything done. If not...

..it's going to reflect poorly on you.

I am the shepherd of the flock of sheep

and they are all the new sheep and I am trying to guide their way

to the pasture, you could say,

which is the brotherhood in my mind.

Let's go over the, uh, 14 expectations.

Do you guys know them all? All right, was the first one?

Second one?

13?

All right. Greek alphabet. Anyone think they know it here yet?

Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, theta, eta, iota...

-No, you messed that up.

-Oh, I messed up?

-Eta.

-Yeah, zeta, eta, theta.

I said that!

EVERYONE TALKS AT ONCE

All right, if you guys don't know that yet, you're going

to have to just start knowing your shit, guys.

Hopefully you've been getting your interview done, your house hours.

I'm going to be looking through that tonight.

'We all want to become the best people we can be'

and that's why we do have such a strong brotherhood, it's cos

we all have about the same values and same wants and goals in life.

Across America, around 100,000 students are going through

this process at the same time.

But pledging isn't always innocent fun.

A big university is in crisis mode tonight after a teenage student

found unconscious in a frat house has died.

A drastic move after the tragedy on campus.

West Virginia University is suspending all Greek activity

after a freshman died.

What's happening right now at West Virginia University

in Morgantown is just the latest tragic incident involving

fraternities at colleges all across our country.

Sometimes, the process of joining includes more sinister elements.

There are some rituals that do take place

where you're supposed to demonstrate your manhood,

or your strength, or your intensity

or your perseverance,

or your ability to endure difficult circumstances

that results in a tragedy.

-Shut the fuckers up!

-Shut the fuck up.

With brothers swearing an oath of secrecy, little is known.

But a handful of unverified images have appeared online.

Each of you little bitches have sinned

-and now you bitches...

-Ooh!

-..will confess.

What if we confess to the wrong thing, brother?

THEY ALL CHEER

Pussy!

What these videos appear to show is that pledging rituals

can involve physical beatings,

forced alcohol consumption

and even branding of the skin.

For the last 20 years, attorney Doug Fierberg has worked on lawsuits

related to dangerous pledging practices which are known as hazing.

This is a wrongful death in a fraternity case.

A wrongful death, fraternity hazing.

Wrongful death, fraternity hazing.

For years in this country, Americans had been denied the truth

about how dangerous fraternities are to young people and families.

Most everything in here is filled with files

of fraternity injury and death.

And that's just, sort of, part of what's active.

There's filing cabinets all around this office.

In them are just tragedies involving fraternities and Greek life.

We took this picture when he went up to his university

and he got this new laptop.

We were monkeying around with his Photo Booth.

Eight years ago, Harrison Kowiak was in the process of trying to join a fraternity.

I remember clearly asking him why he wanted to join

and he said, "Well, you know, I just want to get

"the full college experience."

It was 11.30 at night and the phone just rang.

It was Harrison's fraternity.

And I remember him telling me that there had been an accident,

that it happened on campus,

they were playing football and he fell down very hard

and hurt his head. That's what we were told.

I took the flight up and I remember the brother and another brother

from the fraternity that Harrison was pledging

had picked me up at the airport and they were very upset

and drove me immediately over to the trauma centre,

but it was too late.

He was alive, but frankly, just barely.

We sent Emma to school that morning just feeling...

I wouldn't want to upset her.

Then Leanne called and said you two better come up here.

So, I went over to pick her up and she said, you know,

"It's bad, isn't it? It's really serious, huh?"

We just, like, hopped on a plane to North Carolina

and I just didn't know what was going on. And then, erm...

Yeah, I mean, at that age I just really was

not understanding what was happening at all.

It just... Wait, because I can remember it quite clearly,

but I can't, like, say it.

You don't expect to send your child off to college and not come back.

You don't expect them to go and study and come back in a coffin.

At first, the family say they were told that Harrison had

been injured while playing football.

But as the hours passed, it became clear this wasn't true.

After individuals are injured in fraternity events,

we often see the brothers coming together to manufacture stories.

The same ties of brotherhood that brought everybody together

and created a strong lifelong brotherhood,

are the same ties that then have the individuals afterwards

getting their stories straight.

The Kowiak family commissioned an investigation into Harrison's death.

They now believe that he died in an initiation ritual.

It was Hell Week.

They drove about 20 miles off campus, it was an open field.

There was no lights, no electricity there.

The fraternity brothers were wearing dark-coloured clothing.

