A lot of the stuff we don't share is secret
^^That bothered me like no other for some reason. It doesn't sit right when I read it. I just feel like it should say "A lot of stuff is kept a secret."
idk.

How do you accidentally learn most of an initiation. There's one thing when you accidentally stumble on a page or two... but most? That's like an hour long "accident!" It's like 'oops, I accidentally drove over your dog, backed over it, and then drove forward again just to make sure it was a dog.'

But that bond we feel with our other brothers/sisters is really cool. I like the feeling of looking at another brother and knowing that we've both been through something that no one else in the room has.
I had to reword that last sentence so many times. ugh.

Ritual is what keeps an organization connected. In a sorority of over 100 girls, it is certainly difficult to become close friends with everyone or to even get along. There's something amazing about knowing secrets with a group of women. Partaking in ritual creates an instant bond, despite how you may feel about a sister once a meeting is over.

Whenever a sister chooses to disaffiliate or needs to be disaffiliated, it makes me feel like a complete stranger knows our organization's ritual. If the sister could not be loyal to us when she was active, what guarantees that she will not disclose our ritual to others?

Geez, that's kinda harsh.

Sometimes people have to disaffiliate for reasons (money, family issues) that have nothing to do with loyalty.

Family issues, academics, money and other reasons beyond a person's control are completely understandable. I love sorority, but it's obviously not the number one priority in life.

However, there are people who need to disaffiliate because they misrepresent our ideals. I'm talking about those girls that you can expect to see completely trashed at a party every Friday night, doing the walk of shame Saturday morning, but won't bother to show up for a philanthropy. Of course, it is expected as we only get a week to decide who will be our new sisters. It just sucks when you find out that the chapter was misled during recruitment, and those girls have to be cut later on after being initiated.

This sounds like you are having issues with some of the women in your chapter. Have they gone before standards board? Does the rest of the chapter share your view?

And that's what pledgeship is for, training for sisterhood. If you have pledges that aren't living up to what the chapter wants, the time to talk to them about it is before initiation, not after.

(Sorry everyone for the hijack)

It's a small group of girls each year that tend to get out hand. They do get called to standards board, which is the position I hold. There's this belief in the chapter that we should not get rid of girls while they are pledging, no matter how egregious the behavior may be. I am an exec officer now, so I am sure I will have the chance to express my opinions. Thank you for your input!

If everyone knew what was going on and everyone did it, it wouldn't be special. As with any kind of ceremony if only a chosen few are allowed to attend it immediately differentiates them from others who cannot attend and take part. And, it usually elevates them socially on at LEAST a subconscious level and often a social level.