"Leaking" Information
 

Fellow Greeks,

I've noticed on many websites (including inter/national official sites) that A LOT of information is given out, including the meanings behind colors, organization names, etc.

I'm wondering why there is SO much information out there on some organizations! I can only guess that many very old orgs have so much information that some of it loses its secret identity. What is it really?

Re: "Leaking" Information
 

Some orgs have initiated a quarter of a million people... with that many people, you're bound to have some jerks who "accidentally" tell their BF or GF, or some bitter people who had a bad experience and want to get revenge.

Sad, but true.

And for some, some of that information is not secret at all. To my knowledge, there is no real "secret" meaning behind our jewel. For another group it may be that their colors don't have a secret meaning. Some groups have open mottoes that coordinate with their greek letters that are publicly displayed, but have a second secret motto that is revealed at their initiation. It's just another example of how our organizations are very different from each other.

Sometimes it bothers me that you can find juat about everything about ASA on our website, but I figure that it's all open stuff, so why not? Compared to many soroites, ASA doesn't have a huge amount of secrets...which also can be a benefit because instead of saying "We have two colors, and they have a really cool meaning, but I can't tell you" at recruitment...we get to say "We have four colors, two primary (Crimson, Pearl White), and two secondary (Palm Green, Gold) and here's why...." Plus, our 4 colors are tied to our 4 exemplars, which are tied to our 4 symbols, which are tied to our 4 aims...so I guess if we couldn't talk about our colors, symbols, exemplars or aims, that's alot of stuff eliminated from our recruitment spiel...

As stated in the previous posts, it's up to the individual fraternity or sorority to determine the level of secrecy attached to their meanings and ideals.

In Freemasonry, for example, each individual Grand Lodge has its own interpretation of the ritual of the three degrees. What one Grand Lodge may consider esoteric and only transmitted 'mouth to ear' another Grand Lodge may have it printed word for word in their monitor of ceremonies.

However, many people forget a principal tenet of their fraternal obligations: the business of the chapter and the confidences of a brother or sister should be held as private and inviolate as the meanings behind the organization and means of recognition. Likewise, the sanctity of the ballot box. Who gets elected or who gets blackballed (or cubed) is no one's business but the chapter's.

Re: "Leaking" Information
 

Simply because a lot of that stuff may not be secret for some orgs. The meaning behind colors is not a secret to all fraternities/sororities. I doubt that a GLO would put secret information on a public website, and expect it to remain secret.

If it's on the international website, it's OKAY. They wouldn't put stuff on there that the public isn't allowed to know....

Being realistic, in an organization like Delt which is rapidly closing on its 150th anniversary with 140,000-plus initiated members, the thought that secrets (probably all of them) get out at one time or another shouldn't be a surprize. I suspect that's true of every fraternity and sorority.

It is important to me that I protect our secrets, but if someone else decides, for whatever reason, to publish everything there's simply nothing I can do about it. I wouldn't be happy, but still powerless.

In the final analysis, it's not whether your Ritual, etc. are an absolute secret -- but rather how you feel about it, and how to live up to the meaning and intent. At least that's how I feel about it.

BTW, our colors, flower, open motto and a few other things are not secret. We have a pre-initiation ceremony called The Rite of Iris which is also not secret. Some chapters don't even do it.

Finally, I'm not really interested in other groups secrets. What good does it do me to know them -- except to try to be "one up" on someone else. So what?

ETA there are some groups (I think DU is one of them, who are completely non-secret. That's OK, too.

I was wondering about this lately too.

If you look at some sorority websites -- for example ASA or AEPhi -- you can find out lots of stuff about what their colors/mascot/exemplars/letters mean. Obviously it's open information or it wouldn't be on the website, and perhaps they have both open and closed meanings for a lot of those things, but I've always wondered what makes some groups choose to make certain information open whereas other groups keep the same information closed (if there's any reason besides simply personal choice). If you take a look at AGD's website, for example, you can hardly find any information at all -- mu_agd was trying to look up some information on an open program for me and couldn't find any.

Like S&S said, the meaning behind some of our symbols is posted on our website, but the information that is there is all open. Whether there are also secret meanings - maybe there are, and maybe there aren't. :p However, the letters do have a secret meaning other than what is on the website.

Well said! I agree 100%. :)

The reason that the anchor is our symbol is "open" information and on national's website: it's the ancient symbol of hope.

Some websites, I don't think it's so much that they are "hiding" stuff as that the site is set up in a manner that you can't find it. I mean, on some national sites you can't even find a list of collegiate chapters!!

I think that, from what I've gathered, we are one of the more "low-key" sororities as far as lots and lots of secrets and complicated this and thats - but trust me, we do have some. ;)

Re: "Leaking" Information
 

Do you think it might just be about controlling public perception? People have come up with some pretty wild assumptions about organizations with secrets (for example, the Masons). If they put as much information as they can out in the open, it removes a lot of opportunity for speculation.

Re: Re: "Leaking" Information
 

What I've surmised from all the posts is that this is true in part. It seems that the majority of orgs have "public" info that acts as you suggest, to get some kind of information to the public. But, all the orgs also have the "true" meaning behind symbols that only the initiated know.