individual chapter member violations
 

My sorority just finished formal recruitment and gained a pledge class of 50. However on my campus we are not allowed to go to parties, see boys, or bars even if we are over 21. We had about 15 girls violate these rules and they threw a party as well as some other girls that went to bars. Myself and our president are deciding what appropriate punishments would be. We don't want to say they can't go to date parties and socials because we feel like they will still go out. We have been suspended from campus for alcohol related problems in the past and we feel like our younger girls do not understand the severity of their actions. Any ideas?

Your organization or chapter should have rules/bylaws that tell you what the consequences are. Are you the standards officer? If not, speak with her.

we do have bilaws that tell us how to handle violations. I was the recruitment chair and now I am the vice-president. In my chapter VP is in charge of standards. It depends on the violation, but it is up to the committee to decide what the punishments will be

You can't see boys? how do you handle date parties and socials then?

Seriously? That seems kind of strict.

no, those are recruitment rules. during recruitment we can't drink or have parties even if they are just individuals participating and not the sorority as a whole. We have date parties all the time with fraternities

Ohhh, you mean during recruitment. Yeah, that's important to clarify, I was a little aghast because I thought those were just general chapter rules.

Don't suspend them from socials. The fraternities you social with won't know that's why they aren't there and all they'll understand is a bunch of girls blew them off. This does damage to your reputation.

Are monetary fines feasible?

What about having the violators put together a workshop for the new member class on recruitment rules?

I like the idea of them doing the recruitment rules workshop but only as PART of the sanctions. I'd also make them take turns being sober sisters for social events. They don't have to do them for every one, but since they broke the no drinking rules for recruitment, I think that staying sober should be part of the punishment.

Do you mean designated drivers or just staying sober? Because some groups don't allow DDs. The more I think about it, I don't know that sobriety should be used as a punishment. (Sorry, I honestly didn't mean to shoot down your entire post, LOL.)

I think making them do a workshop on recruitment (why its important, why a good image is important, and why rules are important) could be a good start.

That is becoming more common due to liability issues. Even if a completely sober driver has an accident and injures someone else, the chapter may be liable because the sister was acting as an designated representative of the chapter. It's all a matter of the GLO having deeper pockets than the member driver. It's sad, but that's the reality of our litigious society. :( and :mad:

The chapter I advise actually does use Sober Sisters...they do act as designated drivers and as risk management chain of command during social events. Every social event must include sober officers as well. If the group in question doesn't allow designated drivers, then they don't have to do it, but social privileges are just that privileges. Nothing scares a collegiate more than taking away their most precious commodity.

Then we should take away the hair straightener. Bada bing. :p