Sorority hazing: ZAS at Syracuse

[hoosier]

4/29/05 - Koren Zailckas, a 24-year-old recovered alcoholic, read from her book Smashed that tells the story of her childhood alcoholism problem last night in the University of Rhode Island Library.
At 14, Zailckas was introduced to the world of drinking, which took over a large portion of her life over the next eight years.
Zailckas said she saw drinking as "a way to relate to the opposite sex when men seemed like outer space creatures at the time."
She said it helped her bond with women also.
Zailckas attended Syracuse University where she became a member of the sorority Zeta Alpha Sigma. She told the story of her hazing at SU, during which she was subjected to drinking games, bong smoking, screwdrivers and pot brownies.
"Some high-strung pledges fainted under the interrogation," she said.
Her first task was to take a sip of beer every time Sting said the word "Roxanne," which summed up to be about "24 gulps in two minutes," Zailckas said.
"Every gulp makes my stomach flop like a sunfish," she read.
When the song ended and she had not finished her second beer, Zailckas compared the experience to not being allowed to leave the dinner table until everyone finished their peas.
Zailckas said that she was then taken to a fraternity house where she was forced to smoke marijuana, "pound screwdrivers" and eat pot brownies off of the floor.
Zailckas said hazing was more of a masochistic experience than peer pressure.
"Inside I felt like a shit head, and on the outside they [her sisters] told me I was," Zailckas said.
By the end of the night, Zailckas said she was so drunk and stoned that she "felt like a turtle without its shell, just as soft and demented."
After reading, Zailckas allowed members of the audience to ask questions regarding her alcohol abuse.

[33girl]

Is that a made up sorority name? No such sorority exists at Syracuse. I would think if she really wanted to help people she would have named the sorority so others could stay away from it. Unless of course what she said is untrue and the sorority could sue her for slander.

[AEPhiSierra]

She's using it as a code to hide the actual sorority. I don't really feel comfortable saying which one cuz of the level of the allegations but it didn't take much investigating to find out which one.

[mmcat]

a bit scary sound...

[33girl]

Originally posted by AEPhiSierra
She's using it as a code to hide the actual sorority. I don't really feel comfortable saying which one cuz of the level of the allegations but it didn't take much investigating to find out which one.

wow, it certainly didn't. That's my point - unless she's going to really make a concerted effort to hide it, why not put it in print? Unless, as I said, she's afraid of a lawsuit.

[Tom Earp]

So now, a pre-existing situation is now Greeks faults?

Age 14 and so some years later, it is Her Sororitys Sisters fault?

God, give me a friggen break!

[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by 33girl
wow, it certainly didn't. That's my point - unless she's going to really make a concerted effort to hide it, why not put it in print? Unless, as I said, she's afraid of a lawsuit.

Why did she go to the trouble of masking the name in the book only to reveal it in an interview? I guess you're right about fearing a law suit. So, uh, where were the advisors??

[sugar and spice]

I don't think she necessarily revealed it in an interview -- it may just have been obvious to the reporter that it was that specific sorority. Honestly, if someone wrote something that discussed a sorority at my school under a fake name, chances are I'd be able to figure it out based on context.

That said, I don't think it's fair for them to investigate this particular group based on a written account of what happened several years ago. Many of our groups have hazing in our none-too-distant pasts. Hopefully nothing will turn up in the investigation.

[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
Hopefully nothing will turn up in the investigation.

I agree!!!