I'm sure there are tens of thousands of college women who are beginning their fall semesters and considering not only what classes to take, what organizations to join and what guys to bag, but also whether to pledge a sorority. Well, I have a kernel of advice: If you are considering pledging Sigma Gamma Rho, think again.

Apparently, Sigma Gamma Rho has become the hands-down winner in the "Beating Pledges' Asses" contest.

Who would've thunk that a sorority best known for living in the shadow of the AKAs, Deltas and (sometimes) Zetas would dominate the headlines? And, unfortunately, it's not because of its members' excellence in community service.

The group, which is known for not being as pretty as the AKAs, not as ugly as the Zetas and not as cool as the Deltas, is suddenly a hot topic.In two cases this year, members of Sigma Gamma Rho have been charged with hazing and beating their pledges with wooden paddles. Okay, I think anyone who went to an HBCU or at least saw "School Daze" knows this is nothing new.

However, there's stupid college hazing and there's just-too-damn-dangerous-someone's-gonna-get-hurt college hazing.

This would be the latter.

At Rutgers, six members of Sigma Gamma Rho were arrested in January and charged with aggravated hazing, a felony, after a pledge reported that she had been struck 200 times over seven days. She finally went to the hospital, covered with welts and bloody bruises.

Both the university and the national sorority suspended the Rutgers chapter.



In addition, Courtney Howard, a former student at San Jose State University in California, charged in a civil lawsuit filed Aug. 31, that over a three-week period in 2008 she was subjected to progressively more violent hazing from Sigma Gamma Rho members. Howard claims that she and other pledges were beaten with wooden paddles, slapped with wooden spoons, shoved against the wall, and warned not to tell anyone because "snitches get stitches."

Uh, get with it, ladies. "Snitches get stitches?" That is sooooo like five years ago.

"One of the girls who was a big sister told me it was supposed to be so you can feel what your ancestors went through in slavery, so you will respect what you came from," Howard said.

I'm not sure what's worse. Someone seriously assaulting you for the hell of it and using a completely absurd small-minded premise to justify the behavior... ?

OR

Someone who voluntarily submits herself to beatings so severe and gets sent to the hospital -- all because she has low esteem and a desperate need for validation and fake love ?

Never been a fan of the Greek orgs myself, they have always seemed a bit ridiculous. But I guess some of the parties were kinda good and one time they washed my car for $5, so that was nice. But I digress.

So what happens to those infamous paddlers, you ask? Detention? Time outs? Well, in 2008, San Jose State suspended the sorority chapter until 2016. Four of the sorority members have pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing charges and will serve 90 days in county jail. They also received two years of probation and are barred from any further involvement in the sorority.

Larry Carr, a spokesman for San Jose State, also said he could not not comment on pending litigation, but hazing is illegal, he said, and the university makes serious efforts to educate all incoming students and their parents about how to deal with it.

To the casual observer, Sigma Gamma Rho would appear to be fiercely against sorority hazing. Featured on the Sigma Gamma Rho website is the sorority's anti-hazing policy:

"Hazing is wrong, prohibited and unauthorized," it says. "Members found guilty of hazing will be permanently and irrevocably expelled from Sigma Gamma Rho."

Clearly the class of 2014 did not get the e-mail.

Two years ago, because of hazing, the sorority's chapter at the University of Texas at Austin was penalized. Sigma Gamma Rho has more than 500 chapters, and it is the smallest of the four black sororities.

The sorority did not comment on pending litigation.

I guess it's better to be silent and thought a fool....