Whittier College’s Societies Endanger Students

Out of Step, Out of Line

At a time when colleges and state governments across the country, including California, are taking administrative and legal actions to stop Greek excesses and put an end to hazing, Whittier College is rushing in the opposite direction. Since Sharon D. Herzberger assumed the presidency of Whittier College, the school administration has pulled out all the stops to promote ten so-called Societies - the male Lancer, Penn, Franklin and Orthogonian Societies, the male & female Sachsen Society, and the female Athenian, Ionian, Metaphonian, Palmer and Thalian Societies - despite endless abuses reported, reported and dropped, and mostly unreported - because reports are likely to cost the victim more than the perpetrator(s) at Whittier College.

Whittier College benefits from the Societies, whose members stage events on the isolated campus, help fund improvements, and continue to donate money to the College after they've gone out into the real world, so the College simply writes off harm done to students for a lifetime as acceptable collateral damage. Whittier College misleadingly refers to its Societies as Fraternities and Sororities. Fraternities and Sororities commonly refer to national organizations, providing all Whittier College claims its Societies provide but on a much broader, more practical, scale, and Fraternities and Sororities are relatively transparent organizations with clear guidelines and recourse when individual rights are violated. Whittier College mistakenly calculates that the College and Societies can continue to commit wrongs and escape accountability, while benefiting financially, by controlling what's reported, rather than doing the right things and respecting individual and press rights.

When an individual or Society is expelled or banned from Whittier College, which only happens in the most extreme cases, confidentiality is still more important than students being informed in their best interest, or so says the College. Whittier College, through its admissions determinations, and its social education and policy enforcement programs, assumes responsibility for the conduct of those the College allows to be on campus. If regulations mandate confidentiality when confidentiality is trumped by the student and larger community's need to know, then Whittier College should be acting toward an appropriate change in such regulations to protect student safety first and privacy second, not the other way around as it is now. But Whittier College continues in the opposite direction, acting to keep as many people as possible in the dark about dangers that should rightly be made known.

To whittiergate:

""the Penns' paddles...made me nervous when i was in their house, they have a lot... the new pledges have to design their own paddles... they exclaimed how happily they'll use them next year to spank...new pledges"

"the penns give [their pledges] laxative pies"

From greekchat.com forum:

"I was initiated into a..."Society" at Whittier College...it took 17 days of torture...psychological terror (stranded 30 miles from campus...), physical workouts all night, exhaustion, and memorization drills. I had guys my dad's age yelling at me and hazing me. Finally, I left the school."

"...my experience with the William Penn Society...taught me to abuse...incoming guys AND there was ZERO emphasis on the history of the Society."

"People are still getting hazed...at [Whittier College]...I was paddled...had to do sit ups, push ups in the mud, line ups and drills, I was deprived of sleep, served basically as a slave to the [Penn Society] members..."

"...there's still plenty of hazing going on with both the male and female [Whittier Societies]."

"I joined a [Society] at Whittier College that hazed the hell out of me. Hazing included physical calisthenics, getting hosed down with water and being forced to "play" in the mud...ceremonial paddling that hurt like a bitch, an "orientation test" (being dropped in the middle of nowhere...)...doing official greetings in public (lining up as a class and shouting "GOOD AFTERNOON BROTHER SO AND SO! in unison in a public setting...), line ups and isolated interrogations."

(Editor's note: These hazings are disturbingly similar to the hazing that resulted in the death of a student in Chico, an incident that resulted in stiffer hazing law in California as well as in grief for yet another student family. Similar hazing by Whittier College's Lancer Society caused an entire recent pledge class to depledge.)

More from greekchat.com:

"The "Societies" at Whittier got away with all this...because they were the big donors! Whittier is a small private school and it's the Society alumni [who] donate, in exchange the administration looks the other way during blatant hazing... All the aforementioned hazing happened ON CAMPUS (minus the orientation test), some Societies even had their pledges construct a beer sofa on [campus] with empty beer cans (they had first to drink empty)."

To whittiergate:

"[Lancer Big Brothers] put the [pledges] into a van and made them smoke...cigars...then took them to a warehouse and made them do all kinds of exercises and..."

