Sigma Alpha Epsilon Announces Historic Change for membership experience

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by sugar and spice

I think it's a brilliant idea in theory. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out in reality.

I'm not sure it's that brilliant. Personally, if it were my group doing this, I'd rather see a rehaul of how pledging is done first. I've said before that I think that pledging (called by whatever name), at least for males, plays into some important rite-of-passage archetypes—not so much in terms of weeding out, but rather in terms of being fully accepted. NB: By pledging, I do not mean hazing.

Originally Posted by Katmandu

Lambda Chi Alpha does not have pledging.

Yes, it does. It just calls it associate membership. Not having pledging means going straight from bid to full initiation. Lambda Chi goes from bid to an associate member period and then to initiation.

SAEalumnus, thanks for all of the background info. I can see why SAEs may be up in arms about this if there are questions as to the Council's authority. I hate to say it, but I think an attempted change like this is doomed if there isn't broad buy-in from collegiate members, and that's not likely to happen without extensive discussion and feedback that includes everyone.

[33girl]

Re Masons, yes, it would be marvelous if college fraternities could choose their members like that. The difference is that the window of time is a lot shorter. The Masons also don't have to worry about filling a million dollar house.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I'm not sure it's that brilliant. Personally, if it were my group doing this, I'd rather see a rehaul of how pledging is done first. I've said before that I think that pledging (called by whatever name), at least for males, plays into some important rite-of-passage archetypes—not so much in terms of weeding out, but rather in terms of being fully accepted. NB: By pledging, I do not mean hazing.

I guess this is why I am so cynical about it. The national council has told chapters they must implement this or lose their charter. Okay, but they've been telling chapters that they have to stop hazing or lose their charter for years, and hazing is still happening (and I personally have no idea how widespread it is, but obviously the council thinks it is enough of a problem to implement this change).

On an unrelated note, I go by their HQ a lot. Maybe I should look and see if people there look especially stressed out today.