Pledges cause alot of internal problems! NEED HELP
 

My fraternity is having alot of trouble with our pledges. They dont listen to anything we say. They are never where they are suppose to be or where they say they are goin to be. They havent been learning anything about the brothers or about our history. They are most disrespectful pledges on our campus currently. And on top of that we havent recieved any of there pledge dues. Nothing we say or do has seemed to work so far. Due to the problem with the pledge, its causing internal conflicts among the brothers. If i could simply kick the out of pledging i would but, we are close to chartering and one of our requirement is to have a certain number of members and without the new pledges we would not have enough people to get chartered. . . What the hell do i do?????
Pleas, any suggestions would be really appreciated!

Put off getting your charter and kick them all out. They may help you make your numbers but they will cause more trouble than they're worth in the long run and will probably keep you from have successful rushes in the future. And if future pledges hear how you let this class get away with not paying their fees, showing up, learning frat ed, etc., how will you ever "control" them? One class can turn a whole chapter around for good or for bad (faster for bad than for good, unfortunately).

If the campus sees that you took a stand and were selective in who you thought was worthy to charter with you, they're more likely to take you seriously as a viable house in the future.

Give them an ultimatum: Dues are due in X Amount by X date. If they are not paid by X date, please turn in your pledge pin and any fraternity paraphernalia by X date. Anyone failing to do either of these things will be contacted by a collections agency to pay the amount owed.

Out of Control
 

The inmates are running the asylum! What will you guys do when you become parents? Your job as actives is to lead, to teach, to set standards and to enforce them. Failure to do so will result in disaster even if these out of control pledges help you receive your charter. I agree with setting a time limit for dues and also for making attendance mandatory. Unless you regain the control you should have had from the beginning, how can you succeed?

Where are your advisors? Time to call them in.

Paula M.
Sigma Delta Tau
ΣΔTPatriae Multi Spes Una One Hope of Many People

Absolutely agree 110%. A group at my campus made the mistake of putting up w/ a lot of crap from substandard people so they could get their charter, and as a result they never became truly strong and are not there anymore.

If your headquarters questions your decision, tell them exactly what you just told us.

Haze the hell out of 'em.

1 simple word...DROPPED!

If they don't take it seriously, kick em out. its not worth it. if you activate them just to charter, you'll spend most of your time fighting to keep your charter and stay afloat rather than doing any real growth.

if they are not doing their "job"(attending meetings, learning the history, learning about the fraternity) as pledges, how can you depend on them to schedule a party, hold a fund raiser or get new members?

kick them out!

> Give them an ultimatum: Dues are due in X Amount by X date. If they are not paid by X date, please turn in your pledge pin ...

This is the way to go.

Are they all "united" in their behavior? Or are there a handful who are swayed by the masses, but really want to be responsible brothers? Since you are a new group, there may not be a lot of experience with big brother-little brother relationships?

Where are the alums (of other chapters) and the leadership consultants from national? Are they working closely with you?

I agree with the all the above who said make them pay up and shape up or kick them out. I've been down that road before of slapping pledge pins on random people simply to get numbers up. It's never a good idea. Believe me, if they are causing problems now it will only get worse after they are initiated. Plus there's the added headaches of bad members recruiting more bad members in the future.

Delay getting your charter until you're entire membership is worthy of receiving those GLO letters.

I've been in that exact situation. I was the L.C. of my colony (Sigma Nu's equivalent to maybe what would be the Executive V.P. in most other organizations). We had, on several occasions, men who were just bad news. They didn't pay dues or they did incredibly stupid things, were socially retarded, got into fights, etc. I learned over the years that the best thing to do with guys like that is to 'trim the fat' and move on.

Get together a committee of older members, including your president and standards officer, then meet with each pledge INDIVIDUALLY. It is amazing the false bravado that all people get due to group dynamics. Tell each one that he is not living up to the standards of the organization, has not paid dues and will be kicked out if he doesn't change his ways. Pledges can't assume you are talking to someone else in the pledge class if they hear your ultimatum individually. Let them know that they will individually be held to a standard as well as a pledge class. Then....follow up on your threats. Kick them out if they don't change. Apparently they think they are untouchable since you need them to get your charter.

