It had to happen sooner or later.
As many of my MIT friends can attest to, this email can have a bit of a humorous subtext given the bathing habits (or lack thereof) that some of our classmates demonstrated.
Borrowed from a post the
mitmit with passeges put in bold for your reading amusement....
"8.01 exams are coming up this week, and we'd like to remind you of a message that your GRTs passed on to you last year banning "showering". Some freshmen might not have heard of "showering" yet, but there has been some tradition around MIT, on the eve of the first 8.01 exam, of "putting" freshmen in the showers. Although in general this was viewed as a fun event, in many cases the freshmen reported being intimidated and sometimes even physically hurt. In those cases, "showering" becomes just a form of hazing. For this reason, the Dean of Student Life, Larry Benedict, issued a ban on any "showering" activities last year. Such a ban was communicated through the GRTs to the students. Larry sent a very strong reminder this year with a STRICT BAN, which, if violated, could result in serious disciplinary action. The following 4 paragraphs are parts of Larry Benedict's message to us so that you fully understand the nature of the ban and the seriousness of violating this ban. We ask you to read it carefully and take it seriously.
'Let me remind you that showering is no longer permitted at MIT. At its worst, such behavior might be considered a violation of state criminal law. In addition, MIT has its own policy against hazing, as well as policies against assault, harassment and general disrespect of others.
....
(the rest of the letter can be found here)
I can't say I have any good input on that whole thing. Since I was bigger than most people there (and definitely meaner than most of them ;-) no one actually tried to "put" me in the showers like that. I know some of my friends went through that and some were amused by it and some were annoyed. I guess it's one of those weird social things that has pros and cons. I do think that it's unfortunate that things have gotten to the point where something that's supposed to be fun has become a possible criminal offense. Regardless of wether it got to that point because people started acting too viciously towards each other or because the administration decided to treat adult college students like children, it's still sad and kind of weird to see how different things have gotten to be over the years.
Borrowed from a post the
mitmit with passeges put in bold for your reading amusement...."8.01 exams are coming up this week, and we'd like to remind you of a message that your GRTs passed on to you last year banning "showering". Some freshmen might not have heard of "showering" yet, but there has been some tradition around MIT, on the eve of the first 8.01 exam, of "putting" freshmen in the showers. Although in general this was viewed as a fun event, in many cases the freshmen reported being intimidated and sometimes even physically hurt. In those cases, "showering" becomes just a form of hazing. For this reason, the Dean of Student Life, Larry Benedict, issued a ban on any "showering" activities last year. Such a ban was communicated through the GRTs to the students. Larry sent a very strong reminder this year with a STRICT BAN, which, if violated, could result in serious disciplinary action. The following 4 paragraphs are parts of Larry Benedict's message to us so that you fully understand the nature of the ban and the seriousness of violating this ban. We ask you to read it carefully and take it seriously.
'Let me remind you that showering is no longer permitted at MIT. At its worst, such behavior might be considered a violation of state criminal law. In addition, MIT has its own policy against hazing, as well as policies against assault, harassment and general disrespect of others.
....
(the rest of the letter can be found here)
I can't say I have any good input on that whole thing. Since I was bigger than most people there (and definitely meaner than most of them ;-) no one actually tried to "put" me in the showers like that. I know some of my friends went through that and some were amused by it and some were annoyed. I guess it's one of those weird social things that has pros and cons. I do think that it's unfortunate that things have gotten to the point where something that's supposed to be fun has become a possible criminal offense. Regardless of wether it got to that point because people started acting too viciously towards each other or because the administration decided to treat adult college students like children, it's still sad and kind of weird to see how different things have gotten to be over the years.
Of course, even frosh week I didn't do anything really...I'd rather do my own thing then have to walk around chanting and playing dumb games lol.
Of course, some of the guy's residences or teams probably had some pretty shitty stuff to deal with... I think it's retarded...everytime I watch a movie with an american school and their "rituals" and stuff it makes me sick. Of course, they're all about the humiliation and violence.
I was lucky in that I figured out that I wasn't going to fit in no matter what when I was younger so when I did get to college there was no appeal to join groups with stuff like that.
Still though, most people I met who joined frats/sororitys etc... seem to be quite proud that they got through whatever hazing they had to endure. I think sometimes the problems come when people try too hard to get into groups where they aren't welcome and the hazing turns really ugly. I don't think that makes it right, but I do think there is a important element of personal responsability on the people who go along with the hazing as well as those who do it to them.