New College Fraternity thread

Originally posted by Star_and_Crescent
Come Saturday afternoon Ill be sitting in the beautiful Rocky Mountains at my own convention sippin a cold one and thinking about all of the great people on this board.

Hold em down till we get back Nikki.

Robby you and Slick are leaving me here to fend for myself? Well have a cold one for me too & tell us all about it when you get back and you'll be forgiven

Personally I worship Alex Trebec I mean come on the man knows everything, and he has great style. Not to mention he is loaded after hosting Jeopardy for all these years. Although I did like him with the mustache better.

For all the trolls out there this was intended to be a joke. It isnt even a really funny joke, I just figured if someone was going to be sarcastic it should be me. Thank You.

Originally posted by Star_and_Crescent
Personally I worship Alex Trebec I mean come on the man knows everything, and he has great style. Not to mention he is loaded after hosting Jeopardy for all these years. Although I did like him with the mustache better.

For all the trolls out there this was intended to be a joke. It isnt even a really funny joke, I just figured if someone was going to be sarcastic it should be me. Thank You.

Well Robby I am cooler than you. I worship that dude Ken who has been on Jeopardy for like, 2 months. *HE* knows everything, and has made over a million. ALL HAIL KEN THE JEOPARDY CHAMP!!!!

(again, another joke here)

That guy has been awesome. He has been a bullet for their ratings and the people running the station want him around for as long as they can have him. I think he will stay as long as they keep writing the checks Who in their right mind let a guy who is the head of the national collegiate quiz bowl association be a participate on Jeopardy. They were just asking for a butt-kicking. If their ratings hadnt shot up like they did, someone whould have been fired when he hit 1 million. Im laying odds he will easily make it to two.

After Jeopardy they should rehash the show "Win Ben Stein's Money" but put him as the star. He would make a fortune.

As for the convention ill definately let you know how it went. Should be a fun weekend of beer, cigars, and golf.

Just got back from the national convention. Some pretty interesting things occurred. I want to bring up an issue and see what others have in their fraternity.

There was a proposal on the floor to allow colony active members to be initiated as a full member without the colony reaching active chapter status. It was very heated and after a counting vote where the measure failed by 3 votes. There was then a roll call vote asked and that procedure took a long time, but this time the measure lost by 1 vote.

Colony members were pretty upset. They feel entitled to membership because they have been a colony for 2 years in some circumstances. I personally don't think they are eligible simply because to do so would dismantle the whole idea of the colony process. If they were allowed to initiate then there would be no use for the colony process. They would simply decide whether the colony could be a chapter within 3 months or 8 weeks (another discussion) to align with the pledging process.

I was curious what other fraternities have. This is something that you can only find really deep in the org's constitution and I just don't have time digging through many 50 page documents.

I have a couple of other posts to get to. Limiting the pledging process will be the next process.

Originally posted by slickwilly95991

I was curious what other fraternities have. This is something that you can only find really deep in the org's constitution and I just don't have time digging through many 50 page documents.

I have a couple of other posts to get to. Limiting the pledging process will be the next process.

We don't allow colonies to be initiated. It doesn't make sense because only chapters can initiate members. That's like allowing Sigma Chi to initiate our pledges into my fraternity. It just doesn't make sense.

Pike is the same way. We also don't initiate colony members until they meet chapter status. If the colony wants to get initiated then they should try harder to do what is necessary to become a chapter.

Originally posted by slickwilly95991
There was a proposal on the floor to allow colony active members to be initiated as a full member without the colony reaching active chapter status.
I was curious what other fraternities have. This is something that you can only find really deep in the org's constitution and I just don't have time digging through many 50 page documents.

While I was an undergrad we only had one colony, Sigma Pi, and they got their charter a few years ago after being a colony for about 5 years. Thing is I didn't even realize they were a colony until I read an article in the school paper about it. I had some Sigma Pis in my classes, they wore letters, recruited pledges, etc just like everyone else. So now I'm a little confused, when you say that colonies can't initiate members, that these guys still acted like they were a full on chapter.

As far as sororities go, I don't know what the rules are for colonies. I'm sure if I look through my sorority stuff and the website I might be able to find something out regarding rules, if members can be initiated, etc. But I would assume it probably follows similar rules to the fraternity colonies.

Did everyone have fun at their conventions/conferences?

Bit surprised that the vote was that close to allow colonies to initiate. In my GLO the standards for colonies are more rigid that those of for chapters and more often than not they achieve them. The colony members are initiatated as part of the installation. Initiation/installation is the carrot that seems to get the colony to reach the established goals. Quite frequently, we see the quality of chapter operations drop sharply after installation--there is nothing else to shoot for.

On the other end of the spectum it seems that the fear of the ax does not seem to get complacent chapters to meet standards--mostly recrutiment, payment of dues/fees, grades, party policy.

Probably most NIC affiliated fraternities had discussions pertaining to a maximum number of weeks for a pledging period at their national conventions. I'm just curious what some of the fraternities put that number to. Once again we had a vote and it was close several times (our first business session lasted from 7 until 2:15am). We decided on having a maximum of 8 weeks of pledging or you could petition a local district officer to go to no more than 12 weeks and you must have a good reason. The NIC has decided to have a maximum of 12. Just curious what the other conventions came up with.

