Did you know that the Current President (yes, that one) once defended a fraternity’s practice of branding its pledges with a red-hot coat hanger?
I didn’t. Mind you, I’m not at all surprised by the idea of it.
Trudeau’s cartoon “Doonesbury” featured fictional character Mark Slackmeyer explaining the President’s position against current anti-torture legislation by revisiting a series of 1967 Yale Daily News articles that exposed DKE’s rush activities, which at the time included brandings and alleged beatings. Soon after these stories were published, the University’s Inter-Fraternity Council fined the fraternity for performing “physically and mentally degrading acts,” and the Times published an article in which Bush defended the brandings, comparing them to cigarette burns.
“At the time, it caused quite a stir on campus, even generating some national attention,” Trudeau said.
