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PrettyKittieJ and APhiOKUgirl:
It's not about agreeing or disagreeing with what a "Pledge" says.....it's about someone who is not a Brother commenting on something that they do not have a full understanding of because they have not seen it from both sides yet. Sure, you can agree all you want, but in essence, you are still an outsider. That might be how your chapter rolls, but that's not how I roll, and I can and will comment about it.
I am not one of these Brothers who believes in putting pledges BELOW Brothers, but no, you're not my equal when it comes to the knowledge, history, traditions, and even sociology of this Brotherhood. Certain things come with experience -- trial and error. Hell, that's the point of being a PLEDGE before you are a Brother. You make mistakes and you learn from them. You remain humble in the face of so-called "old school" Brothers -- and if we are ACTIVE, we are not "far away" from the initiation process, KUgirl. Almost all of the people who have replied to this thread have seen at least one pledgeclass cross at their home chapter and participated in some way. You defer to brothers who are more experienced than you.
And I wouldn't be harping on humility and deference if PrettyKittieJ hadn't expressed her intimate understanding of Greek Life and BGLOs.
The experience that the Brothers on this board are trying to impart, in various ways, is trying to show you that the so-called "$19.25" is not something WE feel you should be using.....that's like using one of the fraternity calls before you are initiated, wearing letters, etc....it's not something that's a national policy, but it is something that is, to us, a mark of irreverence.
To further identify the difference between this particular pledge and these particular brothers, NO, you have NOT begun a new identity simply because you become an APO Brother. My life was enhanced, I had increased responsibilities, and I had a slew of new obligations.....my life was different, but I had the same identity. I feel bad for anyone who feels they have a brand-new life simply because they are in APO. Those kind of people usually don't last long in the organization.
ANOTHER thing every Brothers know is that YES pledges have rights! For a pledge to say "As a pledge you are not granted any rights" shows me that SOMETHING is going wrong in the process.
And finally.....those chapters that are considering the move from "pledge" to "new member" are clearly being influenced by their local NPC. NPCs call their probationary members "new members" for a reason.....that reason is altogether different from why we call our probationary members "pledges"......they do things differently, but clearly they are affecting the climate of that particular campus. I don't particularly like it, but if "pledge" is becoming a dirty word on their campus, then they have two options....keep it or lose it. They have to make the decision that is best for their campus climate. I might not like it, but chapters make those sort of decisions every day.
VERY SIMILAR to how APO at HBCUs in the olden days used "Pledge Club" terminology. It was the norm among all GLOs on those campuses. APO tends to give chapters leeway in these types of matters, and backs the chapter in their decisions as long as they don't violate rules.
PrettyKittie, for real, I don't know you, so I can't possibly have any personal problems with you. But as a pledge, I wish you would PM me or any of the other Brothers who seemed to have a problem with your post, so you can learn where we are coming from without being on the defensive and having your girl back you up instead of helping you see where we're coming from.
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