Fraternity violence

The Cris Anthony Mendez Case
Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
September 3, 2007

Through out the seven years (1996-2003) that I worked as Parish Priest and Catholic Chaplain at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, the issue of Frat Violence was a stubborn and truly recalcitrant issue that seemed stronger than the combined efforts of students, administrators, and other concerned sectors on campus. All kinds of activities aimed at frat harmony and campus peace were tried from masses, prayer services, dialogues, peace pacts even dramatized with the surrender of frat weapons of destruction and death like baseball bats, knives, steel pipes, rocks, etc. I even recall doing several runs around the academic oval protesting frat violence. One of the most symbolic actions was a walk of little school children protesting the death of Nino Calinao who was shot in broad day light by hooded men along a corridor just a few meters from the Arts and Sciences entrance, better known as the AS Steps. The name of Nino was indeed symbolic and ironically eloquent. Nino meant little boy. Kalinaw, peace in Cebuano.

Violent frat men are no more than dangerous little boys who have gone bad. Fraternity violence is nothing more than the dangerous prattle of the spoiled, attention hungry boy whose self-worth is defined by the capacity to inflict pain, destruction and death on others whether it be on the intimidated neophytes awed and hypnotized by the mystic of becoming one of the frat men. By then, assuming one survives the entire range of initiation rites from psychological to actual physical torture, he leaves the “despicable” lot of a mere barbarian and joins the noble ranks of Frat Gentlemen.

Are fraternities all violent? Some claim no. But those who claim they are not may in fact be innocent of losing or wasting a life during hazing or an internecine frat skirmish. But in the other aspects of the frat’s life, is there a conscious and consistent effort not only to avoid violence but most of all, to get rid of what causes it in the first place?

Deeply hidden in the psyche of frats and their members is the primitivism and barbarism of the Macho. In fact, one need not be a member of a frat to experience this dangerous energy. We see this manifested even in little children who seem prone to hurt others and quite pleased to destroy objects within their reach. The typical school bully exists from elementary to college and even beyond. Education and human formation are thus both necessary to guide the child on the path of self-discovery, self-expression and self-control.

But what if the opposite is espoused? What if the bully becomes the model or paragon of virtue?
Fraternities are unfortunately not confined to the university. Working within and beyond the universities, colleges and schools is the Frat Alumni. These are the graduates who have left the university and now occupy rather influential and prestigious positions in society. Many of these older men claiming to be gentlemen are quite dangerous. The frat officers keep close ties with them and are quite willing and happy to do so because of the generous support that consequently flows.

A rather complex and extensive network links and binds these young and older men. The younger men look up to their older patrons and models. The older men sitting in their offices are waiting for their younger counterparts to grow and measure up to the standards set by their fraternity’s tradition. Unfortunately, one unspoken standard is the ability to unleash the violent beast within, training it carefully and secretly in the so called art of receiving and inflicting pain.

Wars are carried out by a different kind of fraternity called the Army. Have you heard of hazing at the Philippine Military Academy, West Point or Annapolis? Wars are carried out by media, banks, corporations and even churches against both the disloyal and the enemy. The issue is violence spawned by untamed, unbridled chauvinism lusting for power and control. Not only school fraternities suffer from this.

If there is something that this latest act of primitivism in the University of the Philippines has to say, it is to remind all of us of how violence in the form of greed, revenge, suspicion, domination and most of all indifference continues and persistently lurks within individuals, groups and institutions. What has happened after Leny Villa, Dennis Venturina, Nino Calinao, Mike Icasiano and the many others who have fallen victims to fraternity violence?

Fraternity violence is only part of the culture of violence that has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. Other forms of violence exist and thrive in the University of the Philippines and other universities. If the death of another innocent and promising neophyte will make us pause; if it will make us notice the violence within and without; if it will help us realize how, like frat men we are part of an entire web and culture of violence and the lust for power and control, and thus move us to effect change within and without, then something different, something new may just happen after this sad episode of another victim of empty macho triumphalism, Cris Anthony Mendez.