New Member Education: What do you think?

[wrussell]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
wrussell, dont try to ask questions like this again on GC!

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I am 4 one am embarresed by some posters who call Ya out for asking and speaking your mind.

I think from what I have read are true questions and statements of what your feelings are.

Ignore some asses and keep asking quesrtions, and making statements.

You do seem a person of Integrity. PM Me anytime.

A Moderator who tries to be a Greek.

Oh, I have a round nose compared to others!

Thanks alot. I do appriecate it.

[Tom Earp]

My Pleasure!

As I said, You can PM Me anytime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[emb021]

Originally posted by wrussell
I am wondering how this community feels about the intake process. Do people still want to keep on pledging people to near death because it make it seem like the worked for their letters and others didn't? Do people feel the the NME should be more about a holistic improvement in the pledges life?

I believe in the latter. I think pledging should be about improving yourself physically, mentally, and emtionally. I think that people should put more emphasis on the purpose of the organization, on the pledges reasons for pledging, on how to run a successful organization, on how to put on programming, and so on and so forth.

As far as hazing goes, if we are talking about getting paddle to death...uh...NO! That is stupid IT SERVES NO PURPOSE. If we are talking about pushing someone past their limits, the limits of who they are rigt now, well that to me has a purpose. As long as we keep that purpose alive, we would find that hazing wouldn't be a problem much longer.

I can only speak for my views, which are based on how my organize views pledging (we still call it that).

To me, the purpose of pledging is to prepare the pledge for active membership. This means getting them into the habits we expect of members (in our case, doing service, attending/participating in meetings, being a leader in the chapter, paying dues, wearing insignia, etc), educating them in our organization, its purpose, history, structure, etc, and overall giving them the knowledge that will serve them well as a Brother.

Pledging is not and should not be thought of as a gauntley, elimination course, 'survivor course', 'boot camp experience' or the like. While we would like pledges to improve themselves in the experience, this improvement needs to be done in a positive manner that does not violate the spirit of our organization. Hazing has no place in the pledge program.

I would think that every (if not all) GLO has set down policies regarding their pledging/NME programs and hazing. For my organization, we have our National Pledge Standards, Membership Policy, and Risk Managament Policy, all of which are both on our website and included in our National Pledge Manual.

(This is an area that I am somewhat knowledge about, as I've been a pledgemaster and have taught courses on pledging.)

Also, personally, I don't agree with the renaming of pledge/pledging into "new member" and "new member education". I don't agree with the attitude by some that just USING the term 'pledge' is hazing. Pledges are NOT 'new members', they are really 'probationary members'. There is no guarantee that a pledge will complete the process and become a full member. So using such a term gives, to me, the wrong impression.

Hope this is of interest.

[33girl]

Originally posted by Senusret I
To hell with Pledging AND Membership Intake.

I am all over this "Continuous Values Based Education" thing like the Balanced Man program and others like it. I am very appreciative of those of you in NPC and NIC organizations who have shared those programs with us on GC.

COVABE! (as Russ said) can work, but the program has to be set up so the members other than pledges really are learning something new and something they WANT to learn.

[moe.ron]

Originally posted by 33girl
COVABE! (as Russ said) can work, but the program has to be set up so the members other than pledges really are learning something new and something they WANT to learn.

Yup, the programs are as good as its implimentation. The chapter must want to implement the program fully. No half arse.

[gpb1874]

i think each organization has a different reason as to why they do or do not use the word pledge. i don't think it is hazing to use the word. it does seem that many use the word in a derogatory manner, meaning they may something like "he/she's JUST a pledge," like a pledge is not worthy of respect or something.

i look it at this way....you make a pledge to the organization; it's something you DO, not something you ARE. we have a pledge ceremony, just do not call them that. we use new member because they have been invited into membership and it is possible that they will not be initiated, but we do not hold that over their heads. it is also possible for initiated members to lose their membership. either way, if you are not meeting the standards of membership, you can be kicked out, new member or not.

not aruging, just throwing my thoughts out there.

[33girl]

Well I can see where Michael is coming from as a fellow APO brother. We do not have a membership selection process like NPC or NIC - anyone who wants to pursue membership can, but there is no guarantee they will be successful in that pursuit. So for APO to be told they couldn't use the word "pledge" and had to call them "new members" would be, in effect, false advertising.

As far as NPC groups not using the word "pledge" I think it's asinine. You can put all the same connotations on new member, Phi, pearl member etc that you can put on pledge. And personally I would much rather be called a pledge than some of the "cutesy" names I have heard...but maybe that's just me.

