Funny Things You've Done to Loosen Up Pledges..

[XOMichelle]

hazing or not, that was one of the best practical jokes I have ever heard of! It's like a jamie kennedy experiment but not taped.

Interesting note, if those weren't pledges, but actives or even a group of her friends, this discussion would be different... but you all know that.

-M

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

Originally posted by XOMichelle
hazing or not, that was one of the best practical jokes I have ever heard of! It's like a jamie kennedy experiment but not taped.

Interesting note, if those weren't pledges, but actives or even a group of her friends, this discussion would be different... but you all know that.

-M

Thank you for that comment XOMichelle and everyone else who didn't make that big of deal out of it

Just to explain some things, pledging is stressful here. You can be cut at any time with any reason. Please remember, Greek life is different on all campuses. Also, the girls were in their 5th and final week, you never know when you "will get in" around here, so they were ready to get pledging over with Some of the faculty found out about this the next day, they thought it was hilarious even and the parents wanted pictures, lol. We also keep a great relationship w/the cops around here (campus, county, & city) so they help out the Greeks here a lot.

Anyway, we all treat eachother like we really are biological sisters. I'm sorry but dag on, if you could wouldn't you like to mess with your sib's once in a while?

PS: On the medical issues, we (unlike many other groups on campus) have our pledges fill out a medical form that way we know of anything that could effect them.

[Dionysus]

We take those bitches, blindfold them, and walk them through the woods.

But seriously, lighten up folks. I thought this prank was hilarious.

[veemers]

Originally posted by XOMichelle
Interesting note, if those weren't pledges, but actives or even a group of her friends, this discussion would be different... but you all know that.

-M

Agreed. I don't think it was hazing so much as it was just a really, really bad idea.

To relax our pledges, we just do what other people have posted - candy, movies, lots of hugs. We also invite them to some of our events so that they feel more like sisters. Like for our fall pledge class, one of the fraternities invited us to dinner at their house, so we brought along our pledges.

[PM_Mama00]

I should have added in all my bitchiness that I thought it was kind of a funny prank.

But also, just FYI for I believe all NPC sororities, not telling your new members when initiation is... guess what... hazing.

[Tippiechick]

Ok, call me naive... Are there really NPC groups who don't let NMs know when they are going to be initiated? We were aware of it and were counting down the days! It made it so exciting. I could not imagine just waiting around to be initiated!

[tunatartare]

Originally posted by Tippiechick
Ok, call me naive... Are there really NPC groups who don't let NMs know when they are going to be initiated? We were aware of it and were counting down the days! It made it so exciting. I could not imagine just waiting around to be initiated!

There definitely are. I know firsthand of people who didn't know. Actually, until I joined GC I never knew that groups were required to do this. I thought it was more of a choice that chapters got to make individually if they wanted to tell NM's or not. It all really boils down to how strict your national advisor is and how close of a relationship they have with that chapter.

[ambición6]

the more i read on here the more amazed i am. the whole npc world is something i never knew about. i mean i knew that most greek orgs had the whole bid, rush system but the intricacies within it amaze me. i cant speak for all LGLO's but the ones that are on my campus (including mine) and on other midwest campuses are a whole nother ballgame. I had no idea when I was going to cross. For all we knew, it could have been as little as 60 days or as much as 120 days if not more. but i'm glad i didnt know. it made my process that much more interesting.

Lili

[SiKeS]

I'm sorry guys, but I think a lot of ya need to lighten up...

I don't know much at all of the qualifications of hazing... But honestly... To consider something like this as hazing is rediculous.

It was a prank, and a funny one at that... There was no mental or physical harm intended, it was done out of humor... It reminds me of the type of pranks I'd pull on my friends... You know... back to the shaving cream in their hands while a friend is sleeping pranks... Good times I tell ya.

I applaud the prank and if at least, it provided your sisters with something you can all laugh, joke and tell stories about in the future..

My 2 cents
-Matt

[mommag2]

Okay James, you are probably going to bump me off this thread or delete my reply . But hazing is hazing ! I do realize that the sorority in question is not affliated with NPC, but even by university standards that practical joke can be considered hazing. I'm not trying to bash the sorority, but eventhough the pledges did fill out a medical form sometimes heart conditions can go unnoticed and undiagnosed. So eventhough her medical form stated that a pledga had no medical conditions that she knew of, the pledge still could of had a heart conditon and not even known about it . I have read about so many athletes that have died due to an unknown heart condition. Yes, she stated that the parents were unconcerned with the prank and wanted to see pictures of the event and it was a good thing that nothing serious happened, but remember the parents would have sued the sorority and those members would have been subject to criminal charges.

Hey I'm all for a little fun when it comes to pledges. We do our own little event that they think is activation and this year because of more stringent NPC and Greek life rules we might not be able to do them. But we would never pull a prank like that on our pledges.

