Switching Fraternities
 

last semester i joined a frat at uf, was a freshman, thought it was rly cool. so i got initiated. but now it seems like its been getin kinda sucky. not a hole lot goin on there. so im wondering, if i drop out and am stripped of my letters, then is it ok to join another frat?

No.

It's also not ok that you're a college student writing in that manner. Troll?

Ok, I apologize if you feel grammatical accuracy is so important on an internet forum. However, there must be some steps that could be taken. Or if it simply wasn't mentioned, might I slip through the cracks?

No.

If you want anyone to even take you or your posts seriously, you might want to reconsider the importance of grammar and spelling on an internet forum.

You're the one asking for help, remember? :rolleyes:

I go to the University of Alabama and in Alabama there are laws that will not let you join another fraternity after you have already been initiated.

What kind of laws? State of Alabama laws? You'll get arrested if you try to initiate into another fraternity?

Care to cite your source? I'm curious.

ok, point taken

Here's something I find puzzling. I can find the NIC webpage easily, (though having trouble finding a comprehensive list of rules). However I can't find anything for IFC. I'm not entirely sure what distinguishes them, but IIRC, the rule is that you can't be in more than one NIC fraternity. However, there are some IFC fraternities that are not in the NIC (like phidelt). So how would those rules apply?

ugh. Do you really think once you drop out of one fraternity that another is going to be stupid enough to let you join theirs?

NIC = National Interfraternity Conference - the national body.
IFC = InterFraternity Council - what you call the individual group on campus.

Depending on your campus, you may have fraternities, like Phi Delt or Kappa Sigma, that are on your campus's IFC but no longer affiliated with the NIC nationally. They are not part of another national body though.

The NIC doesn't really make a lot of rules like the National Panhellenic Conference (i.e. the sorority governing body) does. Really your best bet is to look thru the rules of the group you are looking at dropping and the group you are looking at pledging.

Of course, even if both say it's OK fine to do, there is a chance that no other chapters at UF will want anything to do with you because of your association with the first group.

g8torb8-

What's "sucky" about your chapter? (without naming your org) You obviously felt some connection to it to begin with; what happened?

Even though UF is a huge campus and has many Greeks, I doubt that you would be able to drop out of your current GLO, go through rush, pledge another group, and not be found out. Surely your current brothers would see/notice you walking around at some point with your new pledge pin or party t-shirt on. Also, I would think that some members of other GLOs already know you are a member of your current group and would know you are not eligible to join another group. Even within a huge Greek organization, it is a "6 degrees of separation" that someone would know what you are trying to pull. Don't embarass yourself and become a campus joke.

If your current chapter is lacking something, why don't you try to be the change you want to make? Get a couple of other brothers on your side and try to make things happen.

A bunch of NIC fraternity founders just rolled over in their graves and they can't figure out why.

I believe many nationals will not allow the pledging of a member who has been initiated by another national because of the knowledge of the initiation ritual. My own group is one of those; however, we will pledge a former pledge of another GLO after a certain period of time has elapsed.

I've often wondered if it's a kind of reciprocal agreement between fraternities to limit ritual knowledge to those who have been initiated by only one fraternity and never another. Does anyone know if this is true?

that doesn't make sense, if they have only been initiated by only one group, then they only know one ritual, and if they hand that over, it's shitty, and i myself would be inclined to beat the hell out of someone in my chapter if they did it.

on a note, at uf, even if he had just pledged one group, odds are another wouldn't take him. at least not top tier, but lets not get into that.

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=102196

It seems as though this is becoming a trend...

I would be very surprised if he was top tier.

I put money on TEP

good point.

I thought TEP got kicked off campus at UF in the fall... Of course that could explain why he wanted to change houses.

I think if it was TEP he would've mentioned that his chapter was kicked off or whatever.

Didn't know TEP was gone.

I'm outdated, I suppose.

If you are a man of honor you would not even think of joining another fraternity. Why don't you work on your own fraternity and build it into what you envision as the best on campus? Not the biggest but the best.

You can disafiliate from your fraternity with a written letter to your chapter and national but you are honor bound to not pledge another fraternity.

You must be up to date on any money owed prior to renouncing your affiliation.

Get to work in that frat, bring about a change and quit whining.

More than a century ago it was customary on some prominent campuses for a man to join one fraternity as a sophomore, then another fraternity as a junior. NIC fraternities now have the rule against joining another fraternity as a matter of honor, but also to prevent "shopping" as gatorbait desires to do.
G8torb8, if you transfer schools you can go through rush and pledge whichever fraternity you want. Just don't ever reveal that you were a brother in another fraternity. It's not "legal" or ethical but you will probably get what you want.

and also know this is dangerous and could backfire horribly.

