Greetings!
A halt on all new members would be interesting to say the least. On the one hand you loose the fun of going to see new members come out & you miss seeing the excitement/joy in their eyes. You also lose out on new ideas/perspectives on issues (a person only has so many new ideas). On the other hand, we'd get an opportunity to develop internally especially regarding how we bring in new members (assuming this is a short term (3-7 year) ban.
This hazing/pledging issue is very interesting. From the opinions of the greeks I've spoken to who were around at the time of the transition, it
seems MIP was instituted without the consent of many of the respective memberships. That's very odd to me because we discuss EVERYTHING that has an impact on the organization, especially where new membership is concerned. We vote on when intake occurs, the objective guidelines and the like, but to my knowledge, we have yet to sit down and look at what IS going on, what SHOULD be happening and why there is a discrepancy.
Once we find out why there's a discrepancy, we need to develop steps to change what's wrong and monitor our own progress...basic process management. Manufacturing companies do it all the time, why can't we? Conceptually it's not hard.
(sorry, this is getting long)
Sometimes I think about the "little" things that we consider hazing: walking in line, dressing alike, having to eat together, having to carry certain things with you, etc. and how they relate to daily life. It's amazing to me how many things that are considered hazing for a fraternity/sorority are ok in other circles.
For Example:
There are many parents who dress their children alike.
You must carry pens, pencils, paper, etc. to school with you else you won't be prepared to work.
How many times, when you were younger, has a parent or teacher told you to hold the hands of your siblings/classmates to keep you together or had you line up in a certain order to keep easier track of everyone like in a fire drill?
None of that is bad and I'm really having a hard time imagining how someone could feel uncomfortable doing any of that, yet all of that is considered hazing. Why?
OK, I'm going to hush because I'm starting to ask more questions than I'm answering.
