With "brothers like these..."

Who needs fraternities? Another pledge dies in CA trying to fit in.

In my book, the so called benefits of the fraternal organization do not outweigh the downside (E.G. at Dartmouth), which in this sad case sometimes includes the death of a student....

Maybe some young bloggers out there can post some true accounts of where hazing actually was a fun, enjoyable experience...or perhaps, rather, they would like to testify to the absurd nature of the antiquated system that poses as social organizations that build fraternity.

A comment or two from those actually experiencing this would be greatly appreciated.

Slice:

A 21-year-old pledge rushing a fraternity in Chico is dead after drinking several gallons of water in a bizarre hazing ritual, his family said.

Chico police detectives have taped off the basement of Chi Tau fraternity where they say the incident occurred, and they are interviewing 14 house members to find out how Matthew Carrington of Pleasant Hill died Wednesday morning.

Carrington's friend Mike Quintana, who was the only other pledge present during the night of hazing, told police and Carrington's parents that he and Carrington had been forced to drink about five gallons of water each, had ice water thrown on them and air-conditioning fans turned their way during an all-nighter in the fraternity's basement.

The young men were forced to do push-ups and stand on a bench for hours while answering trivia questions about the house brothers, said Chico police Sgt. Robert Merrifield, who is investigating the case.