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100 Hazing alternatives
(Posted: 28-Sep-05)
100 Ways to Create Good Members Without Hazing


1. Participate in a Ropes Course.
2. Teambuilding Activities (can be facilitated by campus professional – there are hundreds of these activities that you could use)
3. Participate in and/or plan a Community Service Project
4. New Member Surprise Party hosted by members
5. Have a Resume Writing Workshop presented by Career Development Center
6. Attend Educational Speaker of new members choice and discuss as a chapter
7. Leadership Book-of-the-Month/Semester Club facilitated by new members
8. Invite Faculty Advisor to lunch with new members
9. Have a Discussion about the Relevance of the Principles and Obligations today
10. Study Skills Workshop presented by the Learning Center
11. Successful Alumni Speaker to talk about how f/s gave skills to succeed
12. Arts and Crafts for a Cause
13. Participate in a Recruitment Workshop
14. Invite IFC/PHC Officers to Speak about Community Governance
15. Invite Coordinator of Greek Affairs to speak about lifetime membership
16. Dinner and a Movie
17. Shadow an Officer and assist in planning of a program/event
18. Create a vision and goals for the organization
19. Plan a fundraiser to pay for initiation fees
20. Include new members in chapter meetings
21. Include new members in regularly scheduled chapter activities
22. Discuss fraternal values and how they apply (or don’t apply)
23. Plan and present a speaker on a health/wellness topic
24. Require active membership in at least one organization outside the group
25. Evaluate the process during and after new member education
26. Host a Family Weekend activity
27. Have consultant or national visitor talk about national programs
28. Discuss what the General Fraternity does for the chapter with dues money
29. Attend a Panhellenic or Interfraternity Council meeting
30. Participate in all-Greek events
31. Review parliamentary procedure and its purpose
32. Ask leadership experts to discuss issues such as motivation and group dynamics
33. Have new members take the Meyers-Briggs Personality Type Inventory and discuss
34. Ask a faculty member to discuss ethical decision making
35. Ask a faculty member to facilitate a conversation on diversity in fraternities and sororities
36. Ask campus health educator to do a presentation on eating disorders or depression, etc.
37. Ask university police to discuss the prevention of violence against women
38. Ask Coordinator of Greek Affairs to describe what the college offers fraternities/sororities
39. Plan a philanthropy project for a local charity
40. Have a contest for who can recruit the most new members to join and reward the winner with a fully-paid membership badge or initiation fee
41. Members and new members make “secret sisters/brothers” gifts for each other
42. Discuss risk management and liability with the university counsel
43. Brainstorm ways to recruit new members to present to chapter
44. Have an all-campus or all-fraternity/sorority community “Meet Our New Members” Picnic
45. Have new members play on the chapter intramural team
46. Plant a new member class tree
47. Sponsor a big/little academic challenge with free textbooks to the winner
48. Have a candlelight/pass the gavel ceremony about what fraternity means to me
49. Have a senior Student Affairs administrator talk about history of fraternities/sororities at the College
50. Brainstorm ways to improve scholarship (other than study hours)
51. Attend theatrical production or athletic event of the new members choosing
52. Ask the library to give a lecture on effective research methods
53. Attend a program or event another organization is sponsoring
54. Have a discussion about membership standards and expectations
55. Have a chapter goal-setting retreat 56. Ask new members to accompany members to regional leadership conferences
57. Attend the campus Leadership Conference or workshops
58. Deconstruct past hazing activity to determine intent and brainstorm alternatives
59. Write a “letter to the founders” to thank them for the opportunity (not to be shared)
60. Attend an Executive Board meeting
61. Have new members help Executive Board develop an icebreaker for each meeting
62. Develop a leadership “wish list” or time line of chapter and campus activities
63. Invite the Chapter Accreditation Program Coordinator to speak about the rationale and benefits of the program
64. Invite the Learning Center or Career Development Center to explain their services
65. Develop a faculty advisor appreciation gesture
66. Chapter and new members collaborate on a house improvement project.
67. Develop an event with a non-Greek organization that requires new members to ask the Student Association for additional allocations or to apply for a campus grant.
68. Have new members develop a list of ways to end chapter motivation issues.
69. Ask the Mayor to discuss city issues and how the group can help.
70. Ask the Elections Commissioner to discuss politics in the city/county/nation.
71. Require members to register to vote. Give an incentive to those who do.
72. Require members below a 3.0 to attend a study skills program.
73. Develop a program that allows you to begin calling them “new members…” rather than “pledges”.
74. Discuss the founding of the group and how the organization has evolved over time while maintaining the vision. If it hasn’t, how can the group return to its’ roots?
75. Attend the Greek Diversity Enlightenment Program sponsored by the Centers for Greek Affairs and Diversity, Pluralism & Inclusion.
76. Review the history of hazing, the evolution of Greek new member education and the direction f/s recruitment is headed.
77. Discuss the “old way” of pledging versus the “new way” with a panel of alumni, administrators and council officers.
78. Develop or co-sponsor a program or event with another sorority if you’re a women’s group or a fraternity, if a men’s group..
79. Have a professional discuss the “Millennial Generation” and how groups can better recruit based on this research.
80. Offer a discount or reimbursement of part of the initiation fee if a new member completes Alternative Winter or Spring Break. Extra money if completes Greek Alternative Spring Break.
81. Give highest new member GPA recipient a plaque or $25 gift certificate to nice restaurant.
82. New member who develops best recruitment plan (or scholarship plan) gets a free ____.
83. Ask Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI) graduates to speak about lessons learned and opportunities to attend.
84. Do a chapter fundraiser to send a new member to the North-American Interfraternity Conference’s FuturesQuest program or UIFI.
85. Have a discussion about why new members wear pins and not members.
86. Attend New Member Workshop with the Coordinator of Greek Affairs.
87. Check a book out of the Greek Resource Library to read and have a chapter discussion about.
88. Allow new members time for themselves to do and be what they want. Don’t monopolize their time.
89. Have a weekly forum for the new members to discuss their feelings.
90. Invite another group to develop a program to benefit the entire Greek Community.
91. Invite a Campus Fitness Specialist or Dietician to discuss dietary fads – pros and cons.
92. Ask each member to list the offices/chairs they would be interested in. Have them list five things they would do differently about each. Compile results without names attached and have a constructive conversation.
93. Develop one memento of the new member class to present to the campus.
94. Eliminate the creation of pledge class “paddles”, no matter their use. They’re symbolic of hazing. Come up with an alternative.
95. Ask a professor to do a workshop on etiquette.
96. Have lunch together once a week in a dining hall with the entire sorority/fraternity.
97. Invite faculty advisor to new member meetings.
98. Visit the national headquarters.
100. Question each activity and evaluate the program each semester with the help of the advisor and Coordinator of Greek Affairs