The two pledges were told to run from one end of the field

to the other end of the field and touch or get the sacred rock.

Once they had started running across the field they were being tackled

by the fraternity brothers who were football players.

It was just that one hit where he hit the ground so hard

that he had injured his head.

I can just hope one day - maybe even on their death beds, who knows -

just realise what they did was wrong

and what they did was wrong in trying to cover the whole thing up.

The university, the fraternity and the individuals involved arranged

an out-of-court settlement with the Kowiak family,

without admitting liability.

The reasons for why the schools might hide the truth about fraternities -

it would deter individuals from joining fraternities

and fraternities are extremely valuable to universities.

They have very loyal alumni

and are often significant donors to the university

and they do not want the fraternity system changed.

The university involved, the local police force and the national fraternity,

all said that hazing played no part in the events that night.

The university says it has a zero tolerance policy on hazing.

Since Harrison's death eight years ago,

at least 22 students in America have died while pledging to a fraternity.

Ultimately, all we can do at the national level

is to put the protocols and the policies in place.

Whenever somebody doesn't follow that path,

then it becomes very challenging.

So, we can only have so much control at the national level

over those types of things that have to do with hazing,

that have to do with incidents that are completely inconsistent

with what we stand for.

In the fraternity industry, the activities of the chapter

are supervised much like the fox watching the chicken coop.

The individuals that have historically hazed and been hazed

are the ones that are responsible for implementing

and then enforcing anti-hazing policies.

It's doomed to fail, it has failed, it always fails

and it will fail again in the future.

In Florida, it's time for each new recruit to be matched up with

an established member who will become his big brother.

Getting a big brother in a fraternity is a very private ritual.

We went through a little adventure and then at the end he found out

it was, you know, it was me.

What's the little adventure that you went on beforehand?

Er...

How do I put this? I can't really tell you because it's, like,

it would give out our secrets completely,

but hide and seek, I'd say.

-He got to find me. He got to find me.

-Yeah.

-Hide and seek?

-Yeah.

-You could sum it up as, like...

-He has no clue it was going to be me.

..you put in the work to get a reward, kind of thing.

You had to put in work to get the reward at the end.

How different is having a brother in the brotherhood to your own brother in your family?

I'm looking at it the same way. You know what I mean?

If he needs help, I'm going to give him the same amount of effort in helping him

as I would my own brother.

But you didn't come from the same parents?

Yeah, but I accepted this.

It's like...more like you accept this for yourself.

It's how it is - brotherhood.

It's why I chose him.

It was a long process, but I chose him, you know what I mean?

He chose me.

The bond has been made.

-There's like, shit on the table.

-Sorry, bro.

-There's, like, hair. What classes are you taking?

-Right now?

-Yeah.

Physics, bio and two psych classes.

What's your major?

Health sciences pre-med.

I knew Andor a little bit, so I knew a bit about him

and every time I've hung out with him, we've just had a lot of fun, so...

-He's just a good guy, so...

-THEY LAUGH

-Well, thanks.

-You're welcome.

Jordan is a cool guy. He's going to have a lot of questions later on.

So anything he does or needs help with, I'm going to be the one guiding him, I'd say.

Becoming a good man, a better man, is what we're trying to do.

With a big brother's support, pledges are expected to represent

the fraternity's image in every way.

What are we working? Our upper body?

We're doing tri's and a little bit of bi's, mainly the triceps.

Usually the scrawny kids don't get love like that.

The bigger ones do, so...

There you go.

They used a call me concave chest. Like, my chest was, like, indented.

I was very scrawny, I had braces,

just an unpleasant looking kid, to be honest.

I joined the frat. The first thing that happened was my braces.

I was, like, I really don't need these any more. The girl's don't like them.

I got nail clippers and I just took them all off.

Everyone saw the change. Like, "Oh, shit. That's actually pretty cool." I got a confidence boost in that.

Try not to rock a little bit.

I talked to Frank. I'm, like, yeah, I need to get a little bit bigger.

Everyone's getting on me for my concave chest, so...let's start going to work out.

Before he looked like his chest was indented,

so now you can tell it's opening up a little bit more...

-I see some growth.

-One more set and then we'll get into it. Control it, there we go.

'We don't want to be the goofy fraternity, we want to be the good-looking fraternity, I guess.'

Which is mad, like, shallow of me, but...

Whatever, it's like a shallow organisation. Fuck it.

