Question about initiated girls not making grades...

[BBelleADPi]

I am asking this out of sheer curiosity. I was talking last week with a collegiate of another sorority who told me that it is her sorority's policy (whether it is for just this campus, or is a national policy, I don't know-nor did she) that if an initiated sister doesn't make the college's required GPA for a particular semester (say a 2.0), and has to go on academic probation, the sister is not allowed to attend any meeting, socials, etc, can't wear her letters, and must turn in her jerseys!! Not until she makes the grades to get off academic probation is she allowed to get her stuff back and wear her letters again. Semesters are six months-that's a looong time! Plus, she is not required to pay fees, either locally or to national. Does this make sense to any of you? If all of this is true, it obviously hurts both the girl and the chapter. Especially if there are several girls that don't make their grades.
I am aware of girls on academic probation not being able to take part in certain social events, but have never heard of all the rest of it. Then again, it's been a long time since I was in school. So, my question is obviously, is this status quo these days?

[Benzgirl]

Our chapter was loss of voting rights (that means you can't vote during recruitment either) by missing grades 1 quarter and loss of social for 2 quarters. Also, for ever quarter not making grades, you were required to sit in on study tables each week (can't rememeber how many hours), until you made grades. There was nothing in our chapter about turning in your letters
I can tell you that girls who typically didn't make grades more than 2 quarters tended to transfer schools or drop out altogether. We didn't have many that fell into this bucket, but it did happen

[33girl]

We put girls on probation - they couldn't go to social stuff and couldn't vote - but we NEVER made someone turn in her letters, unless she was terminated from the sorority. If they're terminating people for not making grades for ONE semester, that's extremely effed up. (4 semesters in a row though, is another story.)

[honeychile]

We put those under a 2.5 on Academic Probation: no socials, mandatory study hours, tests/grades supervised by Scholarship Chair, no voting privileges - but they still had to attend meetings. And absolutely, they still paid all dues!

There was always a big fuss made over them when they brought their grades up - we had rewards for Best Grades and Most Improved Grades. Someone coming off of Academic Probation always won Most Improved over another sister.

The scenario you presented, BBelle, is really too strict, IMHO.

[BBelleADPi]

Honey, I totally agree, and I am wondering if all of what was told to me is actually correct. Think I'll go do a little PMing to some people on GC who are in this sorority...

[AlphaXi4983]

Originally Posted by honeychile

We put those under a 2.5 on Academic Probation: no socials, mandatory study hours, tests/grades supervised by Scholarship Chair, no voting privileges - but they still had to attend meetings. And absolutely, they still paid all dues!

(Sorry to crash, I love coming on here to find out any more info about ADPi's new colony at UD!)

This was pretty much how my chapter did it as well. It seemed to work pretty well - especially the mandatory study hours and lack of social priviledges. In addition to the study hours, a lot of the sisters would tutor (outside of study hours) those who hadn't made grades as an extra assurance that they wouldn't do it again, plus it made studying more fun for them, and we definitely rewarded those who got above the required GPA again.

I definitely think the original scenario is a bit extreme - that's only what we did to those who were dissafiliated or who were kicked out/left due to prolonged academic problems. A poor performing sister is still a sister and she really needs to compassion and support of her sisters to pull through and do well again - shunning her would only make the situation worse, in my opinion.

[BBelleADPi]

Originally Posted by AlphaXi4983

This was pretty much how my chapter did it as well. It seemed to work pretty well - especially the mandatory study hours and lack of social priviledges. In addition to the study hours, a lot of the sisters would tutor (outside of study hours) those who hadn't made grades as an extra assurance that they wouldn't do it again, plus it made studying more fun for them, and we definitely rewarded those who got above the required GPA again.

I definitely think the original scenario is a bit extreme - that's only what we did to those who were dissafiliated or who were kicked out/left due to prolonged academic problems. A poor performing sister is still a sister and she really needs to compassion and support of her sisters to pull through and do well again - shunning her would only make the situation worse, in my opinion.

