Need help and ideas!!
 

Recently during our Official Visit, our province officer told me that part of our pledging was hazing and had to stop. Although we certainly never thought it was...

For our pledge period, the girls are all given a notebook by their big sis after Induction. Every week they take tests over things concerning the fraternity in preperation for the final exam (which is a national requirement). Before the test each week, the girls were supposed to have the members quiz them on their material, and if they got the questions right, we gave them "roses" (we'd draw three roses and sign our name). However, our P.O. told us that this is hazing. I don't understand...they were NEVER punished, demerited, etc if they didn't get the material right, and they weren't forced to do it. Can anyone please tell me why this is hazing?

But since she said it is...I need some creative ideas on how to help the girls learn their material. I'm open to any and all ideas.

Thanks!

My chapter plays Gamma Phi jeopardy a lot - they'll team up into actives/new members or split up into families. The winning team gets a fun little prize (candy, being first in line for snacks, etc) and it can get really competitive. We'll also have moms quiz their daughters during their weekly lunches, or if we're having a sisterhood event to watch Friends or something like that, we'll quiz them during the commercials. One of the nights of our Inspiration Week is also devoted to making sure they know all the material.

Is it the fact that they were taking the tests in general, or the fact that you would only give them the roses if they got the questions right?

If it's the latter, just correct the tests with no comment one way or the other.

This could be considered hazing for several reasons: first, they are having to "earn" the signatures (or roses) by answering questions correctly. Even though the questions are based on material they have to learn for the nat'l test, who's to say that a sister isn't going to pressure the new member into doing something else for her roses? Also, would the new member get the roses/signature if she answered the question wrong, of if she simply asked the sister to sign her book without having to answer any questions? If not, then that's hazing.

Second, the quizzing of new members in and of itself can be considered hazing. You have to be careful about this - if you're not quizzing the sisters then you probably shouldn't be quizzing the new members as well!

I hope that helped to give you a semi-explanation as to why that might be hazing.

As for ideas on how to educate them...Jeopardy is always a good one. It gets them learning their stuff and bonding with the sisters.

I don't understand why weekly quizzes are considered hazing. They have to take a NM final exam to initiate...I would think it's easier to "practice" with several small quizzes rather than just take the whole thing at once.

I didn't think the quizzes were hazing - I thought it was the practice of granting the roses for studying for the quizzes that was hazing. Just about every group I've heard of has a weekly quiz.

Yes, it did help. :) Although I know for a fact that me and none of my sisters made girls do anything else to get their roses, I can definately see how the risk is there.

Honestly, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea to include the members in learning the material. We certainly don't want to make our new girls uncomfortable, or put pressure on them. We want pledging to be all positive.

Thanks everyone for the input. :)

Well, it's a combination of both, I think. I know - I personally don't think just quizzing itself is hazing. BUT some groups consider quizzing hazing. We do not allow quizzing. You'd be surprised at what is considered hazing (at least I was anyways when I read some of the guidelines). If her nat'ls requires a test, then I'm sure that it's not the quizzing that's the issue. But like I said, with some organizations, it could be.

It's just good practice to advise against quizzing...for this very reason. One New Member Educator will start with the quizzes, then the new one will come in and say "Okay, with this week's quiz you have to get 5 questions right." Well, what happens if someone doesn't get those 5 questions? She/He is going to stress out about it and it could just snowball into this huge issue. Does that make sense?

It definitely does - my chapter has a very strict policy with quizzes. Basically, every Sunday we have NME. The first Sunday of the six, the NME will hand out a "Study Guide" for Quiz 1. The Study Guide is actually the exact same as the quiz will be. She teaches the new girls what the answers are for their weekly education. The next Sunday, they'll have a quiz on the material from the last week, and then learn some new material. Quizzes are usually 10-15 questions and there is no penalty for getting a question wrong. It make studying for the final test very easy because they have all the material organized into sections already!

I can definitely see the potential to quizzes turning into hazing, but I think the way that we've done it is very effective - the new girls have a little more motivation to learn their stuff, and they'll be very prepared for the final exam!

I say set up a system of monitors. I thought about this just now. Record people during tests, interviews, whatever is borderline. If you need it later, you have it. Don't tell the pledges so they don't feel awkward.

I thought about it and I think pledging should be videotaped by someone from the fraternity and the fraternity should hold full control over the tape. They can review it at any time not only to ensure that hazing doesn't happen but as sort of a backup so people who want to do things like tests and whatnot can do it and not be worried that they're intimidating or hazing anyone. The pledges cannot have possession ever so the fraternity can minimize risk.

Of course I'm sure this opens up a whole new batch of questions and wouldn't be feasible for most GLOs.

-Rudey

I really don't know if this would help or not, but I'm going to throw it out there in case it does:

At Theta Pi, we have our weekly quizzes. The pledges are told one week in advance exactly what is going to be on the quiz. The first quiz is three questions, and then each week, more and more questions are added, but you always have to reanswer the same questions you did last week. If the pledges do well, they get candy and stickers. Everybody gets candy and stickers because everyone does well. Why? Because we...er...um...cheat. The pledges can talk to each other and look at anything in the house they want (except their pledge book). The actives also drop not-so-subtle hints if it sounds like someone is unsure. "So in my class, we were talking about heroes. Know who's my hero? Helen Bell Edwards. " (one of our founders) Plus, we always have crazy extra credit questions and we give points for creative answers.

This is a problem best solved by committee.

Round up your most active, dedicated and creative members.

The goal is to rewrite your new member education program. Put it on paper.

Each member of the committee needs to fully familiarize themselves with your HQ's definition of hazing (you'll find that every HQ has its own definition). Once you get it on paper, just email it to your chapter's consultant to see if it's workable. Also, don't be afraid to ask your HQ for help in programming. They probably have plenty of helpful material on this.

In the end, this is an opportunity to vastly improve your new member education process. Hopefully, you'll treat this as an opportunity and not an obstacle. Good luck!