Bid time!
 

Since we rush a pledge class yearly our bids are coming up. We did one of our first rush social events today. Looks like a mostly female KKPsi pledge class this year.

Congrats
 

When do you do your pledge class? Fall or Spring? Congrats on a great rush process!! *although I think we're not allowed to call it that*



Jen :)

We start in the fall.

I don't know about whether or not we're allowed to call it rush but we DEFINITELY do NOT use the word pledge. I know that nationally both TBS and KKPsi are very stringent on that. Tau Beta Sigma generally has Membership Canidates (or MCs) and Kappa Kappa Psi generally has Prospective Members (PMs). Each chapter sometimes has a different variation on that but we are never to refer to our new members as 'pledges' because a pledge is something you take, not something you are.

Emily

Hmmm I guess I'll just start calling them PMs then.

As far as I know according to Nationals calling them prospectives/MECs/membership candidates is correct. We are NOT allowed to call them pledges or call the process "rush" because it is considered hazing. That's what I was always taught and I was suprised to see how many still call them pledges.

oops
 

But what kind of trouble do you get in when you still call it rush or pledge????? I'm just curious

I honestly don't know nationals policy if a chapter is found calling them pledges. I'd ask someone at nationals about that but officially it's not pledges anymore. And that's all I know :)

OMG! We were at district convention (NED) and one of our MCs was helping us give a presentation. This MC also happened to be a member of Phi Mu Alpha and he refered to himself as a pledge . . . he corrected himself right away and explained why he accidentally used that instead of MC but my sisters all just kinda went :eek: . The counselor was somewhat understanding but warned us not to let it happen again.

Terminology and Environment
 

Part of the discrepancy in using the word "rush" depends on how much of a Greek system is at your school, I think. At my school we have virtually no Greek organizations (with, as far as I know, absolutely no frat/soror houses) and so we don't have the connotations -- positive or negative -- other schools may have. We use the term "Rush" mostly because it's easier to say than "Recruitment Activities", and no one has a problem with it. I can understand how chapters at a school with a larger Greek system might want to avoid this terminology, because it carries connotations of hazing -- but these connotations will vary strongly from campus to campus. I don't think being hazed ever occurred to any of our PMs....

As for "pledge", it's pretty clear to me why it isn't appropriate. A pledge is someone who is NOT a member -- someone who is basically begging to join. Our newbies are PROSPECTIVE members -- insinuating that they will become members, and therefore are equals, not peons.

What do y'all think?