Holding Over

jkllkj · #1 01-18-2006, 01:43 AM

What is ya'lls policy on pledges who didn't make grades but still want to be around?

A. Make them repledge and do everything over again.
B. Pay the minimal fraternitiy dues and tell them to work on grades and initiate them when they do.
C. Make them pay the full dues amount and don't initiate them till they get grades.

111
~kai~

Betarulz! · #2 01-18-2006, 02:13 PM

We don't do a second semester rush, so they don't have to do a complete "repledge".

Also, because our pledges live in the house, they are always retained for the second semester unless they've just really fucked up. We don't want to have to kick 'em into the dorms unless we really have to.

They keep their pledge status and are subject to all the normal rules for a pledge, which means study hours, grade reports, restrictions on alcohol during the week, and they aren't allowed to say Kai or Wooglin, nor can they step anywhere in the house that has black floors (hallways to the chapter room).

That's pretty much it, like I said - no spring pledge class means that they don't have to retake songs and lore and that sort of stuff.

a.e.B.O.T. · #3 01-18-2006, 03:42 PM

our school has a policy were you have to initiate the same semester you pledge, so we they HAVE to do it all over again.

ECUJacob · #4 01-18-2006, 04:21 PM

In the last few classes, we simply initiated the pledges and helped them bust a$$ to get their grades up. Thankfully, our chapter has a high enough cumulative GPA (2.9) that we can afford to do that. Amazingly enough, that 2.9 is still the highest amongst our IFC.

Betarulz! · #5 01-18-2006, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ECUJacob
In the last few classes, we simply initiated the pledges and helped them bust a$$ to get their grades up. Thankfully, our chapter has a high enough cumulative GPA (2.9) that we can afford to do that. Amazingly enough, that 2.9 is still the highest amongst our IFC.

Can you even do that if they don't have a 2.5?

Not to be a dick, but that GPA is something in the GF laws, not just chapter bylaws. And if they don't make it again, then you guys are in a real bind, having initiated someone who doesn't meet the requirements to be a member...just seems like the wrong way to go about it.

And seriously, do we really want people who can't make a 2.5 when they absolutely must to be members of our organization?

ZZ-kai- · #6 01-18-2006, 05:59 PM

My chapter always had two pledge classes per year, one in fall, one in spring. We have an 8 week pledge period. We always used to pledge in and initiate prior to grades being released. Thus resulting in new initiates that didn't make grades (grades were released after initiation). We tried our best to monitor their grades by getting progress reports from their Profs., and other means. Did it work? Yeah, about 80% of the time. The other 20%, the grades were borderline or less than 2.5. So, I doubt there was a single semester where we didn't initiate a pledge with bad grades. It happened all the time with us, and we never caught heat with GF.

What we're trying to implement today, is initation after grades are released. Point blank, you don't get a 2.5, you're held over and can join the next pledge class. Bad thing about this method, for us, is that pledges go through pledging for 8 weeks in a 14 week semester. They then wait for grades, then they wait til the following semester to initiate.......which can be a long, long wait.

-kai-

a.e.B.O.T. · #7 01-18-2006, 11:26 PM

Well, we actually had a similar sitituation... and we talked to the AO, and they said go ahead initiate them, but they go straight to Academic Probabation... the Chapter as a whole decided that it was wrong, but the AO said it was cool

Betarulz! · #8 01-19-2006, 02:37 AM

Yeah, I guess you guys are right. I didn't even think of that fact. I usually try to realize that things are done different elsewhere. I'll blame the fact that I didn't this on the test over cardiac physiology on saturday morning.

Our pledges must have one of the longest pledging periods in all of Beta...with summer rush, they're ready to go before school starts and then they don't initiate until the first week of second semester.

Oldest_Pledge · #9 01-19-2006, 12:09 PM

I would take the time to find out why the grades ended up lower than the requirement. Besides pledging, was there employment, other stress in the personal life etc etc.

I always look to the rules for ways to allow something to take place instead of stopping things from happening. I am not fully up to date on the current Beta rules. I would still look.

I was in the lower end of the GPA curve. 3.8 in my major and less than 2.6 overall. However, I have been able to prove that I actually learned something ans was able to apply it in the real world.

Just one's mans opinion.

ECUJacob · #10 01-19-2006, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Can you even do that if they don't have a 2.5?

Not to be a dick, but that GPA is something in the GF laws, not just chapter bylaws. And if they don't make it again, then you guys are in a real bind, having initiated someone who doesn't meet the requirements to be a member...just seems like the wrong way to go about it.

Our chapter requirement is actually a 2.8, so we're usually above the GF bylaw anyways.

Like the others have said, we usually have already initiated someone prior to grades being released and they simply get put on probation if their grades fall below the requirement.

In regards to the longer pledge periods...are you allowed to have a longer pledge period now? I seem to remember that there were some new rules passed by the NIC or something that required a pledge period be less than 12 weeks (or something similar). Won't those new rules play a role in situations like this?

Betarulz! · #11 01-19-2006, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ECUJacob

In regards to the longer pledge periods...are you allowed to have a longer pledge period now? I seem to remember that there were some new rules passed by the NIC or something that required a pledge period be less than 12 weeks (or something similar). Won't those new rules play a role in situations like this?

First to this. NIC is not the NPC...basically, the NIC can only make suggestions. The member fraternities have the option of making them actual policy. Any rule to "take effect" would have to be passed by the General Convention. The NPC, if they approve something, then the sororities have to follow it. (There may be some limitations to this concept, like it has to be a unamious (sp?) resolution). This was something brought up at Convention this summer, but it got shot down. I know that our chapter will oppose any such measures so long as Nebraska has summer rush (which as I see it right now is pretty much forever unless something major happens...even then chapters out of habit will still recruit during the summer, particularly since pledges can live in the chapter houses).

To Oldest Pledge, I understand what you're saying, but for the most part, chapters know what's going on pretty well with their pledges. I mean for us, we always tell the pledges that we are watching them all the time. I freaked a couple of pledges out this year, coming back from Omaha and asking them about specific events that I'm sure they believe I had no business knowing seeing that I'm not even in Lincoln. It's usually never a surprise when grades are announced. The chapter knows who is going to be cutting it close.

The Code actually delineates the 2.5 GPA, and it's the only restriction that the GF places on the chapters in determining who will be initiated. And while somethings are unavoidable - most professors are usually forgiving if it's extenuating circumstance. If you know you have to get a 2.5, then you should be doing what you need to, not only for Beta, just for your education. Often times the guys who don't make grades in our chapter aren't suffering any undue stress. They just get lazy early on in the semester, don't ask for help from profs/TAs/guys in the house, and dig themselves a hole that's too big at the end.