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The purpose of activities is to integrate new members into the chapter for Chapter unity rather than new member class unity. Why would you want them to have a clique of their own instead of being part of the whole chapter?
The problem with scavenger hunts tends to be more a risk management issue than a hazing issue. People hurry to get things and are less careful. Someone might dart across a street without looking, be more likely to fall, etc. Additionally, it may start out harmless but over time, the women are being asked to find more and more outrageous things that could be embarassing. As far as signing things, again, the activity itself, if done correctly, appears harmless but it only takes one person who makes an outrageous demand for the signature to make it hazing. It's too high risk and the outrageous demands end up occurring eventually.
There are books and books of team building activities that can be done with new members and initiated members together which truly do inspire teamwork and sisterhood rather than divisiveness.
The most memorable team building and sisterhood activity I've done with a chapter was called "A letter to my sisters". The women were in groups of about 5 and each group had paper and a pencil. The first woman in each group started a letter to her sisters and each sister in the group added a line to it. Then a volunteer from the group read the letter out loud. By the time they were done reading their letters, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. They were beautiful and poignant letters about how they felt about their sisters. It was an activity that none of us will ever forget! (I had them keep their letters with a suggestion that they read them again every few months when things got stressful and busy to remind each other why they were together).
Dee
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