Abstract

     Within Black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs), there are essentially two types of thinkers. There are those who have faith in rules and believe that institutional issues may be resolved simply by applying the rules - in a wooden and mechanical fashion - to facts or looking to a limited set of methods and and answers to resolve problems. These are the formalists. In contrast, there are those who believe that rules should be questioned and that a broad body of knowledge - including empiricism - may help BGLOs sovle problems These individuals not only draw upon vast bodies of knowledge to move BGLOs forward, they also are not afraid to make critical, yet informed, assessments of these groups. These are the crits and realists. And no place is the tension between these modes of thinking and types of individuals more apparent then on the topic of hazing, pledging, and MIP