Too Young to Rush/Pledge? (Not yet 18)
 

Are there rules in various fraternities/sororities that a person has to be a certain age in order to join? I initiated into Alpha Phi Omega on my 18th birthday, so I didn't have a problem, but if I had been even one day younger, I would have had to have a parent sign my brotherhood paperwork as well.

Does this requirement that the person has to be 18 to sign the paperwork for themselves exist in other groups?

While pledging 17 year olds who will turn 18 in November or December would, I expect, be common unless there are rules against it, is anyone familiar with anyone who was younger than 17 when they pledged/joined?

(I do know of one case where an Alpha Phi Omega chapter made a child of an advisor an honorary brother before she was High School age, but I'm looking for the standard entrance process)

We require a parent's signature if a prospect is under 18. Most of our chapters have gotten away from taking on minors, though.

We do the same thing.

I think you can be initiated if you're under 18. There are certain forms you probably need a parental signature on, but they wouldn't be related to ritual. Of course, as with all things, it depends on the org.

You know, I have no idea if Psi U has a policy on this or not.

Per an amendment to our General Regulations at National Assembly this past summer, "[a] man who is under 18 years of age may not hold any class of membership, including probationary." (Probationary members are what we call pledges, so in other words, you must be 18 to pledge.)

Did the effort to change this come from the active brothers or did it come from the National Legal Counsel (or whatever you call the Fraternity's official lawyer) through the National Board to a proposed amendment?

To be honest, I can't remember for sure and I can't put my hands on anything that would help me remember, but I think the proposal originated in the National Executive Committee based on legal advice.

My apologies in advance if I'm remembering incorrectly.

Well, I joined SigEp when I was 17 and there was no problem. The chapter saw my state ID before ritual and Nationals had to see my birth date to process my info.. So I guess we don't have an under 18 policy.

I was initiated at 17. My parents signed something for me to go through rush but that was it.

I went through NPC rush, rushed and joined a local, and was initiated into the local when I was 17. Of course, a local can set whatever policies it wants.

When my local joined AEPhi, we each had to fill out and sign a pile of forms, including a financial obligation note. The financial obligation note indicated that, if the new member was under 18, a parent had to co-sign. I think this allowed the chapter to pursue the parent for non-payment if the member didn't meet her financial obligations. (I was, of course, over 18 by then.)

So, unless something has changed in the past few years, you can be initiated if you're under 18 as long as at least one of your parents is ok with it.

I know that with our "financial obligation of membership" form, a parent has to sign regardless of a member being under eighteen or not, probably to ensure payment.

That's OK. It just seems like the perfect example of a change to bylaws based on legal advice.

I signed up for rush during summer orientation and I was 17. I was also 17 when I went through rush in the fall, although I had turned 18 by the time I was initiated. I don't remember my parents ever having to sign for anything.

What happens if the PNM receives no parental support during her college years? Is she not allowed to become a sister?

Nope, not at all; there are several girls who do pay for their college by themselves. Yet, I know their parents still had to sign the forms. I'm just assuming the reason for a parental signature is to have a place to acquire payment if the member majorly defaulted payment or something like that.

I know we had a 17 year old initiate- and as far as I know she didn't have to get any special permission to go through recruitment. Her family lived about 3,000 miles away so I don't know how she would have gotten a signature- I think the school just took it as if she was old enough to be on her own...

The problem, I think, has to do with the fact that if someone is under 18, they are not legally an adult and therefore may not legally be bound by anything they sign, including financial documents, liability releases or whatever. If something were to go south while new member was still 17, mom and/or dad, could come in claiming that only they could sign legally-binding documents on behalf of the member until he or she turned 18. Mom and dad might also be to claim that new member simply could not join without their permission.

Meanwhile, if things go south after new member turns 18, he might be able to claim that nothing he signed is enforceable because he was a minor.

So, that agreement that new member signed when he was 17 saying he would pay all dues and costs owed, releasing the chapter or organization from liability for certain things, etc. . . . quite possibly unenforceable unless mom or dad signed it too. Not a good scenario from a liability standpoint if new member is, in fact, not legally a member.


As I understand it, that's what was behind our decision to say you have to be 18 to pledge, period.

I had a coworker who "graduated" from the foster care systems in one of the cities in Ohio. Given up as an infant, he was wasn't ever adopted. The county that he was in did pay for his tuition to Ohio State. I wonder for a woman in that situation, what the sorority would do with its "require a parent" signature entry.

She may have been legally emancipated, in which case, though she was under 18 she was legally responsible.

Minors in foster care have a legal guardian; it may be the current foster parent, or it may be a representative of the county if the child is in a group home or emergency placement. If that weren't the case, doctors could not even vaccinate the child. Permission has to come from somewhere.
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But the co-worker naraht referred to had "graduated from" (which I guess means "was no longer in") foster care, so perhaps they had been legally emancipated.

I'm not refering to the situation where the person is under 18, but rather the situation where you have someone who is over 18, but needs a parent's signature to back up the monetary commitment.

I don't really know about special circumstances like that and I apologize. I was merely stating that a parent's signature is required on our financial obligations form and that despite members paying for their membership on their own, a parent still signed.

I do not know of any case where a parent has not signed, so I cannot say for sure what would happen in such a situation.

When I started pledging I was 17, and all I had to do was have my mom co-sign on financial forms, and one of the sisters was 16 when she joined AXiD, so we didn't have any problems at all.

Sometimes parents of over 18 members do refuse to sign. There isn't anything that can require them to do so. We just let it go if the parent doesn't want to co-sign for an over 18 year old. We have in the past included verbiage that states we will advise the parents if the member is in arrears and that seems to take care of any "issues."

This is why I asked. When I turned 18, my obligations were no longer my parents'. Requiring them to sign something when I was able to make decisions on my own wouldn't have gone over well. I don't see how something like that could have been required.

I equated it to co-signing on a car. If you can't do it on your own and can't get someone to co-sign, you're SOL. I thought that was the case in Tri-Delta.

If it's just about the money, why would it have to be the new member's parent? Anyone with a credit history can co-sign a loan.
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Same for me but then it's been MANY years........:D

I can't really explain it further than I did in my previous post. I know it requires it. I know parents sign it regardless of their providing monetary assistance or not. I can't shed further light on special circumstances and the like because I cannot think of any. I apologize again.

I pledged and was initiated when I was 16 years old. My parents had to sign off on it, but I was able to go through it. Now, that was *mumble mumble* years ago, so I don't know if anything's changed or not.

I was recently initiated and I dont know of any of my sisters who are under 18, even though there are girls who would of only been 17 last year that initiated a year before me so it is at least still allowed but i dont know the logistics that went along with it. However I do know of one girl who went through recruitment and she was only 16, she didnt end up in my chapter so IM not sure if her parents were required to sign anything. However I am 18 and still had to give parental information for financial purposes even though they rnt paying my dues. I think this may also serve as a reminder as we pay online and my parents and I gt the reminder that a payment is due,

Parents do not sign financial obligations of memebership for Tri Delta. The daughter signs 3 copies. One stays with the chapter, one stays with the member, and one GOES to the parent to see. A letter from the alumnae adivor and the president goes WITH the financial obligations of membership. We had a girl in our chapter who was 17 when she was initiated. I know her parents didn't have to sign the financial obligations or the membership obligations. There pay have been something they did need to sign, but not to my knowledge.

I'm the current VP Finance for my chapter.