More from greekchat.com forum:

"I am a Knight, I am called Sir. My pledges are called squires... Our rookies are rookies, they don't know shit, so they aren't allowed to always vote or have a say in things, as they haven't seen how things work. Our rookies clean the house after our weekly meetings and are in charge of our recycling program.

"...myself and my little brother were visiting a friend of mine at [another school] and we went to some other frats party, when my drink ran out he got me another. When my drink ran out (again) he got myself and a girl I was talking to another. He did it without asking but knew his place and did it, one guy i was talking to at that frat asked if he was a pledge and i told him "no, he's my little brother, he's a rookie, he's supposed to do that" and he replied saying they aren't...allowed to have pledges do that. Honestly, whatever, that's pussy shit in my opinion. I love my brothers, especially my lil, But I learned my place when i was a dumb rookie who didn't know shit, and so will my lil brother."

- Sir Horny Toad, Lancer Society Big Brother

Responses to Lancer hazing on greekchat.com forum:

"...6 guys want to have "tradition", make younger guys get them drinks... Your group is called the "Lancers"... ...it's on you and your alums if something should go wrong... You obviously know that, and are continuing to do it. I could care less if you get caught or not."

- kddani

"Two Questions, Sir Toad:

"1) Doesn't it tell you anything when an entire class depledges?

"2) Do you understand that no matter what your opinion, what you are doing appears to be hazing and thus illegal and against the rules of [Whittier College]?"

- Delt Alum

"Amen and amen.

"Sir Horny Toad - your {Society] has some issues, obviously. Maybe it's time for things to change into a more positive environment.

"Never understood how someone could want to be friends with someone who treats them like shit... as your group treats its new members, with the superiority ranking, it's...like a person stuck in an abusive relationship."

- kddani

"...Sir Horny Toad, you shouldn't think that having your squires and maidens bring you drinks is teaching them anything other than being subservient (not your equal, not your brother)"

- Rudey

"...when a [Society] is hazing, it ends up reflecting on all of us. If we don't stand up against it, whether we successfully change someone's mind or not, it's the same thing as condoning it."

- AGDee

To whittiergate:

"the Mets have to go on a scavenger hunt..."

"...some of the Societies were harassing depledges..."

Again, from greekchat.com forum:

"A girl I knew from high school who eventually became my chapter sister was a member of the oldest (female) Society at [Whittier College]. I was gonna post its name, but if you really want to know which one, I'm sure you could figure it out.

"I recall a moment during her Fireside when she was moved to tears when her sister-mom read a poem she had written especially for my friend. She couldn't believe how special everyone made her feel.

"Later on that night, she confided in us that her (Whittier College Society) pledge period was one filled (with) physical and psychological torment. After she [depledged], it got so bad that she ended up leaving Whittier completely because of the harassment...from the Sisters of this particular Society.

"...it's a wonder these women (and the other Societies (members)...on that campus) haven't been arrested for their actions. [The Whittier College] administration chooses to look the other way whenever incidents happen.

"Hopefully, no one has to die before [Whittier College] decides to take action."

- OTW

The Franklin Society was banned for three years because, as one source described it, "...aspects of [the Franklins] pledging process were inappropriate." For a Society to be banned from the Whittier College campus, that Society must have done extremely inappropriate things. Nevertheless, that ban was cut short by Whittier College, so that the College could save the Franklin Society. It seems there was one Franklin, a senior, left on campus. The resuscitation and revival of the criminal - hazing is criminal! - Franklins was completely due to the Whittier College administration's efforts, along with those of solicited Franklin Alumni, was not in any way due to naturally arising student interest. Dean Andre Coleman has been Whittier College's front man pushing its Societies, and the administration's straw boss defender of them, and this is troublesome - because Coleman has no qualms about misrepresenting fact cases, that is, lying.

In a planted Quaker Campus article, Andre Coleman falsely claimed that, after investigation of reports of Whittier College student Nicola Jagessar engaging in academic misconduct, it was found no cheating had occurred. There is evidence open to the public in Nicola Jagessar v. Bart Brown, California Court of Appeal Case Number B186366, that proves Jagessar did cheat at Whittier College, just as properly reported. The Appeal Court filed, for example, an original work by Bart Brown, submitted by Nicola Jagessar as her own course work, with her professor's comments between the paper's paragraphs, proving not only that Nicola Jagessar is an academic cheat, but also that Andre Coleman can't be believed anymore than can an academic cheat. So when Andre Coleman makes claims suggesting Whittier College's Societies have been guided through reforms, by him particularly, well, we'll prefer to investigate and reach our own conclusions.

