Privacy of Pledge Manuals?
 

When I joined Alpha Phi Omega in 1986, I would run into brothers who were *horrified* that other chapters would have the National Pledge Manual out on the table during Rush and Student Activities fairs. What I found out later was that the National Office really didn't consider it private, and would even send it out as part of the packet that was sent to University Administrators if there was any interest at the school at all.

Since the coming of the Internet, it is fairly clear that it is public. While it (and the rest of the publications) aren't in the tree of selections that come up for a guest to our national site, entering "Pledge Manual" in the search gives the pdf as the first hit.

So, how private does your fraternity or sorority keep your pledge manual (or the equivalent)?

The Cornerstone is Delta Chi's 'Pledge Manual/New Member Handbook'. As far as I know, it's public, but we don't advertise it. It gives the Associate Member all the information he needs to be considered for initiation, and a good member/gentleman also.

There's been some discussion of this here, and elsewhere too, I think.

Anyway, our probationary member manual, Themes for Brotherhood, is not private.

It would be a little odd to put double secret information in a Pledge Manual, wouldn't it? I feel badly, though, that ours is now online. I had an ancient one (they weren't expecting so many pledges that rush), and it had some truly memorable lines, such as "An Alpha Delta Pi doesn't paw in the back seat with her dates." We always said that ADPis are strictly front seat ladies!

My fraternity's pledge manual is semi-secret. It's not to be shown to non-Brothers or anyone who's not a pledge. In reality, all the info in there is on the internet, and none of it is secret. It's mostly history, founding Brothers, ect.

Which fraternity?

Ours is not secret. Until this year it had been online at least partially, but we just released a brand new membership manual that is supposed to last all four years with space for scrapbooking, journaling, etc. It's very cute, and I think the women responsible did a nice job making something that will turn into a keepsake.

Between this thread and the one that MysticCat originally referred to, most of the answers seem to be somewhere in the range from "We don't advertise it, but shrug" to "check it out on our national website". I'm curious as to whether The Tradition belongs to a National group or not.

I would of course add the standard caveat that memorizing the pledge manual before you tried to rush might be viewed as odd. (Flip a coin, if heads you don't pledge him/her, if tails, you pledge him/her and make them the pledge assistant to the historian)

Or "we give a copy to anyone interested in us."

When the earlier conversation was going on, I got the distinct impression that among NPHCers, pledge/member manuals were considered to be for members were only.

In Tau Delta, our pledge books were considered private, and definitely not to be shared with non-members. That being said, to my memory, no secret information was kept in there...probably because feckless 18 year olds lose things.

I would be very surprised if most organization's manuals were considered absolutely private. Whether or not undergraduate members realize that is, of course, a very different story.

Exactly.

Actually, when I was in school, I remember the Delta Chis leaving The Cornerstone in a place where anyone could see it and pick it up, but if I ever even attempted to touch it, I was told I couldn't.

When I was a new member, some of my sisters would tell me that no one else could view our new member manual, and others didn't seem to care.

I think a lot of people are unaware of what their organization's policy is when it comes to this .. if there even is a policy.

As far as I know, my organization's manual is more controlled than our pledge pins in the sense that they are only sent out after chapters submit a list of pledges.

There's nothing saying that it's "private" though. It's basically not intended for public distribution.

Aww, If you want I can mail you a Cornerstone, ha ha!

Just to keep the record straight on what organizations people are answering about, Triangle, right?