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Just to clarify: I’m not saying anyone is skating. And I’m not saying anyone is trivializing the letters or deliberately trying to water down their organization.
What concerns me is that this policy of allowing pledges to wear letters is a fairly recent development. And it looks to me as if the policy shift was in response not to the will of the undergrad members, but to external pressure to break down some of those member/nonmember barriers that are so un-PC and distasteful these days. It has happened so gradually that many of you haven’t noticed, or if you have noticed then you only consider the changes “superficial”, “not a big deal”, “not what’s important”.
I’m saying that perhaps you’re on a slippery slope and you don’t realize it.
The collective memory of an undergraduate chapter is quite short by nature (about 4 years, obviously), so it’s not surprising that many of you current undergrads and recent graduates don’t consider it a big deal because after all, that’s how it was when you were in school.
For me, it’s really a shocking departure because when I was an undergrad (and not all that long ago!), this was completely unheard of.
Shadokat thinks drawing the line between member and nonmember using the wearing of letters is silly. Perhaps she’s right. But I think we all agree it should be drawn somewhere. And if, as I have observed, that line has made a big shift in the last 10 years because of external pressure on our policymakers, shouldn’t we be a little more concerned about that?
I really like what Katey just posted about losing the things that set us apart and I agree completely (except for the part about local chapters being able to decide how best to use the GLO’s esoteric symbols).
Yes, you should follow your IHQ policies. And I actually feel strongly that decisions like these should absolutely NOT be left at the chapter level. But don’t forget that undergrads and alumni should make IHQ policy, not university administrators and newspaper editors.
wptw
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