To whittiergate:

"...the hazing continued as usual. there were a couple trips to the hospital..."

Coleman now claims, preempting the wrong question, that Big Brothers did not intend to seriously injure two (Orthogonian) pledges during a "game". Coleman reassures us that Whittier College has suggested new Society activities, presumably more likely to escape insurance company review and law enforcement action, but is a pledge suffering a broken leg all that reassuring? It's difficult to miss that the injuries were to pledges, not to pledges and/or Big Brothers.

Coleman's preemptive comments appear to seek to deflect any independent investigation of possible violations of Whittier College policy and California state anti-hazing law by Whittier Societies, like the recent Orthogonian incident. And, according to Quaker Campus, Dean Coleman says, "We haven't lost anyone because they were mistreated or because it was unfair, but many have left because of family or personal issues." Hmm. A sudden outbreak of family and personal problems? "We haven't lost anyone..."

Whittier College, according to its alumni publication, imagines it's "rebranding" its Societies, and is going to successfully push them on an understandably reluctant undergraduate student body. Rebranding doesn't only mean the College changing its Societies, but also increasing the College's control of - and liability for -the College's creature organizations, its Societies, or "products".

From studentsreview.com:

"I am very angry with the (Whittier College) administration. The school sells itself as a "liberal arts" college, however, they operate the school as though it were an elementary school. The administration is all about control and micromanagement."

The real problem is that focusing on its Societies, for economic motive, has not only still more deeply enmeshed Whittier College in a liability disaster just waiting to happen, but has more importantly increased the sense of alienation in the overwhelming majority of independent Whittier College students, who outnumber Society members by more than 6 to 1. Whittier College's Sharon Herzberger administration has practically completely failed to involve independent students in campus activities; but has succeeded in convincing the overwhelming majority of students that what Whittier College cares about isn't students, nor any light of learning, but is money. Society members, who've been sold a bill of goods, for goods not nearly as good as promised, and a bill that gives a new meaning to over billing, ought to sober and wake up enough to hear salesman Andre Coleman refer to Whittier College's Societies as a "product". Buyer Beware.

The College's reinvigorated promotion of the Societies has crossed the line between being propagandists and apologists for the Societies, and shielding the Societies from scrutiny while knowing that crimes are being committed involving the youngest students, and that those impressionable young victims are being made victims or perpetrators themselves for the rest of their lives, so Whittier College can benefit economically.

Sexual Assaults

Whittier College 'Crime Log', Monday, October 4, 2004, 4:44 PM (See Quaker Campus citation below): "A student reported that she was drugged and possibly raped while attending an off campus party. Due to the possibly drugged status, the information is considered to be questionable. The student was transported to the hospital for an exam." So-called date rape drug tests must be administered within 12 hours of ingestion of the drug. Whittier College's health clinic is closed on weekends. The first thing rape victims want to do is take a shower because they feel dirty, and when one has been drugged, it takes time to regain enough mental clarity to carry out the simplest task, enough confidence to talk with someone.

What's most disturbing about this report, a classic report of this kind, apart from the victim's experience, is the excuse-making for not investigating by the Campus Safety Officer taking this report, who knows no hospital test administered so long after the alleged drug rape will yield evidence of the drugging or alleged rape, and which Officer also knows how difficult it is for a student to have to make such a report. No wonder, given this attitude by officers who are supposed to be protecting students from assaults, and failing in that responsibility, seeking the perpetrators, that over 80% of rape victims, and still fewer college rape victims, report that crime against them. At Whittier, this is not a matter of needed sensitivity training, this is a question of motivation.

To whittiergate:

"The only...rape...I'm aware of which resulted in expulsion occurred because the guilty male confessed in writing to the victim..."

At Whittier College, not only is crime facilitated and encouraged, but confessing and showing remorse are punished while lying is rewarded.

