Would you bid a 16 year old?
 

I was reading this blog on tumblr called Sorority Sugar and someone asked the girls who runs the blog this question:




My heart would say bid her if she was mature, sweet, smart and had good values, but my brain is telling me no because that sounds like a risk management NIGHTMARE!

My question is, what would you do in this type of situation and are there any specific NPC rules about age?

This is going to depend heavily on all 26 different membership policies, as well as campus culture, and basically boils down to what we tell any PNM - we don't know. Also, this is a situation that comes up infrequently, so I'm betting a majority here don't even know their group's official policy (even if it wasn't MS and could share).

There are no NPC rules about age at all.

There is a HS in my region that is a private accelerated Catholic school with a classical curriculum. Graduates are typically 16 or 17, and virtually all go to university immediately. Many have pledged at a variety of schools i'm aware of...Centre College, Northern Kentucky, University of Cincinnati come to mind. One boy pledged at Indiana at 16, as I remember the mom saying she talked to the president before he accepted his bid.

I know of a 17 year old new member at my school (not my chapter though.) Personally, I would be wary of someone that young, because of both risk management issues and maturity issues. Sometimes people can be miles ahead of their age group intellectually, but are still emotionally immature.

Not NPC, but Sigma Chi Founder James Parks Caldwell was fourteen at the time of the founding making him the youngest of the founders.

Just sayin'.

Whoa! Found a pic!

http://history.sigmachi.org/sites/de...01Caldwell.jpg

I wonder how old he was there. That was a fun fact!

Alpha Xi Delta had a founder who was 15!

I turned 17 just before I pledged, and I had a chapter sister who was 16. IMHO, risk management issues have less to do with the member's age and more to do with her behavior.

lol but would you bid a 15 year old today?

We had a thread on this before. I had a 14 year old pledge sister. She was in an early admit program at the University of Michigan. Nobody knew her age until it came up randomly in conversation just before initiation.

Haha, sorry I was hopping on the back of that 14 year old Sigma Chi post--not implying I'd bid a 15 year old!

And no, I would not. I think of me at 15...oy.

SWEET LEMONADE! You guys didn't know until initiation!? How does that not come up for so long? (depending on how long your pledge period is)

This was 30 years ago. We didn't have FB or the internet or any other way of finding out birth dates or similar info about people if they didn't choose to share it. ;)

Wow, it's so weird to think 30 years ago it was the 80's. I automatically think 70's. My have the times changed!

I've always wanted to know, how was it like being in a sorority in the 80's?

It was pretty much the same as now.... except, of course, chopping wood for heat and having to constantly badger the pledges to take care of the horses so they were ready to pull the buggies to morning classes. :rolleyes:

And don't forget the corsets. OH, those dang corsets. We sure kept those pledges busy running up and down the hall getting us tied up in our corsets every morning...

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-conte...j-laughing.gif

The sad part is, I had to re-read that three times until I realized you weren't being serious LOL! :o

I turned 17 in mid-August, and received my bid in late September.

I advised at a school that had an early admission program (final year of high school credit concurrent with first year of college as an on-campus freshman) so we often saw 17 year olds. Those same 17 year olds often graduated college at age 20.

I received a bid in late August having turned 17 in late June.

When I joined we had a sister that was 17.

Was it HoneyChile that was 16 when she went through recruitment or someone else?

I think you're right. I was going to post about that (though not with her user name).

I was 17 when I pledged. No biggie. I just had to have a parent's signature on a few things.

I was 16 when I went through recruitment. I remember talking about it at a few chapters, because I mistakenly thought it would be impressive.

LOL! What happened??

Depending on your state laws, this has a possibility of making things dicey at mixers. Just sayin' is all.

If you and I have the same definition of 'dicey', most states' age of consent laws are 16. But nobody wants to cross that line.

I was 17...didn't turn 18 till the end of January after I pledged in September. but that was back in the day where parents signed everything and no undergrad females were allowed to drink on campus (yeah, sure!)

I went to college at 16. (And probably looked 13.) The only time it ever became an issue was when I wanted to see an R movie and couldn't but even that was rare.

People thought it was weird. I was a really clueless PNM, in spite of coming from a Greek family, because, well, things had changed since the '60's.

I'd be more worried about the state laws with regard to the inevitable sorts of sexting type incidents which go on these days. I'm not so sure you're going to find such agreement on what is permissible between the ages of 16 and 17. I'm not trying to be a perv, it's just that this stuff goes on and having a member that young would make me nervous.

In AZ, 18 is age of majority. New members under that age = must contact parents for consent for wide variety of issues. A percentage of pnms are under 18 every year. We know how to handle it.

Laws are laws, regardless of GLO membership status. :rolleyes:

17, yes. 16... we've had one. DISASTER. She was fine the first year or so. When she "grew up" she became exactly what someone already said... a risk management cluster-you-know-what. I hope never again.

There was a 16 year old in my PC. She was initiated at 17.

Once upon a time when those pesky dinosaurs were still wandering around my campus we did pledge a girl who was only 16. Was interesting since 18 year olds were only deemed adults the year before. She had to fill out the same paperwork that those who joined 2 years earlier filled out since she was a minor and needed her parents signatures on any contracts. She stayed at the school for 3 semesters when her father made her transfer since he was tired of paying tuition for her to major in Partying at a party school.

DaffyKD

There weren't a ton of 16 and 17 year olds going through recruitment, but every year I was in college my chapter bid a couple of them. They made great sisters, not because of their ages, but because they fit what we were looking for.

Yes, I was 16 when I got my bid. On Bid Day, I got the dreaded phone call, because neither of the houses where I preffed had known I was 16 (which means that neither of them read my rec before then!). My mother had answered the phone, got into a little dust up that it was very much the wrong time to suddenly be worried about it, and that she & my daddy would sign off on any paperwork. I got to celebrate Bid Day with my sisters (shocked them that I already knew the Greek alphabet!) and they both signed the next day - and embarrassing, checked out the chapter, since they hadn't seen the ADPi suite!

I think risk management is much, much more strict now that it was when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I understand why. People are more litigious, and special snowflakes are less likely to take responsibility for their actions. A person who is 16 knows that they cannot legally drink, but some still feel the need to do so. It really depends on the person.

FYI, our youngest founder, Olivia Andrew Rush, was 13.

http://www.kualphadeltapi.org/upload.../1763/rush.jpg