Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
It's a great word, isn't it? 
Please understand, I'm not trying to attack or criticise you or AST. You just provided a handy example of what I'd wager can be found in most any organization -- Greek or otherwise. I know I've seen it in organizations I belong to: The words of a rule a rule or policy say one thing, but the practical day-to-day interpretation and application of it differs in some way. What (we hope) keeps it from being a problem is that people are generally more aware of the interpretation/traditional application of the rule than they are of the actual words themselves, or at worst, there is a general understanding that "yes, we know the rule says this way, but what it really means is that way." I guess it's a professional hazard for me that when I've seen instances of this, my reaction is to suggest that we change the wording of the rule so that the wording is consistent with the actual application. Otherwise, I think what we're really doing is operating with two rules: a de jure rule that we ignore and a de facto rule that we follow. |
I completely understand where you're coming from. And the problems lie in what we've both stated.
The "hope" (and I hate using that word) is that the intention of our members is not to try and work around such policies and bend the rules, but instead, is to use a good level of judgment when dealing with such situations.