I would also make sure that the person responsible for giving them due dates and letting them know when activities are is actually doing that. Colony or not, there are sometimes officers who aren't doing their full job (like a VP Operations who collects everybody's reports but never sends any of them out to their Headquarters!). Make sure that they know exactly when money is due and when/where activities are. Someone may be getting their signals crossed in that arena, especially if it's the whole pledge class doing the same thing.

I've heard people say things like "You'll need to pay your dues" but aren't specific on how much, when and to who... and then assume that they will all pay. I've also been part of organizations where everybody knew the basics about some traditional events so when they announce things like that, they don't give out details.

I like this idea!

They are not Brothers yet.

They do not have to stay.

They are hurting you more than they are helping you!

If they are this way now, just what will they be like if they get initiated, end up closing the Chapter?

Clean one or two to show how serious you are and some may fall in line. Pick the main ones who :Think: they are the leaders.

problem with that...

not that i dont' find construction in building a pledge class around hazing to an extent. But no offense to your fraternity, but if you are just now getting chartered i assume the older brothers in the fraternity, pretty much just started the fraternity without going through any kind of hazing or innitiation process.

Its hard to be hazed by and still respect someone who you know did not have to go through it.

I would just get the money or kick em out, you can't expect much dedication when still in the colony period, my friend became a founding father of a fraternity last semester as a pledge and they had the same problem, him and his pledge brothers really didn't do crap. Its slowly starting to work out now though.

What you said is so true, but usualy the ones who started the group are working their rears off to get it done.

But here again it just takes a few to ruin it for the many and the growth.

Live or die is the question isnt it?

Depends on what you are doing to the little lads.

With that said, I wouldn't waste the time or effort coming up with inventive ways to bring the fear of God to little shits that act like that.

Chapter>ball>c'ya pledge

I agree a lot with what everyone else has said. Your setting yourselves up for failure if you are only using these Kids as a number, a number is only a number and means nothing compared to non-material benefits of Brotherhood. A Brother is more than a number. A Brother embodies everything that your Fraternity stands for. If these pledges don't embody those things, they should not be looked at as future brothers. Your charter will be worthless if you are just going to lose it in a semester or two because of these Kids. If you really care for your fraternity then it's future status and every single person you even think about letting pledge should mean almost the world to you so you would get rid of anyone or anything that is going to give themselves, you, your fraternity and it's founders a bad name. If they don't fit what ever standard it is that you use to pledge someone, they should not even be there. Tell you headquarters what is going on and I am pretty sure that they will understand. If you have a colony advisor or advisory board, I would let them know too. There should be no giving these kids an Ultimatum, get rid of them. Good luck.

Right!! I co-sign on that.

I agree.

If you're hitting them or something equally ridiculous, they won't respect you regardless but even more so if you didn't go through it yourself.

Be inventive in how you treat the pledges. Make it something that can become annual pledge activities.(since you're still a colony, events like this are important I think)

Have you asked anyone from Nationals for help? Much better to postpone a charter than to lose one.

I'm a little late to this thread but..

Bad pledges usually equal bad brothers. Cut them.

If they aren't an asset to the chapter as pledges how are they going to be an asset to the chapter as brothers? I agree with the other posters who have stated that brotherhood is far more important than numbers. I've seen what happens when you don't let go of bad pledges and it's not good. Give them the option of either living up to your fraternity's ideals and being good brothers or getting out now.

We had this problem last semester. I'd show up at every pledge meeting and berate them for not showing up to meetings on time, not respecting house rules, not paying, etc. etc.

Eventually they started taking us seriously....when I called out a couple guys and gave them two weeks to shape up or ship out. Since we're not allowed to haze pledges just go on a strike system. What do you think works better: being forced to drink and do push ups or the possibility of being depledged for being an idiot? Being Non-Hazing doesn't mean being weak and soft.


We handed out depledge notices like candy and the six who stayed through are excellent actives now.