What do you think about IHQ?

[Katey Alpha Gam]

I could not agree with ilovemyglo more. We aren't little kids, we are adults and should be treated as such. It's like when parents are really strict on their children and the children not only don't learn anything that is going to stick, they don't listen to the parents and begin to resent the things they do, good and bad. I have heard of that sort of thing happen with IHQ in the past, where a chapter just gets fed up with so many ridiculous rules, so they stop telling IHQ things IHQ doesn't want to hear and sneak around behind their back. Sound like any friends you knew back in HS? It does to me. I also completely agree with the paddles, I mean really how many ppl see paddles and think "gee 60 yrs ago, greeks used to use those!" Nobody that I know. They are a piece of history that nobody uses to paddle anyone anymore and they sit on our walls and look nice and make us happy that we have something special to being greek, like a paddle. I am also more that a little annoyed that it is taken IHQ so long to update the website. I am really happy that it is being done, but a lot of it is not that hard to quickly update. There is no reason it should take 2 years to do from start to finish and there is no reason they can't update as they go and make these little rennovations as they go. I needed a number for someone specific at IHQ b/c I needed to deal with a specific issue and it wasn't even on there. Now that is something you can fix. Sorry, I am tired and crabby. UMGirl, I was 1/2 tempted to stop by today b/c I had like 3 hours free and I was already down in A2 for work, but I didn't know if you would be home. I'll try to stop by sometime this week tho!

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Katey, ZA chapter of AGD
"Could I have been anyone other than me?"-Dave Matthews

[SIUAGD]

Okay, I know you guys are gonna hate me for this post. Scavenger hunts as a sisterhood may seem like a good idea. And while I have NO DOUBT that chapters like all of ours would handle them in a lady like way, how can we ensure that 100% of Alpha Gam chapters would? We can't. And that is why we can't have them. Somewhere along they way, some chapter messed it up for everyone.
And really, I'm sure other HQ's are just as strict on policies, but how would the 'average' undergrad know if the other chapters on campus didn't follow the rules? I can say that other chapters on our campus don't even follow school policy, so how can we know what is really their HQ policy?
Also, I believe(and I might be wrong, so don't quote me), that you may be able to do scavenger hunts INSIDE your house if your chapter wishes. And, I'm assumming that you girls would be clean and tasteful. Call IHQ, they might be willing to work with you a little more than you think. You might have to send in the clues or have an advisor present, but if you're not doing anything wrong, that shouldn't matter.
Also though, try to understand what it's like on their side-they are sisters too. They've got 98% of chapters who follow the rules, do what they're supposed to do. But then you have that scary two percent, who are the biggest legal liability ever imagined. Being on the other side makes you look at it differently. They probably think that we may be missing out on things too, but they have to look at it in a different way. It's like being EC or President, you look at things differently.
My chapter has been in trouble before with IHQ. And we worked are asses off to get ourselves back on track. This year, during I-Week, we, as an EC, decided to do away with something that had become "tradtion", with the rationalization that it had only been done for three years, and that it was unneeded and did not show our true spirit of Alpha Gam. People were pissed, but they only saw one side. We saw if from a liability issue. So we didn't do it, and people afterward came up to me and said, 'you know I'm glad we didn't do that. The evening went so much better. The girls going through never even knew that something was different.' If you don't tell younger girls that we can't have paddles, but we used to, they'll never know the difference.
Personally(and I told some of my sisters this when our issue came up), I would rather leave our charter up on our wall, than to let IHQ have it for a stupid mistake we could have prevented.
Once again, my opinion...

[Bellejkp]

Just one little piece of info -

Two years ago at Convention, the IVP-Collegians sat down with a group of women and asked for their feedback on pledge programs and what was working in reality for our chapters and what was not. They DO care and they DO see our side of things. It's a huge, beaurcratic (sp?) organization and, unfortunatly, changes are slow coming. But they do get input from people who say the very same things you guys are saying...I know, because I said them! And they listened (and were understanding, believe it or not) and DIDN'T change our pledge program to include New Members in chapter meetings (I don't know if you guys knew about this, they tried it with a few chapters back around '98). Anyway, I had those same feelings that you do. I wanted to make things better...and to do that, it's easier to accomplish working WITH your organization rather than against it. I know it's hard and frustrating to be in your position. Just keep in mind that there are many people working hard to make things better for AGD's everywhere. And some of them actually feel the same way you do! But IHQ and the VST as a whole have to make decisions that are for the good of the whole - even if we don't understand why now.
Anyway, I just thought I'd give my 2 cents. :-)

Loyally,
Jenny

[LeslieAGD]

In regards to the website...can we please get a famous alum section!!!

Originally posted by LeslieAGD:
In regards to the website...can we please get a famous alum section!!!

I second that. I hear all this talk about "so and so's an AGD"...but you never really know for sure. So far, Chantal's Zeta Chi site has a good list...but it'd be great if we could get a good confirmation from IHQ!

[Bellejkp]

I agree! I visited some HQs websites and was really impressed by them! I can't wait to see what our new one will look like. I'm sure it will be competitive with the others we've seen.

Jenny