Mostly harmless fun, not danger, in hazing’s history

Hazing is not about beating and stomping someone to death (“Defendant: Fla. A&M drum major wanted hazing,” News, Thursday).

Until the nanny state started in the 1960s, hazing was harmless fun meant to break the strait-laced nature of highly competitive university life. Back then, only smart kids went to college, and colleges had no problem flunking slackers. Fraternity hazing included reciting the Greek alphabet forward and backward. Penalties included push-ups, taking a bite of a raw onion or latrine duty. My favorite was putting the very yellow liquid of Southern Comfort in a clear glass bottle and making the pledges take a sip. Nobody got hurt, and in the end everybody had a good laugh.

Hell Week has morphed into Help Week. The bar has been lowered so much that some of today’s college graduates are comparable in job skills to yesteryear’s high school graduates.

Bob Munson Newbury Park, Calif.