-Do you know what I mean? It is what it is.

-What do you mean by "it's a shallow organisation"?

I mean, through appearance, through sororities and fraternities. If a girl doesn't find you attractive,

she's not going to give you the time of day. And if she finds one of my brothers unattractive,

she's going to classify all of us unattractive individuals.

As a brother, you look cooler,

that you get a lot of girls, that you can talk to a lot of girls.

But, like, me personally, like, I'm not the type of guy

that is going to bring home ten different girls in one month.

No, I'm probably only going to do two or three girls, because that's the way I am.

-Looking good, man.

-Mm?

See that? See that?

-See that, see that?

-Ooh!

-Being able to talk to girls, it increases sorority relations.

-Exactly.

The better we are with sororities, the more girls will come round.

Let me see.

Do you want to play ball?

SHE LAUGHS

All right, Jen, you're up.

Am I playing? Do I have do go from, like, a certain...

Hooking up with sororities is crucial to being a successful fraternity.

Oh, that's good!

I think sororities are the best people ever.

-Do an impression. Do an impression.

-IN GIRLIE VOICE:

-Are you going out tonight?

Jen is a sister in Zeta Tau Alpha.

-Sorority girls are actually rude girls.

-I mean, that's slightly accurate.

A sorority with close relations to the Gazoni Family.

'When you're in a fraternity, like, want the older brothers to think you're cool.

'You want to be accepted.'

If a guy gets with a girl in a sorority and she's really hot,

or she's in a good sorority, it definitely looks good on them.

Girls love us! Every girl loves us.

If they hear you're a Gazoni, they're going to love you.

Getting girls, it's probably, like, the number one thing

on their priority list sometimes.

It's numbers with guys, for sure.

Like, "Oh, how many girls have you had sex with?"

"Oh, 30!" Ugh, gross.

Yeah. Ugh. Some guys are really gross, too.

Like, ugh, God.

A fraternity at Duke University is suspended this morning.

It stems from rape allegations

at an Alpha Delta Phi fraternity party earlier this month.

The school president took that action over the weekend

after a female student's graphic account of being gang raped

at a university fraternity house.

This is the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house here behind me.

The suspects in this case are being held without bail tonight.

They're charged with first and second degree rape.

Greek life is currently at the centre of a national controversy

about rape on campus.

Marissa is in her final year at college.

She has witnessed first hand how the set-up between fraternities

and sororities can leave female students vulnerable.

MUSIC PLAYS

That's, like, if you look up fraternity in the dictionary and it's that.

I think fraternity and sorority Greek life is just

the personification of patriarchy.

Like, they're totally in the position of power in these situations.

They're setting up the parties, they're in control of alcohol,

they're in control of the set-up. Like, it's at that their house. It's their stomping ground,

Like, they're so much in control and, like,

they want to feel masculine, they want to hook up with girls.

They want to party, they want to feel cool and there's honestly, like, a pressure.

Like, there's a time in the night where you see the switch in the party.

I've had guys try to dance with me,

I tell them no and they just won't leave me alone

and I've had to, like, scream in their face and tell them to leave me alone.

It's, like, I shouldn't have to do that. Like, I shouldn't feel so uncomfortable

and I shouldn't have to, like, tell someone no multiple times to not touch me.

It's crazy.

Two years ago, Marissa went to a frat party where events spiralled out of her control.

I had a beer and then the next thing I know I, like, don't remember anything.

Like, just such a clear blackout that I've never experienced before.

Especially, like, for how little I drank and then how fast it happened.

And then I woke up and I was at an apartment, not at the fraternity house any more.

I, like, woke up in this bed with no clothes on

and I had no idea where I was and I was so scared.

I had some bruises on my arms.

It looked like I was grabbed and I had some on my legs, too.

So, I obviously knew something happened and that was really hard

and so I just wanted to go home and shower and just forget about it.

At most American universities, allegations of rape and sexual assault

are initially dealt with by the college itself.

But Marissa didn't report what happened to her.

There's just not a proper system in place that women feel comfortable reporting it

and feel confident that they're going to have their case dealt with properly.

Because I can't even name one person that has successfully gone through

every step of the process and gotten their assailant expelled or suspended.

Not one person.

This is the counselling centre right here.

So we pass through fraternities coming here.

So, and there's more on the other side.

No matter what angle you're coming from, you could walk by

where you were raped in order to get help.

Many American universities are private institutions

and rely on donations.