Quaker Campus, 'Staff Views: When society turns its back on those who need help most' by Sports Editor Jenn Lang, October 20, 2005: "Recently, allegations were both made and dropped of an alleged drug rape at a society party." Ms. Lang goes on to decry the embarrassing cynical attitude of the Whittier College community toward an inexperienced freshman victim and this serious felony, the consequences of which last a lifetime. Let's say you are a female freshman, especially early in the year you're just getting to know other students, there's little to do socially on campus or in Whittier other than go to a party within walking distance of the dorm, and so you go to a just off campus Society house party.

To whittiergate:

"My first semester at [Whittier College], I was warned by numerous students to never attend any Society house parties alone for fear of sexual assault."

At that house party you are drugged and raped, and find yourself fully awakening sometime the next day, when what was done to you begins to slowly and hazily come back to you, and you are confused and afraid. But you finally manage to focus and summon up the courage to make that lonely walk to report what happened to Campus Safety, who humiliate and discourage you, dismiss your report as "questionable", and offer you no practical help. Campus Safety is evidently too busy explaining to those throwing the parties, where these crimes are committed, how to avoid interference by law enforcement agencies, as is done in a how to guide published by Campus Safety, to do what the officers are sworn to do.

Campus Safety spokesman John Lewis says, "I'm not saying don't party, just be smart about it." Smart means don't get caught, don't talk about it, not be good. The how to throw a party centered on underage drinking and drug use, and whatever advantage may be taken of those inexperienced students who too quickly find their capacities diminished, without getting busted guide published by Campus Safety makes abundantly clear the safety of students isn't even on Campus Safety's radar. Keeping a lid on bad news is Campus Safety's and Whittier College's and the Societies' priority. Doing whatever you want, no matter how illegal, is fine, just don't get caught and don't brag. Eventually, perpetrators can't manage to avoid either, but by then, how many inexperienced students have been victimized? And who cares?' Students are basically transients from the College's point of view. Delay, wait, the problem went away. Next...

Assistant Chief John Lewis on drugs: "Students don't bother to hide drugs. They make it easy on us." Why bother when nothing of consequence is going to happen for not bothering, and a nickel sacrificed saves the rest of the ounce or pound or whatever? Campus Safety marijuana confiscation actions are reported to have increased 100% under Dean of Students Jeanne Ortiz, but still no one's arrested as a rule. In fact, drug-related arrests have declined by 50%, from 2 (single incident) to 1, during this reefer grabbing campaign. Those extremely rare arrestees are usually not students, but outside dealers who're confident they can conduct business in the dorms and society houses without concern, which is almost always true. Campus Safety reports these confiscations to Dean Ortiz, who may then refer the incident to a student conduct committee, who'll do nothing much about it. What does Campus Safety do with all the marijuana, and other drugs and alcohol and weapons, and who knows what else it confiscates? Don't you wonder, too?

Conflict of Interest

What Whittier College and its Campus Safety office really do is keep federally-mandated Crime Statistics as low as possible, no matter reality, and still Whittier College crime statistics are shockingly high (See ' Whittier College Crime Statistics Shock!' on this site); keep any bad news quiet so Whittier College PR hacks can go about their dishonest works of fantasy unimpeded. How many more student families are going be lured and then victimized by the false impression put out by Whittier College that this small campus in a small town is a perfectly safe place to go to school?

From the perspective of a Society party drug rape victim, is the evidently acting head of Campus Safety, Assistant Chief John Lewis (do you even know the name of the Chief ? - he must know a thing or two to do nothing we can see and continue drawing a Chief's salary and benefits), the individual upon whom you want your safety and justice to depend? John Lewis has been a member of the Sachsen Society for decades, since before it was banned from Whittier College, after which the Sachsens quite openly operated as a so-called underground Society, and Lewis was instrumental in the Sachsens being reinstated by then new President Sharon D. Herzberger. John Lewis serves as the new same old Sachsen Society's Advisor, and Sharon Herzberger approved this blatant conflict of interest, John Lewis being the College's acting top cop and a Society member and Advisor.

No individual who is or has been a member of a Whittier College Society should be employed in any Campus Safety position, nor should any such individual be employed by the Whittier P. D.

