"Paddles"
 

Don't yell at me if I'm wrong, but I've heard a "rumor" that NPC in all of it's "PCness" is getting rid of the term "Paddles" (within the next year). From what I've heard Chi Omega has already done this....they now have "Owl Boards" and the offical NPC name will be "Wood Boards" (sounds a little redundant to me").

Their reasoning for doing this is "Paddle" is a negative thing and has negative connotations...and of course we're trying to be as PC as possible.

For me....I hate all this PCness...the Paddle is a symbol of the Greek Community...it's the symbol of our Bigs/Littles, our friends, our good times, and I know changing the name isn't going to change that...but Jesu Christe pretty soon we won't be able to be "Greek" because it offends those who are of a Greek orgin...we will be "People Who Wear Greek Letters" and eventually maybe who knows what....going by Engish names??? I know I'm going overboard, but can you see where this could be going?

rock on Jess. :)

Yeah, "wood board" sounds so much better than paddle. :rolleyes: if they have to change the name, ummm, "plaque" works, except maybe they're afraid people won't be able to spell it, which says something right there.

Amen sistah! :) Calling a paddle a "wood board" or some other asinine phrase is about as dumb as calling a secretary an "executive assistent" or a prostitute a "sex care provider."

AGD has 'plaques' - our chapter doesn't even use the paddle form anymore...we actually converted to using wooden boards with our names, our Sis Mom's names, pledge class and year. We had a renegade movement to use paddles again but that was quickly put out by a tyrant advisor :rolleyes:

whatever they want to call them, they are still paddles

That's so weird that they want to change the name, especially since we don't do anything bad with them. They're just gifts (in my chapter at least) from little sisters to big sisters. "Wood board" sounds really retarded and "plaque" implies an award that someone gets for doing something well.

*rolls eyes* that is so ridiculous. even if it's just a rumor, it's still crazy. a paddle still means the same thing whether you call it one or not, and i don't know a single sorority on my campus that paddles anyone (although i know one frat does). i think a lot of houses are moving away from the traditional concept anyway. i know that in our house, we call them "paddles" but they can be anything. my big made painted me up a cute wooden book and i made one of my littles a chalkboard and the other a tray and my big a box. i know one girl's big made her a little shelf as her "paddle". it's the significance that matters - come on, NPC, why does it matter if we call them paddles or not? even if i does get changed, i bet people will still refer to them as paddles.

We have dolphin-shaped (our mascot) boards, not actual paddles, that we decorate. We still refer to them as "paddles" though.

This issue has come up before, and as was pointed out then -- while we see paddles as a symbol of love and respect for our bigs/littles, the non-Greek world sees them as a sign we're smacking people with them. My non-Greek friends even teased me about getting smacked with my dolphin paddle while I was decorating it for my pledge mom, and while I'm pretty sure they know it was a present and not for any violent use, the first thing that came to mind when I referred to it as a "paddle" was that I was going to get beaten with it.

There are quite a few sororities who don't even allow paddle-shaped paddles at all anymore. My chapter (I'm not sure if it's a national rule or not) is one of them. They just don't want people to get the wrong idea.

That said, I don't think changing the name to "wood boards" is going to do much, and if they're really that worried, they should start making a move to replace the paddle-decorating tradition with something else. Still, we all know how PC the NPC is getting and I wouldn't be surprised if "paddle" is the next term to get politically corrected.

Re: "Paddles"
 

I'm of Greek origin.....and you guys can feel free to continue using Greek letters.....I'll allow it :D

Kitso
KS 361

it's about the same thing as them changing rush to recruitment and pledge to prospective member. . .


it's all still rush, pledge, paddle to me

Alpha Xi Delta does not allow paddles. They prefer that we give plaques, which just means anything not shaped like a paddle. I personally don't get it. I'm pretty sure you could hit someone with a piece of wood cut into any shape if you really wanted to and it would hurt just as much. I don't really think getting rid of paddles changes what the anti-greeks think really happens in GLOs. Really the only people that know about the change are the people that have already joined and by that point they know they aren't going to get beatten with a paddle. Everything is just so PC lately :rolleyes: .

paddles or not, rush or formal recruitment, pledge or potential member

it doesn't matter what you call it but no one outside the greek community is going to think any differently of us.....usually if they change their mind, they join one :D

phi mu uses quatrafoils (the shape of our badge for those who are wondering). i think they are much prettier than paddles.

