Sigma Chi branding

[Tom Earp]

Right or wrong?

I asked a good friend of mine who is a Kappa if he had ever been Branded and what he thought of it!

He emphatically stated "It is the dumbest damn thing that I could think of".

An Omega friend I asked He showed me his.

Of legal age or not, it is the impropriority of having a Greek Letters attached is the problem in todays P C Society.

It still leads to possible law suits that could bankrupt an Orgaization.

Risk Management is a serious thing.

An "Adult" (18) can say, I did it of my own free will, well, the School and The National may look at it differently. These YOUNG ADULTS are members of both the School and The Greek Organization.
The whole idea is if the school or the Greek Organization looks down on this, they will be GONE!

Law suits make all involved very nervous!

Some really do not give to good advice or thinking on this.

[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Right or wrong?

I asked a good friend of mine who is a Kappa if he had ever been Branded and what he thought of it!

He emphatically stated "It is the dumbest damn thing that I could think of".

An Omega friend I asked He showed me his.

Of legal age or not, it is the impropriority of having a Greek Letters attached is the problem in todays P C Society.

It still leads to possible law suits that could bankrupt an Orgaization.

Risk Management is a serious thing.

An "Adult" (18) can say, I did it of my own free will, well, the School and The National may look at it differently. These YOUNG ADULTS are members of both the School and The Greek Organization.
The whole idea is if the school or the Greek Organization looks down on this, they will be GONE!

Law suits make all involved very nervous!

Some really do not give to good advice or thinking on this.

It's a shame...the Kappa brand is so sexy!

[hoosier]

I'd rather my son got a small brand, than a tattoo.

He has a right to choose, and he has the right to annoy his father.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by hoosier
...and he has the right to annoy his father.

And,when in the mood, he will find every possible opportunity to do just that.

[john1082]

There is an easy way to beat the argument that an event wasn't an official event because it wasn't on the calendar or in the minutes:

"Mr. President, if you had an activity that you thought that the general fraternity would not approve of, would you still put it on the calendar/"

"No sir"

"The branding wasn't on the calendar, was it?"

"No sir"

"So you deny that you were trying to hide it from your national fraternity?"

It's an argumentative question, and the Judge would throw it out, but itis the asking of the question that the jury often hears, and not the answer.

[Dedicated2Delta]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
And,when in the mood, he will find every possible opportunity to do just that.

.....that's what makes this a great country.....LOL

[33girl]

Originally posted by john1082
There is an easy way to beat the argument that an event wasn't an official event because it wasn't on the calendar or in the minutes:

"Mr. President, if you had an activity that you thought that the general fraternity would not approve of, would you still put it on the calendar/"

"No sir"

"The branding wasn't on the calendar, was it?"

"No sir"

"So you deny that you were trying to hide it from your national fraternity?"

It's an argumentative question, and the Judge would throw it out, but itis the asking of the question that the jury often hears, and not the answer.

he shouldn't answer the first question to begin with. It's self-incrimination (against the 5th Amendment).

[CarolinaCutie]

Originally posted by ZZ-kai-
I know our risk management guidelines, and I am pretty sure that if a Beta gets killed in the streets of Jamaica while coming home from a rave, the parents of him cannot sue the General Fraternity, just because he is a Beta.

Thats the point I am making.

You cannot compare this event with branding. Jamaica and raves have nothing to do with Beta. Someone getting a brand with Beta Theta Pi obviously involves Beta. Particularly because I would imagine, in most cases, it's difficult to brand yourself. And somehow I doubt that the majority of brands are done by legit tattoo/body modification parlors. If a brother is branding a brother or pledge, or a pledge is branding a pledge, how can Beta not be somewhat implicated?

ktsnake, I agree with you. Really, really good risk management means not only making sure you're not breaking the law, but not doing anything that would make anyone THINK you're breaking the law. I wouldn't want to call my national office and tell them that we were branding each other, either. Not because of hazing laws, but because I actually care about the reputation of my chapter.

[preciousjeni]

Everyone who has said they'd been too concerned to tell their Headquarters, are you forgetting that you are partial owners to the INCORPORATED organizations? There should never be too much concerned that you couldn't call your Headquarters to simply ask if there are any national rules against you getting your own brand. Even your president doesn't "own" your organization any more than you do.

[TSteven]

Originally posted by ktsnake
This Sigma Chi branding appears to have been part of their organization's program.

FYI: Branding is not now, nor ever was, a Sigma Chi Fraternity program.

[4RunnerStar]

okay i personally see nothing wrong with branding. its not much different than a tattoo and i think its better than a tattoo in that it has more meaning. even though the skulls made it look REALLY painful. you brand your body when you get a tattoo. you face nearly the same fears with tattooing than you would with branding. they are both painful and can both get infected.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by TSteven
FYI: Branding is not now, nor ever was, a Sigma Chi Fraternity program.

Local chapters vary greatly (with my organization at least) and I have no reason to believe that Sigma Chi would be much different.

[Rudey]

Here is where you use common sense.

Yes you have every right to do it.

Yes you can do it on your own and not as part of a program and not haze.

But should you do it?

I would say no.

The world is unfair. Sometimes you make sacrifices.

Why not encourage people to do what they want over summer break or back at home...wherever just to move that perception away.

It's not always about what is right or wrong but the perception.

-Rudey

[ZZ-kai-]

Since when did it become against the law to be branded? Just because a Beta brands a "B" on his shoulder, doesn't mean its a Beta event and Beta (HQ) can be held responsible for any infection/loss that may be a result of the brand. Unless something was forced upon them or they were made to do it or it was a requirement for entrance into the org....etc., the org. cannot be held accountable. If someone chose to do this on their own, they're the only ones who can be held accountable.

But, if what you are saying is "If you affiliate with a GLO, and something randomly happens where someone else is injured, that person can sue that GLO because you are a member of it", then I guess your thoughts are correct.

But, I don't believe that.

ETA: I know a kid, who branded an 'Omega' on his shoulder when he was a freshman in college. He then proceeded to initiate into Phi Delta Theta. Then, he found out that the 'Omega' stood for Omega Psi Phi, and not 'something cool that his football and basketball playing idols' did.

Can Omega Psi Phi be sued for this kid being a dumbass? Absolutely not.

Originally posted by CarolinaCutie
You cannot compare this event with branding. Jamaica and raves have nothing to do with Beta. Someone getting a brand with Beta Theta Pi obviously involves Beta. Particularly because I would imagine, in most cases, it's difficult to brand yourself. And somehow I doubt that the majority of brands are done by legit tattoo/body modification parlors. If a brother is branding a brother or pledge, or a pledge is branding a pledge, how can Beta not be somewhat implicated?

ktsnake, I agree with you. Really, really good risk management means not only making sure you're not breaking the law, but not doing anything that would make anyone THINK you're breaking the law. I wouldn't want to call my national office and tell them that we were branding each other, either. Not because of hazing laws, but because I actually care about the reputation of my chapter.

[DeltAlum]

zz,

There is some very good advice above. Sometimes you just have to understand how things can happen, how life (and law) is sometimes unfair, and go with it.

If you want to take a chance, just be ready to accept the consequences. Heck, chapters do that every day. That's why we have a Risk Management forum.

And that's why we lose a lot of chapters.