Why have pledging? What's the point?

I saw today that Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity is going to ban pledging for new members and require safety education, including alcohol education, after having at least 10 deaths linked to hazing, alcohol or drugs at fraternity events.

"In its statement, SAE lamented recent deaths and injuries and said the 'bad publicity' it has recently received is 'challenging and regretful.'” ...

... "In a statement to members, SAE’s national headquarters said college students will still be attracted to the fraternity once 'we get rid of pledging.' Chapter leaders complained that damage to the fraternity’s 'national reputation' has made it difficult to operate.
'We have experienced a number of incidents and deaths,' according to the statement, which SAE posted on its website. 'We have endured a painful number of chapter closings as a result of hazing. Research shows that hazing, which hides in the dark, causes members to lie.'”

There were a lot of fraternities and sororities where I went to college, especially since it wasn't that big of a school. I had plenty of friends who were Greeks, and fraternity and sorority bar nights provided much of the social life, but I never understood the value of pledging.

To be clear, I don't know of any serious pledging-related injuries while I was in college, and no one died. However, it always seemed odd why anyone would want to subject themselves to weeks of ritual embarrassment and humiliation (and that's the stuff that was out in the open, not even the stuff that was rumored to happen in private) just for the purpose of being part of a group and making friends.

Hell, if someone as uninteresting and socially awkward as I was could make friends ... anyone could. It actually isn't that hard, especially on a college campus with thousands of people. And there are lots of groups you can join without being treated like dirt for weeks before you get to be a member.

But what do I know about the process of vetting new fraternity members?

"Brad Snider, an SAE member at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, opposed the change even though he said it will make chapters safer. Without an 8-to-12 week pledge period, he and his fraternity brothers won’t have enough time to decide whether a recruit is 'worthy' of being admitted, (he) said.
'It only takes one member to bring down the entire organization,' said Snider, 20, a junior, who served as 'pledge educator' and now teaches members SAE rituals. 'For all we know, they may fail at their grades, and we hold grades to a very high standard. They may be socially awkward or extremely rude or disrespectful, and that will come back to us.'”

Seriously, if fraternities and sororities are to continue, I hope more take the step SAE did. I just wish it hadn't taken so long, and for a bunch of kids dying to make it happen.