With recent negative light shed on fraternities and sororities across the country, the first National Hazing Prevention Week comes at a time when Chico State is still recovering from the death of a pledge.-

And while Sacramento State does have a Greek system, Tom Carroll, student activities program adviser, said hazing has not been a problem at the capital campus since he’s been here.-

“There are state laws and a campus code of conduct.-If we were to hear of any hazing we would investigate immediately,” Tom Carroll said.-

Chico lost all pledging privileges this semester after the water poisoning death of 21-year-old Matthew Carrington in February during a reported hazing ritual. -Carrington was pledging for the Chi Tau fraternity. –

The case at Chico may be extreme and has shed a negative light on Greek life, which has prompted school faculty and staff to take things into their own hands. –

Thomas Kando, sociology professor and a former Phi Sigma Kappa member, remembers the hazing at his fraternity to be fairly harmless.-

“We had to hold a burning match in our hand and let it burn down to our fingertips and we were teased a little bit,” he said. –

“But some of the hazing now is sadistic and there is too much binge drinking.”-

Since 1970, there has been at least one hazing related death in the country per year and as of

January, 80 men and six women have been reported in hazing-related, according to the National Hazing Prevention Week Web site.

A California law, which is part of an education code, states that some hazing violations are a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine ranging from $100 to $5,000, or imprisonment. -Sac State does not have any events planned for National Hazing Prevention Week, but campus fraternities and sororities are still on alert.-

“We haven’t had any problems with hazing in the past because our national headquarters issued a fraternitywide ban on hazing in 2001,” said junior Edward Fertuna, mathematics major and treasurer for Kappa Sigma.

“There is zero tolerance throughout Kappa Sigma for hazing,” Fertuna said. And if Fertuna’s chapter was to be reported there is a guarantee that its chapter rights would be revoked, he said. -And even with the hazing that occurs, the Greek system is positive for many members, Kando said.-

“I lived in a house with 30 other guys,” he said.-“I moved here from Holland to go to college and if it wasn’t for the fraternity I would have been completely alone.”

National Hazing Prevention Week, which will be held for the first time Sept. 26, was created by campus leaders across the nation who were fed up with hazing and willing to aggressively go after those rituals in America’s schools, said Tracy Maxwell, executive director of CAMPUSPEAK, the organization behind National Hazing Prevention Week. –

CAMPUSPEAK has-devoted a Web site to the weeklong event and offers a booklet for campus advisers interested in organizing hazing prevention activities on campus.-

For more information, please visit www.nhpw.com.Lora Simmons can be reached at [email protected]