Older Sorority members....just deserts?

[Teva7]

During this year I have seen seperate occasions where sorority girls belonging to different orgs made light of the older members (not founders). These few made comments and seemed shall I say less than respectful of older members in their orgs. Trust me I don't base my opinion of a whole group on the acts of a few. However I was wondering if anyone else felt that younger members aren't taking the oppurtunity to learn info. and knowledge from their more "experienced" sisters.

[KillarneyRose]

Do you mean the older actives in the chapter or are you talking about the alumni?

[Hootie]

I agree with dzrose93. My sorority waits to initiate until after grades, which means their pledgeship is for a semester. I personally loved this because it allowed me and my new sisters to get aquainted with Chi Omega and its teachings and so on. However it's really disheartening when some of your sisters...even the older ones, cannot recite our Symphony or remember the names of our founders or when Chi Omega was founded. I would NEVER belong to something in which I didn't know its history or roots. That's like following a religion and not knowing or appreciating its meanings.
I agree. Sometimes new members today just don't care to learn everything. But honestly, what can you do.
Hootie

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What do you get when you cross and Alpha Omicron Pi and a Sigma Phi Epsilon? A beautiful Chi Omega!!!

I was a hold-over pledge and I remember sitting in a room with 3-4 senior actives and with two other pledge sisters who were holdovers. Myself and Patty were crying hysterically- we had disappointed the seniors and we could lose Chi Omega. The 3rd girl was not crying and had a total "I don't care look" on her face- right then... I knew she was not going to make it
It just shows that you will have awesome actives who put their heart and soul into the fraternity and one or two who just don't care. I know - frustrating and sad!

[33girl]

dzrose, I agree with you totally! I don't think it's so much shorter pledge periods, but the increasing trend of treating pledges the same as full members as soon as they receive a bid. To me it's like putting a toddler into high school. You have to walk before you can run. I don't think this is hazing - I personally know that if I had been thrown into our chapter full throttle I would have been clueless. I learned a lot more from meeting with my class and the 5 of us learning to work together.

Plus, I've gotten attitude from pledges who said things to me (as an alum) like "If you call me a pledge, that's hazing." They are constantly told this and that is hazing and for some pledges, they are given an inch and take a mile. Please don't misunderstand - hazing, real hazing, is a scourge and every Greek should be informed about it. But when you tell someone that everything their predecessors did was hazing or a waste of time, how much respect are they going to have for their "elders"?

Also, it goes both ways. Yes, alums should be shown a certain amount of respect cause let's face it, if they hadn't been there, you as a pledge wouldn't be there. But if an alum continually does nothing more than show up for homecoming and act like a jerk, they have basically voided that unspoken agreement.

Hey 33 girl - I totally agree with you! My respect for the older members led me to respect for others- and just a helpful hint to all the 17-18 year olds who show no respect.... trust me - it (respect) goes a very loooonnnng way. FYI - you want to go far in life in business... show respect and you will get promoted! much luv! Sue

[dzrose93]

In my opinion, some of the newer initiates today do not take the opportunity to learn sorority history and traditions from their older sisters. I blame this in part on shorter pledge periods. I do not feel as if the girls are able to learn about the sorority and gain respect for it in so short a time.

The attitude is "I'm going to be a sister in 8 weeks anyway, so why learn any more than I have to?" I've seen this type of attitude several times in the past few years, and I've listened to many collegiate sisters who are also troubled by this.

However, I think that most of the newer girls do not feel this way. It is only a select few, so I am still optimistic that the majority of our newer girls do respect the organization and its members and will carry on our traditions in the future.

[cutehootie]

I couldn't agree more, Sue. Oh..is that some of that older wisdom...lol. You are wise, Sue. I do enjoy your posts on this and other forums.