And don't take this the wrong way, but I guess when your a local you can make your own rules and not worry about nationals.

[TigerLilly]

Originally posted by mommag2
Okay James, you are probably going to bump me off this thread or delete my reply . But hazing is hazing ! I do realize that the sorority in question is not affliated with NPC, but even by university standards that practical joke can be considered hazing. I'm not trying to bash the sorority, but eventhough the pledges did fill out a medical form sometimes heart conditions can go unnoticed and undiagnosed. So eventhough her medical form stated that a pledga had no medical conditions that she knew of, the pledge still could of had a heart conditon and not even known about it . I have read about so many athletes that have died due to an unknown heart condition. Yes, she stated that the parents were unconcerned with the prank and wanted to see pictures of the event and it was a good thing that nothing serious happened, but remember the parents would have sued the sorority and those members would have been subject to criminal charges.

I don't agree with the "what if Suzy Pledge had a serious medical problem and didn't know it" argument. If you follow that line of reasoning, everyone should treat themselves and everyone else as though they were made out of glass, and never do anything unduly exciting or strenuous, just in case you have a heart condition.
Should all atheletes stop playing sports, just on the change that they might have a heart problem, then? No, because chances are that they actually don't.
What if during Greek Sing your chapter had your pledges up there with the sisters doing the song-and-dance thing, and one of the pledges had an unknown condition and died? Would that be hazing? NO!!! Just a tragic accident.
My PSP chapter has our pledges do a mini scavenger hunt. If I had tripped, fallen, and twisted my ankle during that, would you call that "injuries due to hazing"? I certainly hope not! I would call that "Erin being clumsy".
I guess my point is that you can't go through everything saying "what if" about everything like that. If you did, would it be OK to take your chapter (pledges and all) to Six Flags for the day? "What if" one of them had a heart problem and didn't know it? Better not take them! If everyone followed through with that, no one would do anything for fear of the "what-if"s, and it would be a pretty boring life. People should do their fun activities without having to worry about random "what if"s that are out of their control.

[PM_Mama00]

Damn alot of what you guys consider fun things are hazing in Phi Mu's book. I don't know if this is considered an NPC rule or Phi Mu or that insurance thing that a few sororities and fraternities belong to (forgot the name but starts with an F and stands for something), but we can't even do a scavenger hunt.

Again, thanx to lawsuit happy people because there's always the threat that if someone falls and bumps their knee, a parent might sue because it was a fraternity event.

[PsychTau]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
[color=deeppink]that insurance thing that a few sororities and fraternities belong to (forgot the name but starts with an F and stands for something), [color]

FIPG Fraternal Insurance Purchasing Group

Yep, a lot of stuff nowdays is considered hazing. I think on some things (like a chapter wide scavenger hunt), I would look at the intent of the activity before I would call it hazing...but they didn't ask me when they made up the rules/laws/etc. (Don't get me wrong...if one of my chapters had a wonderful idea with no intent to actually haze anyone, but it appears as hazing, I would put my foot down and make sure it doesn't happen.)

Some people get hurt doing harmless things just because of their own clumsiness...and still sue. If I bust my butt in the parking lot of Kroger because I tripped over a buggy, what the hell do I have to sue about? I should sue myself!

All in all, I don't like all of the litigation happy people. Stuff happens in life....we gotta deal with it.

PsychTau

[chideltjen]

I'm not gonna cry hazing with this... but I just thought it was a bad idea.

i mean our new girls get stressed and all, but so does everyone else in the house. sometimes moreso. (our social chair was freaking out not too long ago.) When Kayla mentioned her NMs were stressed out, maybe it was from outside sources. School, boys, parents, money, whatever. And then to have to go to meetings and social events on top of that... hell i would be stressed.
Honestly, the way our program works is that while everyone is a sister regardless of "status" the new members run like a small committee within the house. They plan events like the rest of us do, participate in everything we do, help fundraise, etc. And they have tests and other requirements to complete as well. This prepares them for taking on future positions in the house and when their class becomes the majority on exec board, they know how each one of them works.

I think I just completely hijacked there... but point is, stress occurs regardless if you're a nm or an active alumnae. I may not agree with how this stress was released/relieved though.

We've taken the new girls TPing... as a house, not just their class. If you want a practical joke, this seems to be the big one around our town. That and stealing composites... which I don't understand but oh well.

[Glitter650]

I'm pretty sure ALL NPC groups have a rule about not telling when initiation is... and how long the process can be.
I know most of the locals at my school dont' tell.. ( I pledged one for a while) but I'd bet my bottm dollar that most NPC groups state that they are supposed to tell the date. We tell our new ladies the day they get their bids and their goodies and binder and reflections manual... the calendar is right in their binder with initiation date right on there. I'm pretty sure by strictest standards this incident is considered hazing... but really I think the def. of hazing has gotten *kinda* out of control.. but we've had that discussion before... and I really don't want to start the debate again.