Sachsen Society

The Sachsens are tagged as being into sex, particularly orgies, heavy drinking, and, also, according to Wikipedia's substandard page on this Society, "are known for loving the birches." That is hazing and worse by any other name or expression. Among the photos Sachsen Adam Steinbaugh sought to have taken off this page was one of drunk and still drinking Sachsens in various states of dress or undress dancing around a mattress. It's no surprise that the Society with the most new members this year is the Sachsen Society. You can party out of bounds and not get busted? Reinstated by President Herzberger, the Sachsen's debut post-ban event was the 'Club Dark' party, hosted by the Lancer Society in its house on Olive Street, which party began when the lights were turned out.

Lancer Society

The Lancer Society, at the other end of the spectrum, gained no new members this past year - because those students the Lancers sought to recruit depledged. And that's not surprising either. Once upon a time, the Lancers were the BMOC. The two big Lancer events have been Erotic City and Mona Kai. Mona Kai is a theme party that has devolved from "using tons of sand, palm fronds and bamboo", lights, and so on, to transform a parking garage into a Hawaiian beach scene, into just a tent set up on campus, which will continue to be paid for by all students until students say no more.

Erotic City is an event that has been held off as well as on campus for years, and it's difficult to conceive how a school event could be more dangerous. Imagine coeds in makeup, lingerie and heels, and that's it, after getting smashed in their dorm rooms, finding their way to an Uptown Whittier venue, where they drink some more, dance and embarrass themselves and worse, and then, falling down drunk, stagger back toward their dorms in the middle of the night. Gee, do you think there might be some sexual assaults in Whittier and on the Whittier College campus? So who are the Lancer Big Brothers responsible for this Society's decline and the dangerous Erotic City event? Let's meet Eric Lizer and Rickey McDonald, two Lancer Big Brothers...

Big Brothers or Predators ?

At 6' 7", self-described "Jewish Swinger" Eric Lizer, who wrote earlier this year on a social networking site that he's 25 years of age, but is closer to 30, looms over Whittier College undergrads as he encourages underage drinking, illegal drug use, hazing, and diminished capacity. Here we quote from the writings of Eric Lizer:

"Drink!"

"I'll be there with a plethora of blunts on my person. So get ready to smoke up Johnny!"

"I hope you guys are representing like I taught you... Tell the bitches I said "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaay."

"Lancer [graphic heart = luv],
Mother Goose"

"Cocaine... Thoughts? Anyone? Anyone?"

"I wish I could have been there for your Ionian pledging, I would have hazed your ass but good."

"My penis is named King Zamunda."

"We were talking about sex, right?"

Eric Lizer, who has posted photos of himself online wearing only a fake viking helmet, wearing pretty much just feminine cut briefs, a bow tie and sunglasses at a party, and so on, has not been a student at Whittier College for years, but Whittier College has given its stamp of approval to Lizer's indecent and corrupting role modeling by employing him in the College's campus bookstore. Eric Lizer reportedly shares a one bedroom apartment in North Hollywood leased by the roommate, but he's a BMOC to impressionable younger students back on campus and even more so in the Lancer house.

Rickey McDonald is also over six feet tall and nearly 30 years of age, must weigh well in excess of 300 lbs., and also claims to have attended Whittier College, for six years, and to have been graduated with a degree in Comparative Cultures with a minor in Religious Studies. While Eric Lizer is incredibly gross in his relentless exhortations to undergrads to destroy their self-esteem, Rickey McDonald would be the smooth Black operator from Compton. On the other hand, the photo Rickey McDonald posted online of himself wearing only his boxers, well, that is a kind of new definition of gross.

Rickey makes clear what's on his mind when he exclaims, "These are the types of girls that the A's should pledge next year!":

"Don't they look good in those little Cathlic school out fits?" asks Rickey. McDonald seems to have difficulty differentiating a Catholic girls school uniform and students from a whore's work clothes and whores, and with compound words, but then Ricky has written that he belongs to a "Fraturnity" and has trouble spelling Catholic. Certainly, Rickey McDonald's claimed minor in Religious Studies is very minor. The value of Whittier College degrees? One can judge that only by Whittier College graduates...

