[Firehouse]

If you are a professional society, as opposed to a social one, I think your approach should be different. First, you need to separate two different issues: considering who will be asked to join vs. determining who among the pledges might not be initiated. You seem to have a good list of criteria for determining who might make good members. You might want to make a second list to be used during pledgship, outlining any reasons that might be grounds for termination. I strongly recommend that you keep no written records of any discussions regarding status of individual members/pledges. I also recommend that as a matter of policy you not pledge anyone that you do not intend to initiate. If they are voted out, let it be for not meeting the standards that you have already laid out. And, if you do vote someone out, you should make no announcement - keep it all in-house and allow the individual to leave quietly and with dignity. Especially make no announcement as to the reason. As a professional society, your membership criteria are more structured. A social organization enjoyes wider latitude in deciding who gets in and who stays in.