Learning Curve

This section looks at a controversial ritual that took place at Oregon State University while I was conducting research. In an evening ceremony, several fraternity members dressed in hoods and robes and marched in a candlelight procession. This ritual shocked several members of the African-American community, who associated the clothing with the Ku Klax Klan. A university-wide protest was triggered as a result, and several letters were published in the campus newspaper (the Barometer). Fraternity members viewed the protest as a big misunderstanding and complained about being sterotyped. Underneath all this conflict was the idea that fraternity members will have to change traditional rituals to adapt to modern times. (more…)