Depledging (HELP!!)

[PenguinTrax]

Originally Posted by SummerLvn

wow im devastated.... i was initiated and dropped out of an npc sorority... i really can't pledge another? is this a rule at every school?

It is not a school rule, it is an agreement between all 26 members of the National Panhellenic Conference.

You can join a service, honors, or local organization if you wish.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by SummerLvn

wow im devastated.... i was initiated and dropped out of an npc sorority... i really can't pledge another? is this a rule at every school?

In general, it's bad form to bring conversation from a locked thread over to another thread. You got your answer. Just because it wasn't sugarcoated and topped with honey, doesn't make it open for negotiation.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by SummerLvn

wow im devastated.... i was initiated and dropped out of an npc sorority... i really can't pledge another? is this a rule at every school?

You can join a service sorority. You can join a professional sorority if you fulfill the requirements. You can join many other campus activities.

Why is this coming up so much? Is it shorter pledge periods or what?

[susan314]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Why is this coming up so much? Is it shorter pledge periods or what?

Not sure. Maybe its not happening more frequently than before, its just that the people are finding GreekChat more frequently than before?

I'm also not sure why someone would go through initiation if they had such strong negative feelings about a sorority from the beginning of their pledge/new member period.

(Also, since her "friend" in ABC sorority was essentially rushing her while she was still a new member at XYZ sorority, you'd think that the friend would have told her not to go through initiation. Not that I would necessarily trust someone who would rush a girl who was currently a member of another chapter. )

[AlphaFrog]

There's absolutely not enough comprehensive NPC education in NM ed. At least not in some groups. I didn't even know that there was 26 groups, and I probably couldn't name more than 8 of them until I joined GC.

I remember asking one of the older sisters when my chapter closed if we were allowed to join another GLO - BECAUSE NO ONE TALKED ABOUT IT, AND US NEW INITIATED DIDN'T KNOW!! The sister I asked acted all offended. If no one told us, how are we supposed to know?

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

There's absolutely not enough comprehensive NPC education in NM ed. At least not in some groups. I didn't even know that there was 26 groups, and I probably couldn't name more than 8 of them until I joined GC.

I agree with you Alpha Frog, there should be NPC education included in the NM programs for all NPC sororities. Theta's NM program does mention NPC bylaws quite a bit, but I am suprised that some might not. I am not trying to call any groups out, but I suppose it would be a good idea for all NPC groups to re-examine the amount of NPC knowledge the talk about.

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by nymbels

When I was depledging I had to sign a paper saying that I couldn't ever join a sorority again. Is this true? However, I have heard that I have to wait a year before I can rush again. Can anyone clear this up for me?

At my school, if you accept a bid, you have to wait a full year before you can rush in formal recruirtment again and join another NPC group. However, if you don't accept the bid, there are no time limits to when you can rush again, formal or informal. However, in your case you accepted the bid, so you will have to wait until a full year has passed to pledge NPC again. I agree with the others when they say to have a positive outlook on all NPC groups, and not let you experience with one taint your view of them all.

[blackngoldengrl]

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

I agree with you Alpha Frog, there should be NPC education included in the NM programs for all NPC sororities. Theta's NM program does mention NPC bylaws quite a bit, but I am suprised that some might not. I am not trying to call any groups out, but I suppose it would be a good idea for all NPC groups to re-examine the amount of NPC knowledge the talk about.

That is still new, since during my new member period, there wasn't information about the NPC. However, I figured that once I was initiated, there was no going back to another group (not that I considered it). That just made sense to me...I haven't seen the new Theta New member manuals, but I will say that I too have learned almost a lot from GC.

Also, welcome to the sisterhood!

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Why is this coming up so much? Is it shorter pledge periods or what?

I am so seriously against the shorter new member periods! While there were a lot of good PR reasons for shortening these periods, the bottom line is that the new members never seem to learn as much about their own GLO or the NPC.

I'm not suggesting how long the New Member period should be, but two months is the minimum I would suggest, 10-12 weeks isn't out of the question. I keep hearing how the New Members have to learn so much, so fast; they're so overwhelmed; they're pushed from one topic to another too quickly - yet no one suggests the ONE THING that would change this. Before I was initiated - before I could pass our chapter's initiation test, I had to know not only the names of every NPC GLO, but what their pin and New Member pin looked like. Okay, we only lost a half-point for those not on our campus, but we still had to know about it. We had a Junior Panhel, and we were informed!

