Harding University

[navane]

My grandparents are from Chicago, but they retired to Searcy, AR in the late 70's or early '80s. As it were, I have been to the Harding University campus many times. My grandma (who was Catholic!) would take us for lunch in the cafeteria and we'd walk around the campus grounds. Searcy is a small town - not a lot to do there. As Xidelt and tcsparky mentioned, the school is operated by the Church of Christ and it is very conservative.

I always thought it a little odd that Harding wouldn't allow national GLOs, but would allow these social clubs which operate almost identically to GLOs. If I had to guess, I imagine that the church wouldn't be comfortable with the concepts of membership selection and not having knowledge, or control of, the GLO rituals. If I recall correctly, Harding's "recruitment" procedures include an "everyone gets a bid" type of format.

Edited to add a link from a previous discussion on Harding: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=72480

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by navane

My grandparents are from Chicago, but they retired to Searcy, AR in the late 70's or early '80s. As it were, I have been to the Harding University campus many times. My grandma (who was Catholic!) would take us for lunch in the cafeteria and we'd walk around the campus grounds. Searcy is a small town - not a lot to do there. As Xidelt and tcsparky mentioned, the school is operated by the Church of Christ and it is very conservative.

I always thought it a little odd that Harding wouldn't allow national GLOs, but would allow these social clubs which operate almost identically to GLOs. If I had to guess, I imagine that the church wouldn't be comfortable with the concepts of membership selection and not having knowledge, or control of, the GLO rituals. If I recall correctly, Harding's "recruitment" procedures include an "everyone gets a bid" type of format.

Edited to add a link from a previous discussion on Harding: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=72480

Just wanted to make a comment on the portion that I underlined and bolded. Being a member of a church of Christ (and it is "lower-case c"), I wanted to point out that it should be "the school/college wouldn't be comfortable...". Churches of Christ are non-denominational; there is no governing body, and each church is run by its own group of elders and deacons. Harding is supported by individual churches of Christ, but only answers to its own board of governors or what ever they call the group that ultimately sets the rules. I had friends from my home church who went there and to other colleges associated with church of Christ. I chose not to go because of the multitude of rules that I felt were ridiculous and unnecessary.

The organizations are quite competitive with each other and not everyone gets a bid to join. A girl I dated did not receive a bid to the social club that her two sisters were active members of.

With the exception of Pepperdine University, all universities and colleges affiliated with churches of Christ only have local social clubs. Most are single-sex, with one that I can think of having co-ed groups. Unfortunately, open hazing also occurs in the majority of the organizations at the majority of the schools.

Sidenote: After Sandra did not receive a bid, both of her sisters and several of their friends resigned in protest.

[unarose]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

With the exception of Pepperdine University, all universities and colleges affiliated with churches of Christ only have local social clubs. Most are single-sex, with one that I can think of having co-ed groups.

I have at least one friend I grew up with who went to the school with co-ed social clubs, and she was in one of them. Also, I didn't realize that Pepperdine was CoC affiliated.

[navane]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

Just wanted to make a comment on the portion that I underlined and bolded. Being a member of a church of Christ (and it is "lower-case c"), I wanted to point out that it should be "the school/college wouldn't be comfortable...". Churches of Christ are non-denominational; there is no governing body, and each church is run by its own group of elders and deacons. Harding is supported by individual churches of Christ, but only answers to its own board of governors or what ever they call the group that ultimately sets the rules.

Oh ok, thank you for explaining that. I was under the impression that the campus was under the umbrella of the wider ("national") church of Christ.

The organizations are quite competitive with each other and not everyone gets a bid to join.

Interesting! Back in 2005 when the previous Harding University thread came up, I specifically recall reading their social clubs "recruitment" procedure on their website. I am almost certain I read a clause in there that all participating students were going to be placed. That stood out to me because, as you mention, the clubs are a bit competitive. I tried to see if I could pull-up an archived copy of the website somewhere (I can still picture it in my mind!), but I wasn't successful. The current handbook doesn't specify, but it implies that bids are not guaranteed. I wonder if Harding tried out a new policy for a year or two and then switched back? Oh well..it's not really important now anyway!