Penalties
 

Hey! I was just wondering if any group has found a penalty system that works well. We had a community service event planned for tonight that 6 of the girls said they would be at. Five of them have backed out. This is completely unacceptable in my opinion and I would like to implement some sort of system so they realize that attendance is extremely important. During their Pledge period we used the point system but I did not really like it so I was hoping that I could get some useful ideas from you guys and gals. Any help is appreciated!

Set up a judicial board. Let the girls know that if they do not contact you within 24 hours before the event with a valid excuse, they will be written up to the judicial board and given a punishment.

Fines, more community service, no voice at meetings, not allowed to attend certain events, etc.

fines.

we didnt want to go there, but we added them and now we have no problem getting girls to show up. for a while they were doing it because they had to or else they would be finned, but this semester, theyre showing up more for the reasons of wanting to be there and just because theyre now used to coming to events.


we have fines for everything from being late to meetings to missing meeting to missing rush events, rituals, you name it, we probably have a fine for it.

its also nice, because not having nationals to give us money, we now have another source of funds every semester.

Thank you TPA!! :)

I am definitely going to bring this up with the other members of the Sanctions Committee. This is our first semester on campus, and the first class that we have initiated, so we are still learning! :)

we used fines for not going to mandatory events

we also have misconduct forms which can be written out for not doing their position, misconduct with a sister or a new member, etc. They are then given to eboard to discuss an appropriate "punishment" or how to deal with it. Usually a first offense is just talking to them (Pres and vp or something) and then it progresses from there depending on what happened. I began the program about 2 years ago, so things aren't so clearcut and we've had some ppl abuse them (writing up a sister over petty things) but they've also come in handy and provide documentation for later.

Also, there is a certain amount of peer pressure involved too, if girls don't go to things, we call them out. That works but can create tension though.

Another thing to look at is WHY people aren't coming to events. For example - was the community service event scheduled on the same day as some other big event (like a campus concert)? Did the whole sorority vote on it or did the philanthropy chair just say "we're doing this, show up here"?

If all that's taken into account, I think that things like taking away privileges like attending formal or mixers work better than fines. The girls who can afford to pay them will just do it and not care, and the girls who can't afford to pay them - well, you can't get blood from a turnip.

We have a mandatory philanthropy every month which everyone is well aware of. However, we voted on working with this agency (Adoption RI) and then asked people to sign up to work the events that they could attend. The five girls signed up and then backed out (one sent me a text message 30 minutes before she was supposed to be there). The event was only to take place from 4 until 7 and as far as I know there were no other events except for them leaving for Montreal this morning (4 of the 5). This is our first semester on campus so we have not yet had formals or mixers so unfortunately those ideas won't work.

We are having an officer meeting on Wed to discuss this, because it is not the first time it has happened. So, we will see what we can come up with!

Thanks to everyone who has replied! :)

Instead of a "penalty" system, why not reinforce good behavior instead?

I mentioned this a super long time ago in a similar thread, but I can't seem to find it... anyway, a few years ago, my chapter instituted what was something called "Pi Points" (or something to that effect)

There was a huge posterboard with everyone's name and columns with each of the mandatory events (meetings, study hours, etc). Each type of mandatory event had a certain number of points associated with it and for the fun events (formals, etc) only members with a certain number of points could attend. It worked really well... and towards the end, if there were sisters who were on the cusp of having enough points, they could get "bonus" points by doing things no one else wanted to do (like polish the silver.. haha) with the permission of exec and the advisors.

I think it worked well because it is a crappy feeling to get left out of something. I can recall one event that everyone was loading the buses to go to and a few girls had to stay behind at the house because they didn't make any efforts to participate in anythng else all semester.

Fines typically do not work. Remember these are college kids, and if they REALLY don't want to do something, they would much rather fork over the $25 instead.

We have a positive point system. While we have mandatory events (certain philanthropies, recruitment, etc.), most of everything factors into a positive point system. Going to chapter gives you points, going to philanthropies gives you more points, etc. At the end of the year, you need so many points to attend formal (and the same goes for semi-formal). In essence, it encourages sisters to participate by rewarding and not penalizing them. However, attendance is always an issue to a certain degree, and I agree, it's unacceptable for people to not come. I would suggest coming up with a positive points type system. PM me if you'd like more information. Good luck!

Thank you all for the great ideas!!

I like the point idea a lot. My chapter imposed fines and I was too poor to have paid them, plus I enjoyed going to stuff so I never had to pay any. The problem for us was actually getting girls to pay them. No one took them seriously to begin with. I think requiring a certain number of points to attend Formal (an event everyone wants to go to) is a great idea and probably would have worked well for our chapter.

Fines actually work very well. If not, how about sister of the week? We brought it back this semester. After a meeting, you go around and ask everyone who and why a certain sister should be sister of the week. they then cast their vote and put a quarter in the bin. Whoever wins sister of the week wins all the quarters. It may seem dumb and cheesy, but it makes that sister feel good and its just nice to hear each other say nice things. Boosts morale and inspires sisters to go above and beyond.

Do not, however, retroactively impose fines without telling members before the event that they would be charged for not attending. That happened in our chapter, and people were not happy.

Thank you for all of your ideas/responses! One of the girls has resigned, she hasn't told me (and I highly doubt she will) but she told our VP, and I don't think it will be long before two more resign, especially after our meeting takes place tonight. Sad, but I'd rather have quality girls who are in it for the right reasons instead of girls who do not want to do anything with the sorority but have plenty of time to go out partying and planning parties. As I said before, this is an ongoing problem with them and it has affected everyone...even to the point where girls have asked us to kick them out. So, we'll do what we have to do to make Zeta stronger! :)

OK...so the sh*t hit the fan tonight. However, the troublemakers are gone and the rest of us are happy/relieved. :D.

I was just elected standards chair and my small chapter doesn't have an established points/standards system. Our biggest problem has been that nothing is actually in writing so sisters get confused which makes them bitter.

Does anyone have a copy of their system that they could send me? I’d also like to know what works and what doesn’t for the systems.
Also, what do people do about bringing sister before standards?

Thanks for your help!

Well, I'm glad you got some stuff resolved and got the people that were bringing your org. down out of the chapter.

Me too. As bad as it sounds, they really were only bringing negative energy to the sorority.

We worked out a points system for all meetings, required events, etc. At the end of the year or semester, we hold really fun events or give out prizes to the girls who have enough points. This seems to be a good way to motivate people...good luck!

I love these ideas! Thanks everyone really.

Another idea maybe if you have a house, extra chores, especially dirty ones (toilets, drains, etc)