The act of hazing consists of “humiliating and sometimes dangerous initiation rituals, especially as imposed on college students seeking membership to a fraternity or sorority.”

Christine Greer, NMU’s assistant vice president and dean of students, spoke at the first event, “These Hands Don’t Haze,” on Tuesday. She stated Northern doesn’t allow any abuses, such as hazing, to be tolerated on its campus.

Furthermore, Greer focused on the positive effect Greek Life has on their communities.

“Students who feel they belong are retained and graduate at a higher rate than students who never connect to the university,” she said.

Sororities Alpha Gamma Delta and Phi Sigma Sigma along with fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon gathered for their annual Greek Showcase Thursday afternoon. Members of all communities were encouraged to get to know each other and converse about how to better serve not only their community, but also their peers. The Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity was absent.

“I think that there’s a stigma when it comes to Greek Life that there is a lot of hazing involved,” Greek Council President Carly Schrank said at the event. “All of our sororities and fraternities have little by-laws in place that are against that … we wanted to make sure everyone’s aware that’s something we’re not OK with and showcase the positive things that we do.”

The final event was the annual Wildcat Wellness Day in which the Greek Council comes together to educate students on the resources at their disposal. Mental health professionals, spokespeople and students came to speak about their experience with Northern’s mental health services and educate the attendees on how and where to get help.

Many of the NMU fundraisers are hosted in part by some aspect of Greek Life. One of the most well-known and anticipated is TKE’s annual tub push: brothers from the TKE fraternity pledge to push a bathtub for 18 hours straight regardless of weather to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

TKE chaplin and Greek Council special events coordinator David Mendez Cruz described an ambitious future fundraiser slated for Saturday. The goal is to raise $4,000 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in12 hours.

As of last Saturday, his fraternity has clocked in about 850 hours of community service since August. They’ve mowed lawns, raked leaves, shoveled snow, volunteered at Room at the Inn and done many more service projects.

Reflecting on his experiences with TKE, Mendez Cruz said, “For me, it’s important to understand that in order to join … there’s no reason for their arm to be broken off and then shake their hand like they’re a brother … it’s important to establish boundaries and respect, understanding that we are all coming to one positive thing as men to better ourselves and the community around us.”

Alexandria Bournonville can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is abournonville@miningjournal.net.