This year alone, three New Members of varying sororities were unhappy-to-questioning their bids, and I advised them all to give it a week. A WEEK!?!?! I was asking 18-year-olds to make a decision that would affect their lives in a week! How I longed to tell them to take a month to decide if that GLO was right for them, so they can truly make an informed decision.

We've taken a crockpot problem and thrown it into the microwave!

[/vent]

[susan314]

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

I agree with you Alpha Frog, there should be NPC education included in the NM programs for all NPC sororities. Theta's NM program does mention NPC bylaws quite a bit, but I am suprised that some might not. I am not trying to call any groups out, but I suppose it would be a good idea for all NPC groups to re-examine the amount of NPC knowledge the talk about.

Out of sheer curiosity, I just pulled out my new member manual (from 1992)...it was in the same box of stuff as my rush journal that I located and posted recently.

We had Units that we worked on each week - learning the history of Alpha Gam, etc. There was a corresponding workbook with questions that we all needed to answer. One entire unit was dedicated to Panhellenic/NPC, and one of the workbook questions was "what are the Unanimous Agreements?" (one of which, of course, is that you cannot join another NPC group after initiating into one)

I thought that we had covered that information somewhere along the line in my new member education, but it was nice to pull out the workbook/manual and confirm it.

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

In general, it's bad form to bring conversation from a locked thread over to another thread. You got your answer. Just because it wasn't sugarcoated and topped with honey, doesn't make it open for negotiation.

I never got to ask her if I made her cry or tell her that I am one of the lesser bitchy GCers on here. If only OTW could have made it on here before the thread was locked.
Damn you Carnation, always after me lucky charms! And by lucky charms I mean spoiling my fun!

Oh yeah...we didn't cover NPC bylaws in my NM period. Thankfully I had GC to set me straight on a lot of things.

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I am so seriously against the shorter new member periods! While there were a lot of good PR reasons for shortening these periods, the bottom line is that the new members never seem to learn as much about their own GLO or the NPC.

I'm not suggesting how long the New Member period should be, but two months is the minimum I would suggest, 10-12 weeks isn't out of the question. I keep hearing how the New Members have to learn so much, so fast; they're so overwhelmed; they're pushed from one topic to another too quickly - yet no one suggests the ONE THING that would change this. Before I was initiated - before I could pass our chapter's initiation test, I had to know not only the names of every NPC GLO, but what their pin and New Member pin looked like. Okay, we only lost a half-point for those not on our campus, but we still had to know about it. We had a Junior Panhel, and we were informed!

This year alone, three New Members of varying sororities were unhappy-to-questioning their bids, and I advised them all to give it a week. A WEEK!?!?! I was asking 18-year-olds to make a decision that would affect their lives in a week! How I longed to tell them to take a month to decide if that GLO was right for them, so they can truly make an informed decision.

We've taken a crockpot problem and thrown it into the microwave!

[/vent]

I COMPLETELY agree! I remember at KD's 2003 Convention our National President said that since the New Member periods were shortened the rate of resignations (across the NPC) had gone up something crazy like 700 percent.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

I COMPLETELY agree! I remember at KD's 2003 Convention our National President said that since the New Member periods were shortened the rate of resignations (across the NPC) had gone up something crazy like 700 percent.

It would shock me to hear that the rate of resignations was anything less!

We're taking a lot of 18-year-old women who had never considered sorority, or ones who are focused on a family sorority or two, sending through a one week Recruitment, letting them making a mostly emotional decision, and then only giving them 6 weeks to change their minds. The miracle is that more women don't deactivate!

[aggieAXO]

One of my pledges sisters ended up rushing again (after not making grades and being let go). We did not have to invite her for the first round of rush (basically she was dropped from us before rush began). She was our pledge class president and we all liked her but she didn't make her grades. When she went through again she was dropped by everyone by the third round, I felt bad for her .

[KSUViolet06]

I suppse I'm fortunate in that we were told up front what the rules were about depledging & termination. We also have a longer new member period (we chose the 10 week option), so girls have more time to think about whether or not they really want to get initiated.

Our termination paperwork requires a signature from the member. What they sign basically says "I understand that once I sign these papers, I am no longer a member. I understand that I cannot re-join and that I cannot pledge any other sorority in the NPC."

Terminating sorority membership is a big decision and some people don't take it seriously. I've never dealt with an initiated member who terminated and wanted to join another group. We had sort of the opposite problem. I don't know how many disgruntled ex-Sigmas I've talked to on the phone (I was once on standards board) who are upset because they terminated their membership and now they've "changed their mind and want to come back." Sorry hun, you signed the papers.