something has to separate new members from established members. Pledges/actives are easy to distinguish, but not "Junior Actives" and older actives. It all comes down to seniority in the organization; there definitely is a difference between pledging for a whole quarter and then being initiated, and being immediately initiated after joining. Although there are some problems with the pledge quarter, for the most part it creates respect for the organization and shows that the new members sincerely want to be a part of your GLO. It's certainly not a cake walk, nor is it running the gauntlet, but pledging makes it easy to see the difference between a full brother who has been through hell (figuratively) and still had the will to join, and someone who de-pledged after finding out that a GLO was not for him. Your organization is for life, and you only pledge once!
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andrew watters
Theta Chi – ucla