Quote:
Originally posted by TSteven
I wholeheartedly agree that chapters vary. For example, what Chapter A does before or after meetings may be different than Chapter B's. Yet ritual, new member education, pledging, initiation et al. are generic to that fraternity and it's chapters.
As such, what individual members of a chapter may do - either together or separately - would not be part of that chapter's programs. It might be part (peer pressure perhaps) of that chapter's or even the campus experience - Greek or otherwise - but not a program.
For example, getting good grades and building bonds with your brothers are part of the whole fraternity experience. Yet neither "Hey, after the chapter meeting we are all going to the library to study. Want to come?" or "The legal aged members are going to the popular college bar for responsible drinking, please join us if you like." would be considered part of a chapter's program.
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In both of your two examples, nothing bad happened. There's a saying in the legal field: "We'll throw mud and see where it sticks". Often, in these types of cases, it goes back to the organization. If your chapter is having a get-together (not a party on the calendar) at someone's house and a member or even a non-member ends up getting drunk, walking outside and being run over by a car, you (as in your organization) can be sued -- this has actually happened and the chapter was held liable). If they end up getting beat up by NON-MEMBERS they can be sued.
If a few of your pledges decide to do a "power hour" (consume a quantity of beer every minute for an hour) and one of them dies of alcohol poisoning.. guess what? In all likelihood, your organization will be sued and lose some money.
Just as if a chapter has a culture where a lot of members get brands. If one of those brands became infected and a limb were lost, guess who the lawyers are going after? Most likely, it'll be the organization with millions of dollars in assets and a fat insurance policy.
As DA said, we're not talking about what is right or wrong. We're talking about what good risk management is.
Yes, if a person decides to do this on their own free will, say over the Summer (which is what I would encourage if this was something that happened in my organization) -- and do it ALONE, fine. If 2 or more brothers go and have it done -- and especially if a majority of members in your chapter have had this done, I'd say that it's not a huge leap to implicate the organization.