[roqueemae]

LOL. When I was a Phi at a MDA telethon, one of the hosts asked me if I had to earn the "Mu"

[epchick]

There can be a sort of "non-physical" hazing that happens at schools also. Last fall i pledged an organization (non-NPC) that told me and the other girl that pledged that we had to "work" for our letters.

If I had known that "working" for our letters meant being interrogated every meeting---standing up in a line, wearing the same outfit as my pledge sister, and getting yelled at while trying to recite our New Member Educator's favorite color, hobby, and # of siblings--I would have given that sorority a second chance.

I really thought that all sororities did this, until I can on here and heard about all the wonderful things their "New Member process" intales.

I can tell you that I dont know ANY information about that sorority I pledged. I CAN tell you that my New Member's Educator's favorite color was purple, that she had 3 other siblings, and her hobbies included Dancing, Singing, and History. What that has to do with the sorority I wanted to join is beyond me.

[AGDsquirrell414]

My individual chapter, Epsilon Zeta, does not allow new members to wear the actual letters until they are intiated because they don't know what they mean yet. We feel that it means more to a new member to know what the letters are before wearing them. It was so exciting for me on my day of initiation to actually be able to wear letters! We allow them to put the letters on their car and such, but nothing on their body until initiated. However, they are allowed to wear clothing items with the words "Alpha Gamma Delta" or "Alpha Gam," just not the letters.

[whittleschmeg]

My chapter does not allow pledges to wear letters either for the same reason... Why should you wear something when you don't understand full meaning

EMB021
I agree with you and do not understand what is so deamening about the word pledge, to me a pledge is like an athlete who has been asked to go to pre-season this athlete may not make it through pre-season and there fore will never be considered a rookie (new member) a new member is intern like a rookie... finally on the team but learning everyday how to put in the hard work to stay on the team......

[PhoenixAzul]

Our girls are not allowed to wear letters until after initiation becuase as several people have said, they do not understand their connotations and history. THe other thing is that if a girl DOES decide to drop or leave school, she has a set of letters laying around that end up in goodwill or as a dust rag, and that's no good. But the ceremony and tradition of bigs getting shirts for littles is very exciting...typically the girls recieve letters in their "family fabric", to represent their branch of the tree (mine is a crazy bright hawaiian print!) and they get a hunk of fabric to use for their own stuff or to hand down to their future littles.

Until then, they have stuff that says TAU DELTA written out, but they are to avoid using the greek letters. Motto, mascot, flower, colors, names, phrases, everything else is fair game, but the letters are for later. When designing their class shirts (one of their first tasks as a group), that is the material they have to work with. The tradition of designing the year's shirts is awesome...I have a couple of hand-me-down pledge class shirts that are hillarious and cute. THe active chapter usually buys them too, as its cheaper than getting huge orders of letters or what have you. Other chapters here give the girls their class shirts, I think ours are the only ones who design their own.

Also, we use the term Pledge. You are a Pledge until you are initiated. "New Member" refers to your FIRST ACTIVE YEAR (for me, my Soph. year). As this is the first time as a member you are going through rush, organizing events, and having the full burden of membership.

[emb021]

Originally posted by AGDsquirrell414
My individual chapter, Epsilon Zeta, does not allow new members to wear the actual letters until they are intiated because they don't know what they mean yet. We feel that it means more to a new member to know what the letters are before wearing them. It was so exciting for me on my day of initiation to actually be able to wear letters! We allow them to put the letters on their car and such, but nothing on their body until initiated. However, they are allowed to wear clothing items with the words "Alpha Gamma Delta" or "Alpha Gam," just not the letters.

This is actually an unwritten policy in APO. Only Brothers may wear letters. Pledges may wear items that have the full name spelled out, but not the greek letters. (event t-shirts are ok, because they aren't an indication of membership) In most chapters, once a pledge is initiated as a Brother, typically that is when they are presented with their first letter shirt/jersey/jacket, typically from their Big Brother.

[whittleschmeg]

Phoenix I think that its really cool that your pledges design there own pledge shirts I had never heard of that before

[exlurker]

The topic of whether new members or pledges are allowed to wear letters comes up from time to time. My view is that it's a question for each organization to decide -- not an issue of better or worse, or right or wrong. It might not be a bad idea to remember that there are NIC and NPC groups whose official new member / pledge / associate member pins proudly display the fraternity's or sorority's Greek letters. For example (forgive me if I've forgotten some):

Alpha Omicron Pi
Alpha Phi
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Sigma Tau
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Phi Epsilon
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Sigma Sigma

Delta Chi
Delta Upsilon
Kappa Alpha Order
Phi Kappa Sigma

And at least two sororities that have merged into other NPC groups displayed their letters on their pledge pins: Delta Sigma Epsilon and Pi Kappa Sigma.

I hope we can all appreciate the different traditions and policies in the Greek world.