Expelled Members representing your GLO
 

In another thread, Zillini said:


Is it against the law to put an ad in your campus paper announcing that Jane Doe or John Doe are no longer members of XYZ org?

In some NPHC orgs, they post their suspended, expelled, and revoked members on their national website.

I don't know if it's against the law or not, but I like the idea.

Plus, if they're misrepresenting themselves on campus as a member, I think having your IFC/Panhellenic rep state at the next meeting "Jane Jones was terminated from our sorority. She is no longer a member and we have been unable to stop her from misrepresenting herself as one." This is a bit of CYA too, as if Jane got in trouble for running a drug ring out of her dorm room and had sorority paraphernalia everywhere, it could come back on the sorority. Making it public record should help to distance the group from anything this person does.

I don't think it's illegal, but I think it is tacky. Besides, it's not a good feeling when that happens, it should be as quiet as possible. It's embarasing (sp?:confused: ) when that happens to your chapter, if I saw in ad in the school paper talking about it....hmm, no that would only lead to more drama, I would have to advise against that.

ETA: further:

If you suspend/expell or whatever you should have a damn good reason, not just because of some petty BS, that is what black balling is for, if you let someone in and then one or two semesters latter change your mind, you might as well write the word "douche" on your forehead with a sharpie, because that is a douche move, if ever I saw one. And I have. At least one. Besides, if you do it all the time, it just makes your chapter look petty. And who wants to be in a fraternity where pledging is a cake walk but then you might get thrown out afterwards for some random/ no good reason.

But what other options do you have when a person that has been expelled is still wearing letters and telling people she's a member?

You can't snatch the letters off her back.

You can't steal letters she bought with her own money. (Or his)

But you still have a responsibility to inform the community that he or she is not a member, lest they provide a false impression of the organization or chapter.

Word will get around without posting in a publication soon enough!

This seems a bold and disgusting way to handle a situation.:rolleyes:

Sororities, as a rule, don't blackball so that's not an option for us. And expulsions aren't done just because you don't like someone.

I would think word would get around that she had been kicked out of the organization, especially if it was for something scandalous!

Gamma Phi Beta mailed a letter out to all members when one of the girls on The Real World - Austin showed up in our letters. Turns out she used to be a member, but no longer was, and the sorority was worried about her conduct on the show. They wanted to reassure members that she was NOT a sister.

I know of a chapter who used that as an excuse when a former new member posted some inappropriate pics of the chapter doing things on her Facebook. I pointed out to them that if they hadn't done the behaviors they were doing when the pictures were taken, it wouldn't be a problem!

I like 33girl's idea of letting Panhellenic know. They need to be notified to take the member off of the books anyway. I think, on most campuses, the pressure from the rest of the Greek community to stop it would be effective.

I'm with 33girl and AGDee on this. Have an announcement made at the next NPC & IFC meetings, and let the Greek Community police their own. If said member gets into trouble, close ranks and refuse to accept outsiders' view that Greeks are bad.

First off let me just say I'm surprised that part of a post of mine prompted a whole new thread. Wow, that was unexpected. I'm flattered. :)

Second, for anyone wondering all I will say is that you have to trust me that there was just cause for this girl to get her pin pulled. It was NOT a case of girls being petty or catty. She was given numerous chances to change her ways.

Finally, how did we handle it? We took the high road. We informed Student Life and Panhellenic privately that this person was no longer a member so they knew her actions did not reflect on our organization. Actives were told that if this person's name came up in conversation around campus they should simply say she is no longer a member, nothing more. If they ran into her, they should at least be polite.

As Tom Earp suggested, word did spread around campus. Of course not as quickly as some would have liked, but that's life. Eventually it became rather embarrassing for her to be seen as clinging to something she was no longer associated with. The actives on the other hand showed they had class by not bad mouthing her and high standards for whom they choose to associate with.

It may seem bold and disgusting but it addresses a serious liability issue. Word may get around campus but what about those new to campus or those who lack a social life or even those not members of the campus community?

I am pleased with my orgs stance on providing the information on our national website. Believe me, better safe than sorry. Besides it is NOT and easy process to get someone expelled. It requires several layers of reviews and appeals, signatures and statements.

^^^^

It also serves as an internal motivation, as our organization lists the names also. Uhh, who wants to appear on blast on the world wide web? :o

Now that I think about it, I've seen this happen twice - once prior to my enrollment in college, the other time at another chapter. Both incidents were handled exactly as Zillini proposed, and it wasn't until the former sisters graduated that any of the other sisters knew what happened.

So, I can definitely state that this is a VERY successful method!

While I was :eek: at this at first, the more I know about NPHC groups the more it makes sense, as you have people perping at ALL stages of life. That usually doesn't happen with NIC & NPC groups. (Knocking on wood, for safety's sake)

This is an interesting question. I may be expanding the scope of the discussion but what about just plain ol' inactive members? They ARE members, just not in the loop about the current temperature of the organization.

