[adpiucf]

You need to first talk to your academic adviser and determine if there is actually any ban on freshmen or freshmen in your program joining fraternities. If there is, then the fraternity is the group who messed up by giving you a bid b/c they should know of this policy.

It isn't uncommon for a fraternity or sorority new member to depledge because of an academic requirement and they can maintain their contacts to come back later, and most GLO's are conscious of the rules on their campus-- they can't offer you the bid legally if the school forbids freshmen from pledging.

Check with your academic adviser FIRST to determine if this is a rule. If it isn't you have nothing to worry about. If it is, you need to contact your pledge master and explain that you are ineligible for bidding this year. You can tell him how much you regret this error and your interest in his fraternity and that you really want to be a member. Talk to him about next year. If he is that much of a jerk, as you say, I don't know why you would want to be a member, but hey, everyone has their preferences.