I feel the same way. I was a pledge for 14 weeks (106 days!). I think we had a very solid foundation on what to expect from membership with that!

Agreed.

Even as I complain at how short the New Member period is now, I have to say that my Southern Belle Sixth Grade Teacher taught us to say the Greek Alphabet (backwards & forwards) in such a way that I hadn't forgotten when I pledged. Most of my pledge class were behind that very first day because of that. (Thank you, Mrs. Bridges!)

I'm ok with an 8 week new member period. I actually like it.

Why? Because I think that our members should continue to be educated about their organization and learn about it throughout their entire membership. I don't see any reason why learning has to stop at the end of 8 weeks. We voted them into our sisterhood already. New member period is already chaotic, and that extra meeting a week doesn't need to continue through finals IMO.

Again, that doesn't mean that the learning stops. We have the opportunity to continue to teach them what it means to be a Gamma Phi Beta every single time we interact with them, whether it be as active members or as new members.

Considering how little is usually retained from one's own initiation, and how much one learns about ritual through post-initiation reviews and future initiations, I think it's clear that not everything can be absorbed when one is brand new. Whether that period is 6 weeks or 15 weeks, it's not all going to be absorbed. So we continue to educate all the way through their collegiate years and as an alumna, too.

I don't think it should stop either....most groups have an office who's responsible for continuing to educate members. The problem is, women are being initiated (as in, lifetime commitment) without even knowing the basics as far as founders etc and without understanding how big of a commitment it truly is. A brief pledge period full of presents and poems is no preparation for the amount of work (and mandatory events) that is part of being an initiated sister.

I also don't think there should be an "extra" meeting - in other words, pledges should not be attending every chapter meeting - but that's another subject.

And if there's a culture of hazing in a school or chapter, it will happen regardless of the length of the pledge period. Even after initiation. Unless GLOs adopt rolling admissions and initiations, there will always be a youngest class.

Agreed. Also, academic calendars, housing situations, campus culture, local advisor support, etc. can all affect the appropriateness of a longer new member period.

I also think, if hazing is a concern, NM's should be told on DAY ONE just what would have to happen for them not to be initiated. I think a lot of NM's have a perception that they could be blackballed or something, and I don't know of any NPC group that actually allows such a thing. I don't think breaking a pledge is easy in any group.

I agree with both of you. I definitely learned the most about my org - and my org's ritual, values, etc - after my initiation. So little was retained from my own, but having the opportunity to really love, learn, and live our ritual was what really strengthened my relationship with Alpha Chi Omega as an organization. But, talking about "earning" your letters and understanding what a commitment you are making - I definitely think that when we don't require new members to attend anything for fear that it might be hazing, we really do them a disservice because it IS hard to understand what a commitment they are making. In fact, a sister and I were just talking the other day about how hard it was to make the adjustment from not being expected to attend anything to suddenly being expected to be at all the mandatory events. I absolutely never agree with hazing, but I think it's important to give new members a realistic idea of what they will be expected to do and how that will affect their time management.