Black Ball

damandl02 · #1 04-20-2003, 10:36 PM

Has anyone ever black balled a pledge? if so tell me how it played out..i am thinking about doing it to one of our pledges..
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The1calledTKE · #2 04-20-2003, 11:17 PM

Never seen it happen. Most of the time people just can't because they made it so far. But if you can tell they are going to be a deadbeat, do it so they won't be a brother.

Nu-Mu356 · #3 04-21-2003, 02:30 AM

Hmmmmmm... well, I'm guessing you're not from a "southern" chapter.

We here in Alabama call it "cutting" pledges from their pledgeship. If we rush a guy who turns out to A) Be a douche bag, B) Cause problems within the fraternity as a pledge, C) Gives us a bad name, D) Maintains a very high balance by not paying dues, E) Doesn't do any work or make any effort, then we have no problem cutting pledges from out chapter. It's happened all the time.

It's sorta hard for whoever has to break the news, but trust me... you'll let it go about a day later. If the guy isn't worth being in TKE, and you don't think he'd make a good TKE, then by God, kick his ass to the curb. You don't want to carry any dead weight around the chapter, not while he's a pledge or an active brother.

At our chapter, it's the Hegemon's job to tell them that their cut. A prime example, my pledge brother whose name was Gyro (God given name, swear to God), got cut the night before our initiation because he honest to God was NOT TKE material. Granted it's harsh that they waited till the last moment, but that's just how it spanned out

That's how we feel anyways. Don't doubt, just do it.

I notice you're from San Diego, you wouldn't happen to know of a TKe named Brett Blakeney would you? He's a TKe from our chapter who went out to San Diego for Film School. Just wondering.

Number 2 · #4 05-14-2003, 03:47 PM

Have any of you ever cut a damn pledge? shit we do it all the time i visited a chapter that had never even thought that they could do this. he said damn i wish we would have cut him, him, him, and him. that means they initiated people they didn't even like. so here is my .2 if you don't like the guy cut his ass it will make everything better in the end, because i know i hate carrying dead weight.

The1calledTKE · #5 05-17-2003, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Number 2
Have any of you ever cut a damn pledge? shit we do it all the time i visited a chapter that had never even thought that they could do this. he said damn i wish we would have cut him, him, him, and him. that means they initiated people they didn't even like. so here is my .2 if you don't like the guy cut his ass it will make everything better in the end, because i know i hate carrying dead weight.

Dead weight is bad, but if your going to blackball do it early. Its tough at the end because everyone brings up one of our ideals charity.

ncstatetke · #6 05-18-2003, 06:16 PM

Quote:

so here is my .2

20 cents?

tkeos443 · #7 05-19-2003, 12:54 PM

I agree cut them early dont let them learn or become more attached to the fraternity because if the do and then you cut one person can cause a lot of rush damage....trust me

Number 2 · #8 05-20-2003, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ncstatetke
20 cents?

What can i say i bring more to the table.

ucftke614 · #9 11-19-2003, 06:54 PM

even if they do make it far into their pledgeship, sometimes you need to cut out a bad seed. The easiest way to find out how good the guy is, you may want to vote to initiate the guy rather than vote to disaffiliate. It has worked pretty well for our chapter. The guys who don't make it either a) roll over to the next semester or b) initiate them later in the semester.

WangCheung-TKE- · #10 11-19-2003, 08:44 PM

We balled 7 pledges this semester. It can play out however you want it to. They can either leave on bad terms and hate you or leave on good terms and try to improve themselves and come back later; its the delivery that decides it.

hoosier · #11 11-22-2003, 11:33 AM

When I was an undergrad, there was one kid who I caught cheating at cards repeatedly, and I wish I had blackballed him. He became a worthless member.

During one of my lesser moments, during hell (help?) week I tried to get a very weak pledge to blackball himself (using black shoe polish) hoping he would get the message and depledge, but he didn't.

When we were getting the UGA chapter started (and when they were very good), there were two members from Columbus who blackballed a bunch of very good pledges, class after class. Of course, these two black-ballers were about the geekiest two in the chapter/colony, but having the blackball got them a lot of attention - not love, but attention.

Number 2 · #12 11-26-2003, 12:03 PM

two people should not sway the entire chapters vote. especially if the suck like you say.

ucftke614 · #13 11-30-2003, 11:13 PM

When you are talking about balling a pledge remember a few things:
1) If you preach the deck, live by it.
2) Be upfront with them, if you have a problem with someone let them know. IF they are initiated they will create tension within the triangle.
3) Treat pledges with a little respect, you can't expect someone to respect you if you don't show them respect.
4) Lead the pledges by example. Why should they do something that you aren't willing to do yourself.

SurfinDBeach · #14 12-16-2003, 05:15 PM

I agree with ucftke614... You made some sincere points...

On another note, we call our blackballing a "DINK" in our chapter... (You're dinked, he's dinked, dink 'em, dink vote, etc...)

Out of common courtesy, and yes, charity - if you're gonna dink someone, dink 'em EARLY...

It's just flat out DICK to dink a pledge right before initiation...
I say that because in our chapter, the Pledge Program is TOUGH...
If we dinked someone right before initiation, not only would I consider it immoral, I think he very well may go crazy and retaliate at some point... Why? Because he was basically drilled into respecting the house, respecting the letters (from hours of literally staring at them), bonding with his pledge bros through tough times, and respecting the traditions of the fraternity - incorporating them into his own life...

I wouldn't want to make someone go through all of that if I didn't want him to be in the house in the first place... That would just be plain WRONG...
And i'm pretty sure it would come back and bite us in the a**...

I say if he's not TKE material, you should have known half way into the semester.

Only dink him later if he really did something bad, or tarnished the rep of the Fraternity/chapter...

The rules in our chapter are as follows:

6 Dink votes from active members results in a DINK of a pledge...

The PLEDGE CLASS can dink a fellow pledge only if EVERY PLEDGE BROTHER votes to dink...

And yes, we did sort of dink some pledges my pledge semester...

As a lot of you know, when a pledge does not show up for a meeting, his whole pledge class takes the heat... well it happened 2 times... 1 time the guy just wasn't going to show up, so he was done... the other time, the guy didn't show up, all the pledges voted to dink him, but fortunately for him, he depledged himself over the phone almost at the same time...

The class is also penalized if someone quits during "I" week...
There was an instance in the past where a pledge class president quit right before "I" week... So "I" week was extended... good incentive to stay...

RUTKE · #15 01-19-2004, 06:47 PM

it is a hard thing to do but sometimes it must be done...we take it seriously and make it abundantly clear why we are doing it...then we make sure the little scumbags never come back to the house again...if they were bad enough to be balled in the first place it shouldn't be too hard to tell them to haul ass...