[33girl]

Well I can see where Michael is coming from as a fellow APO brother. We do not have a membership selection process like NPC or NIC - anyone who wants to pursue membership can, but there is no guarantee they will be successful in that pursuit. So for APO to be told they couldn't use the word "pledge" and had to call them "new members" would be, in effect, false advertising.

As far as NPC groups not using the word "pledge" I think it's asinine. You can put all the same connotations on new member, Phi, pearl member etc that you can put on pledge. And personally I would much rather be called a pledge than some of the "cutesy" names I have heard...but maybe that's just me.