Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Taking that very good question a step further, if it is hazing to forbid a pledge/new member/affiliate from wearing letters or the coat-of-arms, isn't it also hazing to forbid them from wearing the badge? Doesn't having a separate pledge/new member pin tell the new members that they're different and can't do certain things unless they're initiated?
Just asking.
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Good point. Personally, I think sometimes (and it's usually sororities guilty of this, at least as far as I've seen in my limited experience) the new members are given too much on a silver platter from the get go. They spend their entire new member period essentially being waited on hand and foot, wearing the letters even though they don't know the importance of them yet, and being allowed to do pretty much anything that actives can do with the exception of knowing ritual. It doesn't do much to prepare them for life as an initiated member, because if you're a good one, you are EARNING those letters...it's an investment of time, energy, soul, emotion, and of course money...it's NOT easy breezy like the new member period. I think that's why they tend to drop out right after it...at least for my chapter.
This is definitely not always the case, but I think sometimes knowing the importance of the letters helps members try to represent them a little better. If they aren't really important to you, why bother going to the trouble to represent them well?