It's estimated that 75% of donations come from former Greek members.

I think that the schools have a motive to want to sweep

fraternity sexual violence under the rug

and not necessarily expose it and root it out.

Schools benefit a lot from having fraternities on their campus in many ways.

Financially, in recruiting and admissions, and access to alumni.

The university wants to keep it within the school

and keep it more of a student affairs issue.

"Oh, this just happened. Let's talk it out and figure it out." Like, no.

This is a violent crime and it needs to be treated that way.

Most people will call the counselling centre.

Call up the sexual assault helpline,

but they rarely get to that point where they file criminal charges.

Just because every school has to, like, release the amount of sexual assault reports...

..and no-one wants to be the rape school.

The institution is set up in a lot of ways that allows for sexual assault to thrive.

We have vulnerable victims that are accessible.

Two, we have interested perpetrators,

and then, three, we have an institutional motive to sweep sexual violence under the rug,

because it's going to make them look bad.

Study after study shows that fraternity men are three times more likely to sexual assault

than non-fraternity men.

I can certainly say that, you know, nothing about

sexual relations with somebody else is part of the fraternity system period.

It's not something that is any part of our operations, our ritual,

the things that we believe in.

Do those type of things happen because you've got guys

who are of a certain age and together and maybe there's a little bit of peer influence?

Or the same way that there would be with the military or with a sports team?

Perhaps, yes.

A study commissioned by the American Association of Universities

found that one in four female college students reported unwanted sexual contact

and more than one in eight experienced serious sexual assaults.

I honestly have lost track of how many people that I know

that have been sexually assaulted.

It's hard to, like, look at all the houses and be, like...

when you know your closest friends were raped there, it's really hard.

Yeah, this is...

..a love/hate relationship with this place.

Fond memories and bad.

Syracuse University says it has been at the forefront

in the fight against sexual and relationship violence

and it has a strong structure in place to prevent and respond to sexual and relationship violence.

Last year, 16 students were suspended or expelled.

In Florida, there's just a week left of pledging.

Cheers, cheers. Good morning, good morning.

And the Gazoni Family have an important men-only event planned.

All right, let's go! Let's go!

Today's our brotherhood retreat event.

We are at ManChild Land, pretty excited. I don't know what to expect from it.

It's bonding time.

One, two, three.

THEY CHEER

Yo, we're here!

Today's event takes place in the extensive grounds of one the brother's family homes.

We're at ManChild Land.

We've got a tiki hut, private beach. We've got everything.

All right, y'all. Listen up. This is an exercise that we call Over The Rope.

The object - your entire class has three chances

to make it over the rope and however you do that is up to you.

But you cannot go under the rope, you cannot touch the rope.

If you do not get in three tries, you fail. All right?

Let's get a move on, team.

The idea behind Over The Rope is for all of our new guys

who are looking to be initiated at the end of this semester

to learn that, you know, we're stronger as a group.

One, two, three... Whoa, whoa, whoa!

THEY CHEER

Let's go. One, two, three.

Jump. Fuck, yeah.

You know, as the group of guys getting over the rope gets smaller and smaller,

it becomes more difficult to get the next person over the rope.

-ALL:

-Ooh!

-KEEP IT GOING! Let see it.

-ALL:

-One, two, three.

THEY CHEER

All, right, guys - come here - bring it in.

Yo, bring it in!

So what this is supposed to symbolise to you guys is...

that we're stronger as a unit and as you guys divide up

and you become individuals,

the task becomes a lot harder.

Remember that if you are lucky enough to become brothers.

Go drink!

CHEERING AND CHATTER

Tomorrow, the brothers will decide who makes it into the fraternity.

No-one wants to fuck up, but...

at the same time, you don't want to try and suck up to them all day,

they're probably not going to like that either.

Just be yourself, that's what they've said

from the start of the semester.

Some of the brothers have got their doubts

about Jordan's commitment.

He hasn't been coming around often, like, he has a lot of work.

He had to take a test on the fraternity,

didn't do too well, like...

Brothers take that accountable and it might hurt him,

but he has today to like, bring that back, know what I mean?

Um, this is what we call circle of brothers.

And basically, what I'm going to kick off,

I'm going to kick off what this organisation has done for me

and what I would like to do to help

this organisation in the future.

So this organisation,

it has...

truly made me a man.

