[UNLDelt]

update:

Well in speaking with the executive vp of our central office I was informed that what 'should' be done is all pledges who have been their eight weeks should either be initiated or depledged and that there is no longer an academic requirement to initiate but ONLY the academic requirement to retain thier membership.

But my issue and one that my chapter shares is that how can you have an academic requirement to RETAIN MEMBERSHIP but not to OBTAIN MEMBERSHIP? It's a logic problem here: as we see it initation is the doorway to membership, so to be elligible for initation you should be able to demonstrate elligibility for membership, right?. If you have an academic requirement for membership then you should have an academic requirement to initiate thus achieving that membership.

In addition I have looked at our International Constitution and Bylaws every which way where this change was made. I have not found one sentence that indicates that a chapter cannot have an academic standard/requirement for initation, or cannot offer to men who do not meet that standard after one eight week period, the opportunity to utilize the second eight weeks of that semester to meet it and then initate. In fact, in just a few sections up from that it says that "superior scholarship" is a requirement. So I feel that we are reflecting that clause by having an academic standard to initiate. Here's the section in question:

Article IV
Section 2. Qualifications For Initiation. In order to be eligible for initiation:
(a) The candidate shall have achieved in the semester immediately preceding the semester of initiation an average of not less than 2.25 on a 4.0 scale in the college or university at which the initiating chapter is located. The chapter’s Director of
Academic Affairs, upon recommendation by the Chapter Advisor and the Faculty Academic Advisor, has the power to waive such rule based on the curriculum and unique characteristics of said institution. In the absence of a Chapter Advisor and/or the Faculty Academic Advisor, the matter shall be referred to the Director of Academic Affairs of the Arch Chapter.

(b) In the event a candidate is otherwise eligible for initiation during the first semester in which he is enrolled in the college or university at which the initiating chapter is located, such that the requirements of Section 2(a) cannot be met, the chapter’s Director of Academic Affairs, upon approval by the Chapter Advisor and the Faculty Academic Advisor, may certify following investigation of the candidate’s academic background that he meets the scholastic standards for membership.

(c) The candidate shall have completed a period of pledgeship in which he has successfully demonstrated acquisition of a sound and thorough knowledge of the Mission and Values of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and of the ideals and principles upon
which it and college fraternities were founded. The length of this pledge period shall not be longer than eight (8) academic weeks in duration and shall be in full compliance with any requirements for initiation of the institution in which he is enrolled... (the rest is about applying for an extension that allows full semester pledge periods, which we don't want to do...we still want to work with 8 wks but allow those who don't look like they are making the grades after the 1st eight to try the 2nd eight)

I asked the Exec VP to point to the sentence in the Constitution and Bylaws that we were violating by having and academic standard for initation and by offering the guys a second eight week chance to meet it and he couldn't.