Correct me if i'm mistaken, but I believe that no groups had pledge periods back then. I know that one of our brothers was initiated i think exactly one week after accepting the invitatation. Just long enough to learn the history AND do all the pre-ritual activities. I don't think pledging became popular untill the 1950's. I know hazing didn't start until the 1960's or so. The people that came back from WWII had just seen war, their friends killed, and probably the effects of the holocaust. They simply weren't in the mood to screw around with people. They wanted something sincere, solemn, meaningful and uplifting. Like a fraternity ritual.

Correct me if i'm mistaken, but I believe that no groups had pledge periods back then. I know that one of our brothers was initiated i think exactly one week after accepting the invitatation.
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I cited in haste. According to Out of the Heart (the P.E.O. Centennial History):

"The college girls of chapter AJ carried many of their problems with them. Most urgent was that of pledging new girls. The I.C. Sorosis, then known by its Greek letters Pi Beta Phi, and the two fraternities on campus, Beta Theta Pi and Phi Gamma Delta, could pledge prospective members as soon as they arrived on campus.

"P.E.O. required presentation of a name at one regular meeting and voting at the next before a girl could be asked to join. Permission to initiate had to be obtained from the chapter in her hometown if one existed there. With such restrictions campus P.E.O.'s were not even in competition with other groups.

"At the meeting of Grand Chapter in Mount Pleasant [IA] in October, 1889, Chapter AJ asked for a pledge ceremony and the right to use it. Those requests were granted."

cool....so is was it like today's pledging?

Phi Sigma Sigma has both an open and closed motto. I believe that is the best way to get your groups ideas and what they stand for out for everyone to consider. Having a closed motto and many secret parts is one the most fun things about being in a sorority ... sharing these "secrets" with your sisters bring a type of friendship that isn't often found on "the outside". My opinion anyway.

What's the use of having a sorority or any other fraternal organization if nothing is secret? In my humble opinion, it's the secrets that bond us.

My stepdad pledged a well-known national fraternity in 1958, and he was *definitely* hazed! From what he's said, it seems like hazing was rampant even then, and that was the late '50s. I could not believe some of the things he told me he'd seen...they make Animal House look like tea in the garden.

OMG! :( My mom said her sorority didn't really haze but they did make her eat something she didn't like b/c it was part of a ritual.

OH wow. :eek: 58 is close to 60 though. ;)

Yeah, '58 is close, I'll give you that. ;) Just be glad you weren't a pledge back then...

I guess its personal opinion but I think the secret aspect is one of the best....you may have just as good a connection with other members of your fraternity or sorority but its not the same. Just about every GLO has if not an open motto at least some statment or phrase that details who they are. The secret aspect bonds us on a personal and individual level, outsiders(not in a negative way) can't know what its like at all. And if you want checks and balances by the comunity ask yourself "is this worth it if I cant trust my brothers/sisters without the community watching". I know if I didnt trust every brother in my house to hold me to high ideals I wouldnt have joined reguardless of secret/non-secret aspect!

CERES
 

Try looking for a Ceres fraternity at a land grant university -- each state has them

NC STate university is a land grant university for example

and some of my friends are in Ceres

But i didnt realize it was non secret

hmm learn something new everyday