Whittier Law School has been on probation for two years, and could lose its accreditation - because the state Bar exam passage rate serves as a test of law school degrees. Sadly, it's as easy to imagine Rickey McDonald being graduated by Whittier Law as it is his failing the Bar exam. Rickey's Whittier College degree won't be tested until an employer and customers, maybe you, have to do so... Good luck.

Families Who Prey Together, Stay Together ?

Since this site featured Eric Lizer and Rickey McDonald on our pages, Lizer has changed his social networking profile setting to private, and McDonald's has disappeared (common reactions by those questionable characters spotlighted by whittiergate.com). Sachsen Adam Steinbaugh tried to get photos
of Lancers Lizer and McDonald as well as of himself and other Sachsens published on this site offline. Steinbaugh's social networking profile, too, has been changed to a private setting.

We know Steinbaugh, himself an older student at Whittier College, has a lot of explaining to do, including exactly why he was removed from and then how he was reinstated at Whittier College, but why does Adam Steinbaugh want to prevent students from being able to identify Big Brothers whom we and others believe are more predators than any kind of brothers?

Whittier College Societies are families constituting a clan, representing a small minority of Whittier College students, and employees, but dominating the whole, both in terms of influence and allocations of student funds. Indeed, the Societies attempt to make themselves an impressionable young student's new family, with much mumbo jumbo about brothers and sisters and lineages, imposed on an exhausted, hazed, drunk and drugged kid trying to learn and get grades, by some big brothers, and not role model graduates, but those who evidently have nothing but time to endanger young students' lives. And these new families' values are simply not the values the student's real family stands for; indeed are if anything those values' antitheses. These dangers are real; still, not to worry...

See ' Dub C Paparazzi: Win a whittiergate.com Graphic Tee !' on this site. When there's a danger, it or he or she needs to be spotlighted, and we will do just that, whittiergate.com and the Dub C Paparazzi, making Whittier that much safer for decent human beings.

When Society Members Would Have Those Who Depledge Live In Fear,
We See Good Citizens And Even Heroes In The Making

"We have to have people that are able and willing to give 110% to their [Society] if we are going to be successful. It's not about sheer numbers, we want [to attract and retain] quality men and women." - Dean Andre Coleman as part of the collaborative campaign by Whittier College and the Societies to push the Societies on undergrads, to bind them to the Societies and to Whittier College.

Whittier College's Office of Student Activities really pinpoints where things go wrong when, on their Societies page (note the misleading 'Fraternities & Sororities' page heading): "...membership in each society instills loyalty and dedication to fellow sisters and brothers." When fellow brothers and sisters engage in wrongdoing, any loyalty or dedication to them is not only misplaced, but, more, wrong, and until this is the perception and reality at Whittier College, there will continue to be victims of wrongdoing, perpetrators, and accomplices, here.

Those students who've come to us with information about the Societies have reeked of equal parts courage and fear. We applaud this courage, and say to those causing the fear: step forward into the spotlight and let's see what bullies, cowards, look like... Whittier College is so out of step, and so out of line.

In Massachusetts, 'Failure to Report Hazing' is now a crime, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. In that state, schools are required by law to provide copies of that state's hazing law sections each year to each and every student before or at the start of classes, and to all campus groups, who must explicitly agree to abide by the law and to distribute the hazing law sections to each and every pledge. The school must also appropriately emphasize its hazing policy in its handbook, and any school administration failing to make hazing law mandated reports to its board of trustees must be reported to the state attorney general. Massachusetts law makes clear that consent to hazing is not available as a defense.

In Michigan, Garrett's Law penalties range from a fine up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment up to 93 days to a fine of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment up to 15 years, dependent upon the seriousness of the hazing incident. And Garrett's Law provisions "may be imposed in addition to any penalty that may be imposed for any other criminal offense arising from the same conduct."
Smelling the Fire...

In New Jersey, two 18 year old male Rider University students, William Williams and Gary DeVercelly, were hospitalized after a Phi Kappa Tau fraternity 'family drink' for extreme alcohol intoxication. Gary DeVercelly, of Long Beach, California, died in the hospital. A Grand Jury has indicted Rider University Dean of Students Anthony Campbell and Director of Greek Life Ada Badgley, and three 21-22 year old Phi Kappa Tau ' Big Brothers ', for Aggravated Hazing in relation to Gary DeVercelly's death, conviction for which carries an 18 month jail sentence and a $10,000 fine. Additionally, 15 were charged with providing alcohol to minors, 23 were charged with underage drinking, and 3 more were charged with drug related offenses.