Like a few of the other groups, ADPi doesn't have paddles. I agree that I don't see the harm in them. I haven't heard of too many incidents where sorority members used them on new members. Why is it that NPC tries to change terms but fraternities still use the traditional phrases without too many incidents.

We have wooden anchors we decorate, the look better than the traditional paddle and hey it is our symbol so it has more meaning, esp when the get them after initiation. it is a nice silent reminder :)

My chapter still does paddles from lil sis to big sis... I have mine hanging on my wall, it's a great source of pride and no one has ever even asked or teased me about being beaten with it or beating people with it. I mean even if they change the name.. it's still a paddle and if people are REALLY that ignorant to think that we REALLY beat people with them... they're going to think we beat people with "wood boards" too.

I don't think I agree with you here -- NIC fraternities quite obviously have a lot more hazing/other risk management issues to deal with than the NPC sororities. Whether or not this is due to the strictness of the approach that the NPC has concerning hazing/drinking/risk management in general, I don't know -- but look at the hazing posts in the risk management section. Ninety out of every 100 involve a fraternity, not a sorority.

Whoever mentioned that non-Greeks would be "naive" to think that we hit each other with paddles -- I don't agree with that either. What's the main purpose of a paddle? What has it traditionally been used for -- besides rowing boats, of course? :D A paddle is a sign of violence and is traditionally associated with hazing. It's not that much of a jump to think that it still might be used that way, especially for those who are not very familiar with the greek system (although why we would bother to decorate them first, I don't know). Paddles are always going to be associated with violence -- but this goes for whether we call them "paddles" or "wood boards" or "plaques" or whatever, so that's why I don't think the NPC name-change will do anything whatsoever. If they really want to make a difference they'll have to do away with the paddles themselves, not the name.

I do think that "paddles" in the form of an important symbol to the sorority -- Phi Mu's quatrefoils, AST's anchor -- would be a good solution. Not only do they lessen the hazing connotation, but they have the added bonus of having an immediate connection to something related to your sorority, so they're more personal and more meaningful.

I think I'm going to find the PC person at NPC and wack them with my paddle, oh excuse me WOOD BOARD

*smack*

to me, it doesn't matter, a paddle is a paddle. It's like calling a duck a "animal with a bill" from now on. guess what, he still quacks!:rolleyes:

And a question to the NPC. Is "paddling" really a big occurence with you guys? Cause from all the threads on here about chapters being suspended, most of them involved some sort of drinking activity:confused:




QTE

Another point is who is NPC trying to please??? These people who are "nieve" and think we hit people with paddles and so forth are usually the people who wouldn't join whether it's Rush or Recruitment, Pledge or New Memeber, Paddle or Wood Board, Greek or Italian!!!

Why are we trying to please those people out there who either make fun of Greeks, hate Greeks, or the classic "buying friends' people. Changing the names is NOT going to make these people want to go Greek. Honestly, how many people seriously go "Oh My, it's not called Rush anymore, it must be TOTALLY different, and there are no more pledges so there MUST be no more hazing, especially since those paddle shaped things hanging in their rooms AREN'T paddles!!!!" I wouldn't worry about pleasing these people either...they probably don't have the grade to join, seeing that you would have to be devoid of all thought to get to that conclusion.

NPC: National PanHelenic Council or National Political Correctness?

I'm not sure if all ZTA chapters do this but, in ours, we cannot give an actual paddle to our big sis. We do wood carvings. For instance, you can get your big sis a paddle in the shape of five-point crown. You then paint it and put wooden letters on it along with your family number. They come out really cute. We've had strawberries, crowns, white tigers, dogs, cats, pigs, dollar bills, etc. We still call them paddles, though.

I've never actually heard of an NPC chapter using paddles to paddle. I suppose anything is possible, though. It's more of the whole negative conotation thing they are trying to get rid of.

Yeah, I don't think there is a big issue with paddling anymore, if there ever was. It's almost unheard of -- any cases of hazing I've heard of within the NPC sororities involve more emotional hazing or drinking, not physical hazing.

I think you're missing the point.

When people (outside of the Greek system) think of the word "pledge," they often think of it like -- as was said on "Fraternity Life" last night -- "being a pledge is just another word for being someone's b*tch." The term "new member" has no such connotations (yet) and hopefully it never will. While the name change doesn't change the amount of hazing that actually happens, it does lessen the chance that somebody outside the system will associate us with hazing because there is no immediate connection with the terms "new member" and "hazing."