Yes, it's dangerous and could backfire, but it's not as uncommon as you might think.
Rushee comes through and is offered a bid. He wants to join and shares his secret with a friend in the chapter. Friend takes him to the rush chairman who has rushed the guy.
"You were initiated into another national fraternity?"
"Yes, I was initiated into XYZ when I was a freshman then I transfered back here to be closer to home."
"Where were you initiated?"
"Up at Wankle State (1,000 miles away)."
"Is there anybody here who knows you were initiated?"
"No."
"Can you keep our mouth shut?"
"Yes."
"OK, here's the deal. I'm going to pledge you but this conversation never took place. If you're found out, the chapter will kick you out and I will be the first to say I never knew. Can you live with that?"
"Yes. Thank you."

Christ sake man do you have any loyalty to your Fraternity? If its not a good fraternity then change it. You know America is in a rough spot right now, not the best place to live so why don't you move to France? Go apologize to your brothers right now you spineless punk!

Alright, lay off this dude. Let me tell you, that a lot of people are going to feel angry with you for doing this, because whenever someone drops from a Fraternity, the people that do care take it personally (as they should)

But think about it, here is your chance to make your Fraternity great. You could tell your kids about the time when you were in college and you joined a Frat, or you could tell them about the time you saved a Frat

If you are successful, you will have such an amazing skill on your hands. You will be able to turn crap into gold, a talent that is well sought after in the corporate world. I almost wish I had the opportunity you do right now

I've lived in France, great place to live.

If my organization found out that you were initiated into another fraternity, you would automatically be depledged or expelled, both as a constitutional issue but also as a matter of honor.

Even if you weren't initiated, most orgs would not want to take another group's "rejects," and so would probably blackball you.

Honestly im in a Fraternity myself. And i know plenty of members that have left Fraternities and joined others. I am not one of them nor do i support it. But hey S*** happens. They did get pledged really hard. However what we fail to understand is that Fraternities and Sororities dont stand for what they used to. I dont Care What fraternity your in, there is something that is lacking. Which is perfectly human. If you joined that organization as a freshman. You obviously matured into yourself and saw that the fraternity doesnt have much to offer you as you get older. After college life honestly you can "DROP" your letters and join another org as long as they are not in the same Council. Think about it. Who will really care and who will really know. You will be an Alumni with a job and the party days will pretty much be over. The question to ask yourself is will you be satisfied with your decision? Will it affect your personal life in any way? The bottom line is alot of people will say who will respect you, or who will take you seriously. But does it really matter after you graduate Undergrad. Are they in your shoes, NO, so they cant fully answer this question for you. Would you rather dismiss your "frat life" and hide it from your life or join something and be proud of it. Be a member that can make changes and offer something to Society. Thats my take.

RaH

P.S. And please i know MANY MANY orgs that has done this in IFC, NPC, NPHC, MCGC,IIRC and the list goes on.

How does somebody drop an NIC/IFC fraternity after college and join another one?

I suppose he would be referring to NPHC...although you could get an honorary like Mike Huckabee.

or rudy.

No you can't. Once youre in a fraternity that for life. How did you become a frat as a freshman? Must not be apart of the divine nine.

Exactly. Several organizations encourage members to pledge as early as possible. And not all organizations follow the "in it for life" mentality.


Umm...speak for yourself. There are several people here who don't feel their Greek experiences are lacking.

And I think that we forget that people talk to one another. If you were a member of an organization, chances are other people knew you were a member. You might be able to slip through the cracks, but to say that there's no way to get caught is naive.

Please speak for yourself and your org only. You are not in everyone's organization to know if there's anything lacking or not. And most members don't see their organizations as little social clubs that they will leave whenever things aren't what they want them to be or when things change. Most members are in it for the good and bad times and understand that it is what you make it and things will change because life is always changing. Someone that just wants to up and leave their org because things changed or their situation changed was never really loyal to their organization in the first place. And please leave the NPHC out of this because if you knew anything about us you would know that most of our members take our organizations very serious and alumnae membership is on a totally different level for us and we are encouraged to become even more active AFTER we graduate. So if someone slips thru the cracks and happens to get into one of our orgs after being in another, they lied and they are taking big risks that their lie will come to light and there is always someone who knows someone else. Our circles are a lot smaller than you think but you're on the outside looking in so you really don't know of which you speak. One thing I've learned from being in my org 16 years now and being active as an alumnae is that the org is what you make it and if you're unsatisfied you work to change it. And it's more about what you put in so that you can get more out of it. You'd know that if you knew what you were talking about. You don't simply trade one in for another because guess what, one day the new org that you slipped into won't be all that you want either and then what...go to another? Again, speak for your org only.

And I seriously doubt you know PLENTY of members who've done this. Outright LIE.

Actually, every organization I know of follows the "in it for life" mentality. It's some members of some organizations that don't follow that mentality.