Rider University has had the Phi Kappa Tau house closed, and no more events with alcohol will be allowed in either Rider residence halls or in Greek houses.

Says Mercer County, New Jersey, Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini, Jr., these prosecutions send a "message that the standards of college life, when it relates to alcohol, need to be policed carefully." At Rider University, as at Whittier College, everything was said to be fine...until, as inexorably as finally, a victim died.

President Herzberger and Dean Andre Coleman, and Barney Peake and John Lewis, all those responsible for Whittier College Societies better smell the smoke... There is fire: each victim is a spark, and their number only increases thanks to the College's criminal neglect and worse and profiteering. whittiergate.com published a photo showing contemporary Penn Society paddles. A Lancer Society Big Brother brags about continuing hazing at Whittier in a Greek chat forum (See link below). If Whittier College thinks hazing is the least of its Society problems, that may be right, but then Achilles' heel was the least of his concerns, until an arrow found it to be his Achilles Heel.

When you're just a salesman, it really is hard to tell if anything is gonna sell

From the Office of Student Activities: The lure: "Opportunities for employment and academic support are...provided by society membership." Hmm. Like Eric Lizer's campus bookstore employment? Like Rickey McDonald's degree? Then the hard sell, that is not surprisingly making hard sells of Whittier College students: "The societies will be represented at the Student Activities Fair during Orientation. Anyone interested in becoming a society member should take advantage of these opportunities to meet society members and officers. Additionally, interested students are HIGHLY encouraged to attend all open houses and rush during the fall."

In the end, the 2007 pledge class amounted to just 70 students, 15 of them Sachsens, and just 11 of the remaining new society members were males, all Penns. The male Lancer and Orthogonian Societies have 0 new members. The Franklins are omitted from the list - because they're banned. Why? The relatively greater membership augmentation by the female Societies suggests the greater need for some sense of support and even protection at Whittier by female students.

Making excuses for the failure of Whittier College and its Societies' concerted big push for new members, Dean Andre Coleman is reported by Quaker Campus as feeling the disappointing 2007 pledge numbers "may be for the best, and that it is better to have a good quality of members than quantity. "We don't count on numbers, we try to make our numbers count," Coleman said." Quite to the contrary, numbers are decisively more important than human beings at Whittier College, and after looking at the Society Big Brothers featured on whittiergate.com, Dean Coleman, those students who depledged look to be of the better, not the lesser, part of the Whittier College community.

The times they...done changed

Society member alumni surely see that times have changed, despite the ridiculous ' IMAGE MAKEOVER: Societies Work In Tandem To Improve Their Campus Brand ' pop marketing drivel in The Rock. Back in the day, when our society was stratified by class and separated by race, hazing was an important means to a sense of exclusivity, the cohesion of society's isolated parts and the, ah, leadership, of one over the others. Dick Nixon was made severely ill by of all things a Whittier College singing group hazing, and he concocted the utterly disgusting Orthogonian hazing ritual, the Society he co-founded when rejected by the upper middle class Societies, back in the day. Hazing is now a crime - in California as well as elsewhere across the country. The times they...done changed.

The City of Whittier has become a Hispanic majority community, and the Whittier College student body must be at least 25% Hispanic for the school to operate even at this level, on federal Hispanic-Serving Institutions largesse, which suggests increases in minority enrollment, although recent Supreme Court decisions suggest that source of funding may not be so dependable as projected. In any case, if the political elite of the emerging Hispanic majority imitate the Whittier old guard, then the old guard and all of us will be very sorry indeed. Los Angeles is already sorry it elected Tony Villaraigosa, Whittier College's 2007 Commencement keynote speaker and honorary degree recipient, about whom after all nothing honorable can be found.