AlphaXi4983: I'm SO glad you came on here and commented! Because your sorority is the one I'm talking about!! My daughter is an Alpha Xi Delta, and I'm just really wondering if she's understanding this correctly. She was telling me that several girls didn't make their grades (which she is NOT happy about! She tells all her friends all the time: "Just go to class!!!") and she was saying that they have to turn in anything with their letters until they pull their grades up. Maybe it's just her chapter? Hmm... Also, paying dues or not paying dues? I just don't know.

Anway she loves being an Alpha Xi, and was just elected to Panhellenic! She had to be interviewed by other Panhellenic members as well as faculty. The position that she wanted-and got!-is Assistant Rush Chairman. She will be in charge of all the Rho Chis for Fall 2008 rush. She has a lot on her plate putting that together, as well as planning an out-of-town workshop for them. She is also Video Night Chair (which is kinda like Greek Sing-but no singing and all dancing! She's a great dancer and choreographer), and has something to do with Greek Week as well. I told her she better delegate, delegate, delegate!!

Note to Honey: Can you believe this is my little "I don't want to be a Greek" girl? I have a cute picture of her "family" after last Bid Day, but don't know how to post it. All my pictures are on Kodak.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by honeychile

We put those under a 2.5 on Academic Probation: no socials, mandatory study hours, tests/grades supervised by Scholarship Chair, no voting privileges - but they still had to attend meetings. And absolutely, they still paid all dues!

There was always a big fuss made over them when they brought their grades up - we had rewards for Best Grades and Most Improved Grades. Someone coming off of Academic Probation always won Most Improved over another sister.

The scenario you presented, BBelle, is really too strict, IMHO.

This is how I remember my chapter doing it.... they were really good with the positive reinforcement (making huge deals over the girls who made really awesome grades and also those who improved their grades in a major way that maybe didn't make grades the semester before

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by BBelleADPi

I am asking this out of sheer curiosity. I was talking last week with a collegiate of another sorority who told me that it is her sorority's policy (whether it is for just this campus, or is a national policy, I don't know-nor did she) that if an initiated sister doesn't make the college's required GPA for a particular semester (say a 2.0), and has to go on academic probation, the sister is not allowed to attend any meeting, socials, etc, can't wear her letters, and must turn in her jerseys!! Not until she makes the grades to get off academic probation is she allowed to get her stuff back and wear her letters again. Semesters are six months-that's a looong time! Plus, she is not required to pay fees, either locally or to national. Does this make sense to any of you? If all of this is true, it obviously hurts both the girl and the chapter. Especially if there are several girls that don't make their grades.
I am aware of girls on academic probation not being able to take part in certain social events, but have never heard of all the rest of it. Then again, it's been a long time since I was in school. So, my question is obviously, is this status quo these days?

Wow that seems harsh, especially after only 1 semester of not making grades. IMHO the focus needs to encouragement, not shunning which pretty much is what this sounds like to me. We don't want members falling off the face of the earth never to be heard from again. I imagine that if you ban them from chapter meetings, philanthropy events, sisterhood activities, etc. then you'd have a tough time getting them involved again (hopefully) once they did make grades. As for the dues, I would think you'd have to pay them at least to Inat'l to maintain your membership.

[ADPiSeashelleye]

Our chapter requires a certain number of supervised study hours a week depending on what the GPA of the sister was. Also, if we are on supervised scholarship, we have to get a report given and signed by each professor and we have to have a monthly meeting with our scholarship chair. I think taking a sister's letters away until she gets her grades up is a little harsh. We only take letters away if a sister quits or gets her membership cancelled.

[BBelleADPi]

Originally Posted by ADPiSeashelleye

Our chapter requires a certain number of supervised study hours a week depending on what the GPA of the sister was. Also, if we are on supervised scholarship, we have to get a report given and signed by each professor and we have to have a monthly meeting with our scholarship chair. I think taking a sister's letters away until she gets her grades up is a little harsh. We only take letters away if a sister quits or gets her membership cancelled.

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Sounds like your chapter has some great ways to stay on top of grades, and hopefully, your chapter has a high academic standing on the sorority list.