It just solidifies the fact more that this is exactly what

I want to do, so.... And it was important to come out today,

this is a big bonding event for the brothers

and it's one of your main bonding events this semester, so they

would have looked at it a bit like, OK, maybe you don't want to be here.

In the future,

I want to make good connections outside the fraternity,

help out any brother who needs help with work, anything like that.

In the future, when I make a good amount of money, come back

and like Tim, make some donations and stuff like that.

-OK, Jordan, let's go.

-Not to be able to enjoy it any more after this

-would kind of suck.

-I see this and I want to do this as a brother.

Since the day I've been here, I've wanted it, really bad, like.

I wanted it so bad.

I can smell the other side, put it that way, and I want it.

-I'm doing it.

-Yeah.

-There's no stopping me.

It's time for the brothers to decide who will get through to initiation.

THEY CALL OUT NAMES AND NUMBERS

The brothers have a final vote on who gets in.

We're not going to be there to see the vote.

I've put in a lot of time and effort this semester, as have all the other pledges.

I think there's always a chance that they could say no.

INDISTINCT

..Initiate Jordan Cole - are there any objections?

-Yes.

-Let's go.

Jordan is the first to be discussed.

As you guys know,

I'm pretty adamant that this kid not get included in this initiation.

The way I see it, we all worked hard to get to where we are and, um...

I'm not about to devalue the entire pledge process for one kid

who did not come around to any of the events that he was

asked to come to up until this last week. I would think he has

put in the least amount of work as any pledge I've seen here.

The final vote is,

you need 87.66% approval rate.

There's not a single thing about where we came from, how we

started or where we're going, and I don't want to take him with us.

There's cons and pros, we talk about it, a lot of speeches go on.

So, I have assigned him multiple things to do.

I don't know if you guys are aware, but multiple weeks, he does not turn

in any interviews and just tells me, "Oh, I'll get you ten next week".

"I'll get you ten the next week."

I like the kid as a person, I think he's a cool-ass kid, but do I think

he's putting in the effort that we all have put in to become a brother?

No, I do not.

So, I'm his big brother.

The only time he missed the five interviews was

when he was in Chicago.

Five interviews, that's all he missed from you. And, uh...

-That's not true, by the way.

-Well, then he's lying. Someone's lying.

I didn't think he's lying, cos he showed me all the others.

Any more questions?

Yo! All in favour of initiation of Jordan Cole, raise your hands.

INDISTINCT

PHONE RINGS

Damn. Yeah, what's up?

All right, bro.

See ya. Oh, shit!

I have to go down the boys' house. At 11.40.

Damn.

I've been told to come to the President of the fraternity's house,

Ando's apparently there as well, so...

I have no idea what's going to happen, so...we shall see.

After hours of waiting to know if he has been accepted,

Jordan has one final tradition to endure.

We just tell them after the vote that, "Hey, come over,

"we really want to talk to you about what happened."

And we'll bring him in, surround him,

"Hey, I'm sorry, but you just didn't make it."

We let 'em walk out of the house, they're all upset,

he doesn't know what to say.

And then you're like, "Hey, just kidding! You made it through!"

LAUGHTER

Congratulations!

-Did we get you?

-You guys!

Just freak him out a little bit, it's just a tradition we got going.

We all had to go through that, it was a very bad feeling.

Congrats, you're in, good luck.

You've got a long week!

It just makes you realise how much you can lose by losing this

brotherhood and how much you like it.

I mean, I was in tears when this happened to me.

I'm like, "No way, no way this is happening". It was funny.

Oh, man!

Yeah, it was... They got me good!

I won't lie, they got me really good.

That was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders,

I'm very happy about that.

Jordan has been ordered to come straight to the house to join

the other successful pledges for a week of initiation rituals.

-Any ideas what they have planned?

-Haven't got the slightest clue.

-Well, good luck.

-Thank you, sir.

HORNS BLARE

It's our secret, yes, they all talk about it,

and you're not supposed to ask,

but they make it very clear that, you know, what happens in the

process is part of the brotherhood, and it stays within the brotherhood.

During his second year at university,

Terence was initiated into a fraternity.

The first thing that we learned, I'll never forget it,

it was like a greeting, and you say,

"Greetings, sir, we are pledges of Tau Kappa Epsilon

"and we will do whatever it takes to obtain brotherhood, sir."

-They would have us take this deep breath and we'd go...

-HE INHALES

And they went, "OK, hit the floor" and then with the blindfolds on,

we'd have to just fall down onto our hands

and then we'd start doing push-ups

or whatever else they wanted us to do.

