My Chapter is Clueless! Help!

[DGTess]

I'm not reading NPC here - obviously there's an "initiation" and then "until we're given member status" - though I could be misinterpreting.

Contact your board of advisors, asking for help. Do so through your chapter's leadership.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by DGTess

I'm not reading NPC here - obviously there's an "initiation" and then "until we're given member status" - though I could be misinterpreting.

Contact your board of advisors, asking for help. Do so through your chapter's leadership.

I agree unless maybe the OP just doesn't know the terminology.

[honeychile]

Is there another chapter of *** sorority within driving distance? Is it possible for you to call them, tell them that you are a member of the Whatever Chapter, and could you sit in on an Initiation? I would imagine that they would have to have your national hq sign off on it, but it's much, much better to initiate correctly than to leave the door open for hazing.

[33girl]

It really sounds like you're making a mountain out of a molehill, quite frankly.

Many chapters only hold initiation and other pledge class related ceremonies once a year, and if the majority of the membership is new (which happens if there's a big graduating class) they don't know it by heart and it's going to be a bit of a cluster until there are people who go through it several times. It's not automatically going to be a perfectly choreographed Broadway number.

Are the majority of chapter members attending meetings and functions? Are women paying their dues? Is the chapter in good standing with Panhellenic and participating in campus-wide Greek functions? These things are far more important than if one of your sisters stumbles over a line in your ritual. It'll get smoothed out with time. Honeychile, this doesn't sound like a potential hazing issue, more of a "holy crap how do I pronounce that goddess's name" issue.

I agree with Kevin - when elections come around, run for chaplain or whatever the ritual conductor is called in your group. You aren't going to make ANY points as a new member/pledge running to HQ or complaining about how it came off - especially if you throw in things like "I did my research and know what this sorority stands for."

[navane]

Originally Posted by 33girl

It really sounds like you're making a mountain out of a molehill, quite frankly.

Many chapters only hold initiation and other pledge class related ceremonies once a year, and if the majority of the membership is new (which happens if there's a big graduating class) they don't know it by heart and it's going to be a bit of a cluster until there are people who go through it several times. It's not automatically going to be a perfectly choreographed Broadway number.

This is what I was thinking.

OP, if you're a new member of a new chapter, the women initiating you will likely have volunteered to conduct the ritual on your behalf and those women may not have even known each other before the installation.

You'll understand later that ritual is something that needs to be practiced; but, it's not always easy to get lots of practice in. Let's not forget that the sisters conducting ritual likely aren't oscar winning actresses, they're just people. People are human...they make mistakes. You'll find out when it's your turn.

.....Kelly

[IowaMullet]

This is an important issue. Ritual is the conduit for new members to fully enter the organization. When ritual is performed without the greatest care and respect, it can diminish the new member's perspective of the sorority.

"I did all that for this?"

In other words: practice, practice, practice.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by IowaMullet

This is an important issue. Ritual is the conduit for new members to fully enter the organization. When ritual is performed without the greatest care and respect, it can diminish the new member's perspective of the sorority.

"I did all that for this?"

In other words: practice, practice, practice.

Something to think about, making mistakes and such during ritual doesn't always mean that people don't care about or respect it.

Sometimes people get rusty, and I'll agree though that running through it isimportant.

[amanda6035]

Originally Posted by navane

Let's not forget that the sisters conducting ritual likely aren't oscar winning actresses, they're just people. People are human...they make mistakes. You'll find out when it's your turn.

I'll never forget the first initiation my chapter had after I graduated. My grandlittle was reading an important part of the ceremony (first time she'd had a speaking part) and realized that she hadn't asked for the pronuciation of a couple of the words. Those words got butchered to hades, and it was all I could do to not bust out laughing in the back of the room with the chapter advisor. After all was said and done, she was like "Okay, somebody tell me how those words are REALLY supposed to be pronounced????" We had a good laugh over it. It was a great sisterhood kind of moment, in my opinion.

[AGDee]

I've been working with chapters for a long time and it's pretty common for them to do some things wrong. SO much of ritual isn't written anywhere so the only way to know for sure that you're doing it right is by having someone who knows how it is supposed to be done to teach you. With a new chapter, if you don't reach out to consultants or higher level volunteers with the sorority, there may not be anybody who knows how to do it properly. Often the alumnae working with a new chapter haven't done it/seen it themselves in years. Asking a regional officer for help with this is not a bad thing. As a regional volunteer, I would gladly attend some rehearsals to help a chapter do it right!

One of the biggest comments we see on post Convention reports is "It was great to see Initiation how it is supposed to be done!"

I would NEVER slap a chapter on the wrist for asking for help with something like this. I'd much rather get the phone call "We need help making sure we're getting ritual right!" than the "So and so is dating sally's ex-boyfriend and it's causing trouble in the chapter"