Unfortunately, the majority of people who aren't involved in the Greek system or don't know someone in it think that all sororities haze, even though the majority of us don't anymore and many of us never did. This is at least true for where I'm from, and especially true outside of the South. Clearly the anti-Greek sentiment is a little weaker in the South than it is elsewhere.

And while you're right -- those who are anti-Greek will probably always be -- there are many many borderline cases of girls who are neither anti-Greek nor sure they want to rush. There are lots of girls who have posted on this board and said, "I'm a senior in high school and I think I want to rush next fall, but I'm afraid of the hazing -- should I do it or not?" I'll admit that I thought the same thing as a senior in high school. The less anti-Greek sentiment these girls are exposed to, the better -- and sadly, having paddles lying around the house is always going to fuel the popular impression that we still haze, and those who are vehemently anti-Greek will use that to their benefit to influence those who are undecided.

prostitue = "sex care provider" I'm still laughing!!!!!!!!:D :D :D :D

Hey, maybe that could be supported by an HMO/PPO. :p :p :p

Re: "Paddles"
 

I remember this issue came up when our Leadership Consultant was with us last year. She was a collegian about ten years ago and according to her, AGD started 'outlawing' paddles while she was active, so it's been going on for a while now.

Paddle or no paddle, it doesn't bother me, and I really don't know what the big deal is. My chapter didn't have them anyway...we had pillows instead. To me, it's not the paddle or the pillow that's significant...it's the significance of having a pass down/pass up from one sister to another that's important.

I have a hard time picturing NPC sorority members hitting anyone with a paddle. It would ruin the puffy paint!:D

I gave my big sister a paddle with her name, my name, our letters, and our crest. My pledge class gave our pledge master (yes, I had a PLEDGE MASTER) a paddle and the chapter a paddle with the names of all our chapter founders. I have a paddle from my little sister. I think that it is a nice tradition to pass down through the family trees.

I see why NPC would want to change things. Whether we like it or not, Greek Organizations are businesses, and NPC is a business too. Outside people look in and see decades old stuff that has been changed in collegiate chapters. We don't balk at not drinking w/letters, or providing kegs, etc. They have been removed from soror culture and over time people's perceptions will change. I think NPC is looking to the future of its organizations and making sure that we as a group exemplify what we stand for. I think that this is an attempt to curtail the images of paddles. Honestly, can you say you never think of what they were first ment to do? And the idea of tradition. I'm with Sugar and Spice, make them a shape that has ritual meaning to you. If you don't use them to paddle with, what is the problem with having, crowns, anchors, quadrafoils...why not add you symbol, it just the same jigsaw that is gonna cut it out. The generations following us will be the one's whose perceptions will be changed the most by these types of changes. Perhaps changing the word is different but if no one bought paddle shaped paddles, the wouldn't need to. If we all bought other shapes, we could change their image ourselves, but we aren't, so NPC probably feels an obligation. (ok i'm idealistic :D, but hey, i live in a nice world! :cool: )

i thought that was the official term :D :D

i think it's a safe bet that they dont throw.....

Paddles aren't the point...
 

Every time I see something change, I just feel like we (we as in NPC) are going down a slippery slope of letting what other people think determine how we run our organizations, instead of determining it ourselves. Sorority membership is supposed to be about uplifting young women and encouraging them to make their own choices - with every dictate like this, a little bit more of that gets taken away, whether it be paddles, pledge programs or the way we socialize. I just hope in 30 years we aren't saying "selective membership was an old, outmoded tradition. It made non-Greeks think badly of us. It's a good thing we got rid of it."

LXA was the first to out law hazing!!:cool:

LXA also out lawed Pledges!:cool: Became New Associates!

LXA Was the first to out law Paddles:( Sign of Hazing!

Why was the major queston from many members especially my Chapter who had each class make a paddle with the names of the class tht did it! They hang with honor in our House and will for many years to come!

But, with RISK Management, (INSURANCE COSTS) it was outlawed!Why, Hazing and the symbol that it represented! What do you or how do you spank someone with a 5 ft paddle!

What a sad shame that when Brothers come down to the House, they want to show their children "Their Paddle", with the Class and all of the names on them!

We are not the ones who want to be PC Correct, but the rest of the world wants us to be!:rolleyes: :confused: :eek:

Well fellow Greeks this is what it has become because of stupidity!!!:mad:

I see the slippery slope arguement and PCness has become a classic. This is all rumor, so we don't really know if it is gonna happen. However, they don't just decide something at NPC, correct me if I'm wrong, but our organizations have a say. So in essence, we have a say. Voice your opinion. But does changing a word really change a tradition?