The hegemon is the person who administers the physical

discipline, you know,

for the fraternity, and he was huge.

His job is to make sure that the people getting

inducted into this brotherhood, that they have, like, paid their price

and they are proving that they're worthy to be called brothers.

Very often, fraternity brothers that have been hazed together

then are in fact turning

the tables the next year

and trying to make it so that either the new pledges go through

exactly what they went through,

or certainly maybe even more.

If it's easier,

then they're not demonstrating their commitment to the fraternity

and how they are worthy to be joining this fraternity.

So they make it harder.

Initiation rituals involved Terence being beaten with a boat paddle.

They called it the hostage position.

You lie on the floor with your hands behind your head with a blindfold on

and as you progress, you start to lose pieces of clothing.

Yeah, I got a beating so bad...

There was broken glass on the floor

and sludge and rocks and dirt

and you're all scratched up. I just remember I was lying there

on that floor and, uh, I didn't think I was going to make it.

By the end of the week, Terence passed out...

..and woke up in hospital.

They'd split my skin open. The blood had pooled, became infected.

My liver started to shut down.

And, uh, they told me I came really close.

They did four surgeries on me altogether, they gave me three

units of blood to keep me alive and, er,

I was in the ICU for a week.

But this is my branding. The triangle.

So they have a cattle brand that they had specially made

for us and they heat it up over

a fire like they do with cows and I got held down and...

From his hospital bed,

Terrance learned he had made it into the brotherhood.

I was in. You know?

I'd made it through.

I earned the right to be part of the brotherhood

and got a T-shirt with the letters on it, but when I realised that they

weren't coming to the hospital, nobody came to visit me...

Uh...

They checked up every once in a while,

but they were just so concerned with themselves.

After that, I just realised that I didn't want to be a part of it.

Back in Florida, it is time for Jordan and the other pledges

to be initiated into the Gazoni Family brotherhood.

One of our goals this week is to really break these guys down,

you know, find out, you know,

what we can do to build them up into better men.

This is something that is strictly within our brotherhood.

It's truly a treasure that you want to keep close to your heart,

so you don't want to share with anyone else.

The Gazoni Family have asked us at this point to stop filming.

The two primary reasons that we can't have cameras around this week

is because we have events where brothers really open up emotionally.

The second reason is, these events are private and if...

..they were filmed and shown to people, then it wouldn't be

a surprise to the incoming pledges about what we do.

See, I thought that it was about putting pledges through

a lot of kind of mental and physical pain.

I'm going to take the Fifth on this one.

-I just...

-What do you mean?

-I don't know.

I don't know how to respond to that, honestly.

Does hazing go on?

No.

I can assure you we do not beat kids. Does not happen.

That is something I can tell you 100%.

I want justice, because what they did to me was...awful.

Terence was beaten so severely, it put him in intensive care.

His former fraternity have handed him an out-of-court settlement,

but Terence now wants to sue the individual brothers

he says were involved.

-Hey.

-Good to see you.

Good to see you.

I haven't seen you in a while!

-You know Karen?

-Hi, Karen.

To have hurt Terence this much and to have put him

in hospital for this long with such life-threatening injuries is

absolutely unprecedented.

Why don't you sit here

and we'll just talk about the way the deposition is going to work.

We're going to prepare the case to be presented to a jury.

-You've never had your deposition taken before?

-No.

-OK...

-So let's talk about it.

-I don't even know what it means.

It's a part of the legal process that involves him

being questioned by the defendants under oath.

Which is a process that usually attorneys control,

and they use to try and get information from the victim

that can be used against them in their own case.

There's going to be defence attorneys,

-are there going to be defendants?

-No.

The defendants are ALLOWED to be there,

but it's VERY unlikely that they will be there.

-Even in a case like this?

-Yes, even in a case like this.

Because I feel that that would be intimidating.

If they do show up, they can't say anything. If they do...

indicate in some way that they're trying to threaten you,

we'll stop the deposition and cancel it.

And they'll have to schedule it again.

I want this to go through

and the only thing that I guess I'm a little worried about is

if you know, the individuals showed up

and then I have to sit in the room with a whole team of attorneys

plus the people who have done this to me,

who I'm still kind of fearful of, you know, just staring into my eyes

while I try to tell the truth - that's a little intimidating.

-Are you confident for Terence?

-Very confident.