They could hold court on the organization and mislead people. When you become inactive are there any directions given to you about speaking for the organization/chapter?

And that indeed is an issue that we sometimes deal with in NPHC orgs. However, most have some sort of system in place where official membership information is only transmitted one way. For example, in my fraternity you can ONLY get an application by requesting one through the national website. Once you have the application, you have ALL the info you need.

It depends what you mean by "inactive."

If you're "inactive" because it's your last semester senior year and you took senior status, or because you had money problems, and there were no hard feelings, I doubt that you would say anything to mislead anyone. I can't imagaine telling someone in that situation "you're not allowed to talk about ASA because you're not active."

Or are you talking "inactive" in the sense of alumnae not paying dues/being financial?

When someone has their membership cancelled, either voluntarily or revoked, I think discretion is the key.

The current members should be informed, but spared the details. If anyone has questions, they should contact that former member. 9 times out of 10, regardless of why a member has left, it impacts the chapter morale in some way. Just like if your employer let someone go, or if someone quit-- that person's absence is felt.

If someone is "perping" as a member, reminders can be sent to that former member's current school and permanent (family) address, reminding them that they are no longer members and not eligible to wear or display letters, or claim membership.

Letting Panhellenic know, for paperwork's sake, is a good idea.

I don't think the sorority or the individual need the potential public embarrassment or rumors popping up by causing a scene, putting an ad in the paper or standing up at a Pan meeting. It causes a lot of unnecessary speculation that can lead to injuring the chapter's image.

It depends on how large your Greek system is, as well. If it's small and pretty much everyone knows everyone, it'll get around fairly quickly. But if you have large chapters where even all the members don't know everyone's name, let alone anyone outside their chapter, there's probably much more of a risk of someone misrepresenting themselves as an active member when they've been terminated and getting away with it.

I also think it depends on what exactly the ex-member is doing. Carrying a lettered tote? Wrong, but not worth making a huge deal about. Posting drunken pictures of herself in letters and talking about all her "sisters" to freshmen? Yeah, something dramatic may need to be done there.

This happened to us when I was an undergrad. One of our sisters was expelled by vote due to non-fulfillment of the requirements of active membership.

A few active sisters who were still friends with her asked her why she was still wearing her letters and she said that she had earned them.

We didn't pursue any official action. We knew that she was no longer considered a member; the school knew, and nationals knew; and that is all that mattered. To do anything to her or advertise about her would have been a direct violation of our ideal of Friendship.

yeah its really only one org that does that...but i was shocked when i looked at their website and saw that... i was like DAMN!!! thats a bold move...

No, more than one organization does it.

they do it in the Member's only side of the site, or on a page where it accessible to the general public?

It depends on the org.

Nearly all of the folks I've come across have been very honest in saying that they haven't been a member (in Delta, a member is a soror who pays dues; those who have been initiated are sorors) in a while. But this speaks to the importance of getting to know several members. If one person tells you one thing, and seven others tell you something different and you know those seven are active, well, you know who has been to meetings and reading materials.

Maybe it is your decission to be bigger!

Just Look bigger and better!

No it isn't.

In our case, and others where I have viewed their lists, it is accessible to the public. The reason being that prospects don't get duped by suspended/expelled members into doing illegal activities. Think the AKA fiasco.

From my personal perspective as a member, there is little reason to be nonfinancial in my Sorority. ALL members are told and should know, most especially if they joined as a graduate/alumnae member, the financial commitments to be a full fledge member into my Sorority. Those that choose inactivity, have serious medical or familial commitments that supercede the lack.

Also, if one does not SEE our official documents that are neatly published at a formal membership intake process, then they probably not speaking for the Sorority... Interests and prospective candidates KNOW what these documents look like. And any questions can always be deferred to the International HQ.

My Sorority has a hierarchy. Adherence is to it occurs by affidavit. A legally binding contract. All chapters are fully committed to reactivation efforts as directed by the International HQ.

The statements are all I can say at this point.

Expulsion in my Sorority is NOT a joke and must be explained before the entire membership.

what does this mean?

I needed to correct the grammar of the sentence... Sorry, I sometimes skip.



Just like my work, we have ways to check "infection rates"...

Let's just say it is like a "Sentinel System"...

Infectious agents fail to "Knock On Doors"...

Hah!

There is a reason that you go and collect their letters after a given period of time ( 1 month....thats what my friend's sorority does). That gives them plenty of time to give them to people or sell them (ebay or current members).

I think the main reason people usually leave is because of dues; I have only heard of a few people leaving the greek community for other things. Personally, only knowing of two people who deactivated - one because of money (parents got hit hard by a failed investment) and the other because they turned out to be very different people than she thought.

Cest La Vie.

I apologize, the aforementioned statements although quite correct information, but there are members of GC that misrepresenting GLO's. How can one justify his or her online presence? I have yet to know.

All I can say is this place is a message board for fun. If interested/PNM's are doing their primary research based off this board, then I would like to think my Sorority's website has a wealth of information.