Roemer, who was 19, knew four of the actives from Longview's Mark Morris High School. He knew little about fraternities, but his mother had demanded assurances from two actives recruiting her son that no one would lay a hand on him. No problem, they told her, the Dekes don't haze. It is hard, though, to find another name for the humiliations dispensed once the school year started. Forced runs at odd hours.
Group punishments to pay for the sins of any pledge who dared break house rules.
Roemer quit in November 1997, a day after he took a challenge from two actives and chugged a 40-ounce bottle of beer. He did it, he said, so he could get their signatures on a paddle he needed for initiation. Here I am taking genetics, chemistry, an upper-level math class. I had enough to worry about without spending three hours doing someone else's laundry to get a signature. Pledge Stacy Bruce of Spokane stayed.