RESOLUTION APPROVED BY THE FORTY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY—SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, 1988

A Mandatory Resolution Regarding Hazing

WHEREAS, the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, in accordance with Code VI-10 (also Code XI-3), has taken the position that “hazing of associate members and initiates shall not be permitted at any time whether on or off Fraternity premises.  Hazing is defined as “any action taken or situation created intentionally to produce physical discomfort or mental discomfort by embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule;” and

WHEREAS, the Fraternity has, through its Laws and policies, developed and supported constructive educational and inspirational programs to provide every opportunity to eradicate such practices and to preserve the human dignity of its members; and

WHEREAS, the Fraternity espouses the belief that true fraternalism is nurtured in an atmosphere of social and moral responsibility and loyalty to the principles of higher education; and the Fraternity further believes it is essential that the precepts embodied in the Laws of the Fraternity are such as will ensure an experience which will be a constructive influence upon college men; and

WHEREAS, the Fraternity further believes that it has a solemn obligation to the development of its members, and that this responsibility extends alike to the institutions where Lambda Chi Alpha is represented, to parents and others who make possible the education of these men, to the communities in which its Chapters should endeavor to be good citizens, and to the college fraternity system of which it is a part; and

WHEREAS, the Fraternity further believes, despite the fact that much progress has been made, that one of the most damaging instruments to true fraternalism is the employment of a program of education which includes hazing, and that this unproductive, demeaning, and hazardous custom has no rightful place in Lambda Chi Alpha; and

WHEREAS, the Fraternity further believes its members to be mature, intelligent, and self-governing men, and that they alone can eradicate hazing in all its varied forms; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the 1988 General Assembly of Lambda Chi Alpha duly convened directs all members of the Fraternity, undergraduates and alumni alike, to eliminate entirely any and all hazing practices and to continue to implement positive and constructive educational programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Fraternity encourage its members to work together with college administrators to rid the campuses of any lingering evidence of hazing and other injurious practices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the General Fraternity endeavor to broaden and strengthen its programs for the development in members of leadership responsibility and the appreciation of moral, spiritual, and intellectual values consistent with the ideals and teachings of Lambda Chi Alpha.