Quote:
Originally posted by James
This may apply to National Fraternities more than some of the Sororities . . .
But . . .
ITs the lack of our National Programming that gives a chapter a lot of individual leeway for hazing.
Most sororities have a National pledge program (call it what you want) with very little "official" local variation.
This allows them to emphasize training year after year in how to run their programs. And because many of the major events and activities are structured by National and emphasized/trained year after year it eliminates some forms of hazing.
I am not saying that hazing doesn't happen, but its less likely under their system.
Most fraternities do not have a national progam, just guidelines. this measn that there can be very little training on how to run a program in terms of individual events. This allows more latitude for hazing or risky events.
I think a lot of sororities would be horrified to see how unstructured and varied our prgrams are . . .
I have to run so can't complete this post . . . any feedback so far?
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I can only speak for my fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega.
APO has a 20 point National Pledging Standards which all chapters are supposed to follow in establishing their pledge programs. It allows leeway in some areas (how/what you teach, pledge requirements) but not others (hazing, following National rituals). The NPS are included in our National Pledge Manual and on our website.
We also have a national Membership Policy and Risk Management policy. Our Memberhship Policy does deal with the issue of hazing, and clearly lists several activities that are considered hazing. Again, these documents are in our Pledge Manual and on our website.
What I've seen in APO is that when chapters follow those 3 documents in their pledge program, there is no problem. When they don't (either due to ignorance or intention), then there is problems. And APO takes a dim view of hazing. Hazing is one of the few ways you can be removed from the fraternity and we shutdown chapters.