We are all equal. Hazing is a crime. The way things used to be is not only out of step, it's illegal. Law enforcement must do its best to prevent criminal activity, including alcohol and drug, and weapons, violations, especially those activities associated with assault and sexual assault, and driving under the influence, and when law enforcement fails in that charge, then perpetrators must be found and brought to justice as quickly as possible, and victims cared for, period. It's either this, or the wages of sin, karma, blind greed or illogic, creepiness, call it what you will, being paid, and much sooner than the Whittier College community seems to realize.

Quaker Campus Citations:

' Crime Log ', Quaker Campus, Issue 7, Volume 91, Page 5 (10-21-04)

' Staff Views: When society turns its back on those who need help most ' by Jenn Lang, Quaker Campus Sports Editor, Issue 7, Volume 92, Page 3 (10-20-05)

See also ' Unreported rape ' by Allison Roth, Quaker Campus Co-Editor and Chief, and how to contact the Quaker Campus to see these articles, on the ' Whittier College Awash in Alcohol, Drugs, Sex, Assault and Sexual Assault, and Communicable Diseases page Links/Citations on this site.

Hazing Links:

http://www.hazinglaw.com

Read California's anti-hazing law at: http://www.insidehazing.com/matts_law.php

See 'Cuffed and Jailed: Fraternity brothers sentenced after guilty pleas in hazing death' and related California hazing law articles at http://www.wemissyoumatt.com/articles.html

' Rider Dean Charged With Hazing In Student's Death '
Read about what happens to school administrators and fraternity members no longer a tragedy away from what they deserve: http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_215123845.html

Hazing victim Gary DeVercelly, 18, Long Beach, California: RIP

From Toady to Tyrant: ' Sir Horny Toad ', Whittier College Lancer Society Big Brother, brags about hazing, that is, criminal activities: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/archive/index.php/t-63924.html (includes WHITTIER COLLEGE STUDENTS' RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, C. COLLEGE REGULATIONS, 13. Hazing)

(See greekchat.com Search feature to locate more posts regarding Whittier College and its Societies)

Do you know Sir Horny Toad's real name? Don't you think everyone should know?

Sir Horny Toad Watch
No one has guessed that Sir Horny Toad is anyone but James Marshal. Can you identify Sir Horny Toad from this photo?: http://web.whittier.edu/lancers/welcome.html, click on ACTIVES, see bottom left photo, beneath (help!) Rickey McDonald?

See open hazing by Whittier College's Lancer Society glorified on Whittier College's official website: http://web.whittier.edu/lancers/pledging2001.html.
Is that Eric Lizer hazing Rickey McDonald?

Note re Lancer and other Society pages on Whittier College's official website: It appears that the Lancer Society page promoting Erotic City (using a faux Playboy magazine cover), on whittier.edu for many years, has been removed by Whittier College or by the Lancers under pressure from Whittier College, since the address was posted on whittiergate.com. Welcome to Whittier College, where you can and just may well be censored, at any time, without any practical recourse, to a private liberal arts college believing, not in free speech, but in censorship. (whittiergate.com has extensive files of material, evidence, that Whittier College has and has had removed from various locations, all of which will be made available for and will be admissible in any court proceedings.)

studentsreview.com describes the Whittier College student body as suffering from "Broken Spirit" and Whittier faculty as mostly "Self-Absorbed". The Whittier College administration has no time or energy to waste on ultimately futile censorship; the College needs every second and resource it can muster to make changes uplifting student spirit and backing up faculty and students who stand for academic integrity, for a milieu conducive to a higher education, in no uncertain terms.

Instead of promoting its Societies and then hiding hazing and other crimes, Whittier College needs to either help and make sure its Societies remake themselves for the 21st Century, or terminate such now criminal organizations, which, even if they hadn't engaged in the hazing of pledges and other crimes, and in threatening and harassing depledges, have still made themselves useless (to all but Whittier College's bottom line) as well as obnoxious, by reducing community service to a mere footnote to their embarrassingly destructive and self-destructive so-called partying, which same bad attitude, misconduct and crimes also render Whittier's dorms useless as places conducive to study, repose, or even safety.

Updates

For updates regarding Whittier College Societies, including the Mets and Lancers suspensions for coerced sex as part of pledging, see this site's ' Whittier College Reacts to whittiergate Spotlighting ' among other relevant whittiergate pages...