Pledge Pins and Probate
 

I guess I'm looking for answers mostly from the chapters at HBCUs.

Point 5 of the National Pledging Standards for APO says

Wearing of Insignia. An appropriate period of pledging includes wearing an official Pledge pin at all times.

Rationale: Chapter Image, on and off campus, is a vital concern of all Members, new and old. The prominent and proud display of an Alpha Phi Omega Pledge Pin instills pride through identity with Alpha Phi Omega, signifies the Chapter's presence on campus and in the community, and may also habituate all Members to proudly wear Fraternity insignia.

How do Alpha Phi Omega chapters that participate in probate have probate work when the NPS so specifically says that Pledge Pins should be worn?

Do Pledges not wear their pins or is probate much less of a mystery for APO? (or something I haven't thought of)

(note if there are similar issues with GSS, please chime in)

YiLFS
Randolph Finder

Randy, I only just now saw your post.

I am confused.... let me know if this is what you're asking:

Of those chapters that have probate/coming out shows (in which it is assumed that no one knew who was pledging before that show), how do they work within the national "pledge pin rule?"

If so.... I don't know. In my experience, some HBCU chapters still require the pledge pin and still have probate shows. It's not as big a secret as NPHC orgs.

(For what it's worth, I've also seen NPHC org aspirants/pledges/whatever wearing their official pledge pins as well)

That is absolutely what I was asking, my apologies that it wasn't clear. I didn't know if the NPHC groups found it strange that APO basically intending who was pledging to be public knowledge. I know that at some schools APO is in the Probate demonstrations with the NPHC (I saw a youtube for APO @ Prairie View's probate).

My wife, Linda went to Frostburg and things were split there. The pledges for DST were very public (like the NPC sororities, they listed who pledged in the student newspaper), AKA on the other hand kept it very private.

Thank You.

Randy

What years did she attend Frostburg?

Fall 1991 to Spring 1995

LOL! I cannot believe that DST had their pledges listed in the student paper.

It's a brilliant move, actually, and not suprising.

No yard
 

With Frostburg as a rural second-tier state school with no significant school understanding of NPHC traditions and no significant local African American community, doing a full Probate/Coming out would have probably generated more shrugs than cheers.

(Frostburg is in far Western Maryland. Take where Maryland pinches down to a couple of miles and keep going west for another hour. All 4 of Maryland's HBCU's are east of Washington DC, Morgan & Coppin in Baltimore, Bowie State about halfway between DC & Annapolis and UMES out on the Eastern shore.)

Brother, please note that some schools mandate a probate/coming out show. I know of a few chapters that make all greeks partake in this activity. One chapter in particular even has the school schedule the probate week for NPHC organizations as well as another week for Non NPHC organizations.

What schools?

I know that NC A&T does so.

I looked at the Student Handbook
http://www.ncat.edu/~deanofst/Handbook.htm

And it gives required times for Probate in there. It also looks like APO gets stuck with a maximum of two weeks for the pledging period though I may be reading it wrong. I think that having an NIC Fraternity like Pi Kappa Alpha attempt to come on campus (like one did at Howard) would be enough to break brains in the University administration.

Edit: I asked a question, but I found it myself:

Regarding Probates

* All probates have to be within the probate period as designated by the University Intake Schedule
* There will be NO EXCEPTIONS to any other time periods or forms of expression (before, during or after)
* No pre or post probate shows on or off campus

So basically, NCA&T doesn't require probates, it just requires when they have to occur, which is not unheard of among HBCUs.

All organizations at A&T are given a 2 week intake process.

So much for the 6-10 weeks in the National Pledging standards. :(

School rules trump pledging standards, I know but still annoying. Do they at least let you call it pledging or does the school more or less ascribe to the NPHC view that the words pledging and hazing are synonyms? :(