I agree with what nittanyalum said. In addition, get the support of your Big and the other sisters who have spoken up against it before. The more of you, the better. Also, you can see if there is a way to preserve some of the tradition without the hazing. An example from years ago: One sorority did a ceremony where they each dropped a rose petal into a river. All of the members had done this. The problem? They did it in the middle of the night, rain or snow, and transported the new members while they were blindfolded. The solution? Do the ceremony, but tell the new members where they are going and do it during the daytime during good weather and don't blindfold them. They were able to turn a hazing tradition into a pretty ceremony that everybody treasured.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nittanyalum
The 12 of you stand up in front of chapter and say, "Hey, there, sisters, listen: we went through the pledge process the way you wanted us to and frankly, we thought it sucked and didn't like it [or insert specific examples here] and don't want it to continue with this great new class of 8 girls or any classes in the future. We know it was done to you and you felt like you should do it to us, but we want you to know that it stops with our class. We are very proud of our letters and this chapter, but these are not traditions we're proud of or that we want to be associated with. So we will not be perpetuating these things on this new class nor will we support you in doing so. In fact, we hope to create lots of great new traditions for the pledge period and [are having a committee meeting/are planning to go to the next committee meeting] and look forward to helping these women have a phenomenal new pledge experience with our chapter. We hope as many sisters as possible will attend this meeting/will support building more sisterly pledge practices and truly live within the ideals of our founders [or insert something more touchy from your ritual or purpose here]. Thanks and hope to see you at the meeting on [day] at [time]!"
Then file back to your seats. Strength in numbers. Strength in purpose. Strength in character. Stand up to the bullies, it's what they hate the most. Treat the pledges the way you wish you'd been treated and let them know they shouldn't be made to feel "less than" by anyone that purports to call them "sister".
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