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Although I don't chime in often, I found this thread pretty interesting.
Here at UTD, we don't require our new members to do anything separate from the actives, mostly because we were founded after the anti-hazing laws. There are no older members with the mentality of "I had to do it, so do you" to pass on "chapter traditions."
On their first night in Theta, our new members are given their new member pins. They're not required to wear it 24/7, and in fact, we make it clear that nothing bad is going to happen to them should they be caught without it/lose it/etc. However, we stress to them how proud they should be of our fraternity and that this pin is a visible way of showing that pride; that when they're wearing that pin, they're telling the world they're Thetas.
So our girls wear their pins all over campus, as often as they can. We've even had girls on the night before their initiation ask if they could please just keep their new member pin because they love it so much.
Naturally, anywhere that they're wearing their new member pins, they're not drinking. I'd imagine most NPC organizations have similar policies with the times a new member pin can be worn and the activities one can participate in while wearing it. So in a way, our girls impose on themselves not quite an alcohol-free, but at least alcohol-reduced, new member period.
And just for reference, here's the definition of hazing from NPC's website:
"Hazing is defined as any action or situation with or without consent which recklessly, intentionally or unintentionally endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student, or creates risk of injury, or causes discomfort, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule or which willfully destroys or removes public or private property for the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in a chapter or colony of an NPC member fraternity. All member groups will affirm their policies denouncing hazing and inform their membership of this NPC position denouncing hazing through mailings and through their inter/national magazines."
It's not the simplified "asking new members to do something other than what the actives do" that we've all come to repeat so frequently.
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