Done correctly, the truth prevails.

So individuals who will try to circumvent the system

and to disclaim responsibility for what they did to him,

they'll be found responsible.

The individuals Terence is suing deny any wrongdoing.

The university says hazing would be a violation of its code of conduct.

The national fraternity have closed the chapter involved.

When you have tradition

and when you have people

so ingrained in commonality

and something that is just...

..expected, it is very difficult

to break that tradition.

Congresswoman Frederica S Wilson

is a proud member of a sorority.

But she has been a prominent campaigner against hazing

and has successfully introduced a state law in Florida making

it a criminal offence.

But she has no illusions about the scale of the problem nationally.

It's a feeling of wanting to belong, that's what it is.

I-I...

chose this organisation and if this is the criteria for belonging,

I'm willing to do this.

I'm willing to take the pain, because I want this so badly.

And that has to stop.

That has to stop.

If chapters are following the ritual

and those things we really ascribe to, then they do well.

Whenever you have, again, somebody who deviates from that and

decides to do something to somebody or do an act that is not consistent

with our values or morals, that's where we see the problem.

The problem is, that gets more attention because it is

something that is completely out of line with what is expected.

Lianne Kowiak's son died while he was pledging for a fraternity.

Now she campaigns to raise awareness of the risks.

There is a lot of hazing that goes on.

It may not be spoken about openly,

there's a lot that is in a shroud of secrecy.

She's alerting young people about the dangers of hazing before

they leave for university.

Well, good morning, good afternoon everyone -

I'm really excited to be here.

Today, she is talking to the senior students at her daughter

Emma's school.

In order to belong to a group, whether it's Greek life,

whether it's athletics... You don't need to be hazed.

There's this like, image I see at my school where

they think frat boys are cool, but they don't know the true reality.

I really hope that my mom's speech really does help and give them

an insight into what it's really like.

If I can save one life, then that's one life that I have saved.

It's time well spent.

And to me, making a difference is very important.

I felt it was really informative,

showed me a lot about what to do

if you're in a situation that you don't think you can get out of.

I think this just kind of would help what I would hope to do

and really execute that when I go into a sorority.

I don't think that a fraternity is right for me.

I'll try to make some friends when I'm in college,

but I don't think a fraternity is the way to go with it.

In Syracuse, to try and help victims of sexual assault on campus,

Marissa and her friends have set up a support group called

The Girl Code Movement.

I think the misconception about consent

and the misconception about what rape really is comes from a

lot of intersection of drinking and sexual assault on campuses...

Right after my best friend's assault, she was like,

"We need to do something about this". We're here to be, like,

"I believe you, I support you and I'm here to help."

Like, those three things, like...

mean a world of difference.

Pretty much everyone probably does have someone they know and just

because they haven't talked about it, doesn't mean that you shouldn't care about it.

Through all of that anger and frustration

and pain of what happened, like,

now I can say that I'm supporting other people

and that's like the best thing that I can be doing.

750,000 undergraduate students

are currently pledged to

a brotherhood or sisterhood.

And with rumours of them even spreading to British

universities, Greek life is more popular than ever.

MUSIC PLAYS

In Florida, after seven days of initiation rituals

behind closed doors...

RAUCOUS BANTER

..Jordan and the other pledges have finally been accepted

into the Gazoni Family.

Gentlemen, you guys just put in a very long, enduring week,

welcome to the greatest family in the history...

This week was, uh, it was definitely an experience!

It was an experience I would never have anywhere else,

but it was worth it, it was a good experience, so...

He proved everything he needed to prove, I promise you that!

What do you mean by that?

Proved that he was a man, he wants to be a good man.

They put you through the ringer a bit, to build you up,

to make sure like, you know that they'd have your back.

It builds a strong brotherhood with the people you pledge with, as well.

ALL: # Here's to brother Jordan who's with us tonight

# He's happy, he's jolly, he's fucked up like us

# So drink, motherfucker

# Drink, motherfucker Drink, motherfucker, drink! #

-CHEERING

-Keep on going!

Keep on going!

He did great. He's finished with his initiation, he's finally a brother!

Gosh, it's like the next step, you can't wait for your own pledges.

It's incredible! You get to get in a circle, you're part of the family,

you finally feel like on the same level as everybody

instead of a step away, it's incredible.

THEY SING DRUNKENLY

# ..is long

# With many a winding turns

# That leads us to who

# Knows where

# Who knows where. #