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.
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