In my fraternity, once a colony is established, they have strict guidelines in order to become a chapter. Which includes lengthof colony status, membership and other things that they have to do. If I had to vote to allow them to become a chapter just because 2 years had passed and they did not meet the other requirements I would have to vote no, by allowing them to become Brothers would be cheating everyone else.

Originally posted by slickwilly95991
Probably most NIC affiliated fraternities had discussions pertaining to a maximum number of weeks for a pledging period at their national conventions. I'm just curious what some of the fraternities put that number to. Once again we had a vote and it was close several times (our first business session lasted from 7 until 2:15am). We decided on having a maximum of 8 weeks of pledging or you could petition a local district officer to go to no more than 12 weeks and you must have a good reason. The NIC has decided to have a maximum of 12. Just curious what the other conventions came up with.

I personally would rather it be a 2 to 4 week pledging program. In that manner, the new member would be a little more relaxed about potential hazing, it requires the chapter to really get to know someone who they bid, and you get new members into the system so that they understand things quicker. I believe you would get those guys who are unsure about joining the fraternity because of the length of time it takes to become active. Those are usually the best fraternity members. Not only that, but you pretty much secure a larger membership (which usually lowers dues) and you maintain a larger alumni base (which brings in more donations, thus lower dues). It would sporadically improve the system, in my opinion. I really feel that membership would increase by at least 20%.

At the convention there was a poll of like 15 national fraternities with some where near 1000 chapters. Out of those chapters 30% of chapter presidents were chosen their Sophomore year. 15 years ago only seniors were elected president. Also, 85% of executive officers were sophomores. That tells me that our younger members have to be involved and know the ins and outs quicker. And that they also must mature faster. Someone u2u'd me recently saying that his fraternity (only followed by some chapters) they have 4 weeks, initiation, and another 4 weeks of intruction. I really like that. However, there should always be member development even through into the senior year.

Originally posted by slickwilly95991
Probably most NIC affiliated fraternities had discussions pertaining to a maximum number of weeks for a pledging period at their national conventions. I'm just curious what some of the fraternities put that number to. Once again we had a vote and it was close several times (our first business session lasted from 7 until 2:15am). We decided on having a maximum of 8 weeks of pledging or you could petition a local district officer to go to no more than 12 weeks and you must have a good reason. The NIC has decided to have a maximum of 12. Just curious what the other conventions came up with.

We have 8 weeks too, but I wish it was a lot less. There is nothing you need to know that can't be taught in 4 or 6 weeks. 12 weeks seems a little high to me. I know for me it was a whole semester, and I thought that was a little long, but we had to "prove ourselves". I think nowadays pledges can prove themselves a lot quicker then we used to be able to.





Hope everyone enjoyed their conventions.

In my sorority (and every other sorority on my campus) the pledge program takes 6 weeks. Its definitely much longer for the fraternities though.

Originally posted by nikkerbokker
In my sorority (and every other sorority on my campus) the pledge program takes 6 weeks. Its definitely much longer for the fraternities though.

Why is it 6 weeks? I have found there is no good reason why fraternities have their's take as long as they do. Do you think sororities could go even shorter in the coming years?

I'm not sure why its 6 weeks, other than thats how our national outlined our pledge program. But it seems most of the sororities have initiation on the same weekend. I don't know if they could go shorter, or if it would be wise to do so. As it is, girls have a hard time picking Big/Lil Sis' because they don't feel like they know anyone well enough yet. Plus our Big/Lil Sis revealing is a week's worth of activities, as is our Inspo week (week before initiation). But as I recall, none of my pledge meetings lasted for more than an hour or two so I would assume if needed some of the lessons could be combined to make it shorter. But even then, it would be tough to have so many days' worth of sorority activites crammed into such a short time frame.

There are some fraternities on my campus that don't initiate their new members until the week before the next semester starts. So basically, these guys are pledges from Sept-Jan. I'm not sure why the houses do this, save for one, my ex-boyfriend's fraternity. He basically admitted to me that the reason they wait until then is so that, the week before classes resume, they can require the pledges spend the week in the fraternity house (which by most rules, forcing pledges to stay at the chapter house is hazing in itself). The reason for this? Because no one was around campus this time of year, and they had a far less chance of getting busted for hazing, which was pretty much all they did that entire week.

Pike has a eight week pledge period. At my school we initiate long before everybody else. Like nikki said, most frats wait till the first week back after christmas break. KA's don't initiate until feb, that is rediculious.

Several years ago, my chapter had a semester long pledge period. At some point, they moved to the 8 week program. I wasn't about to complain about not having to pledge for the whole semester, but if it were up to me, that's exactly what I would change it to.

Now I haven't been there long, but from everything that I've seen, the grades (particularly of new members) have dropped drastically. We have a minimum 2.5 GPA that you must have to be initiated, but since initiation occurs well before grades are out, everyone slides... I had a pledge brother who had a 0.0, and he was initiated. The minimum to initiate used to be around 3.0 when it was a semester long and they made it. If you can't make decent grades, you can't help your chapter.

And another thing about the 8 week program is that it's too easy to "fly under the radar" for that short period of time. I've heard of several brothers that were "model pledges", they did everything right, showed up to everything. But the biggest thing they had in common was that they kept a low profile... didn't say much or stick out. Then when they're initiated, they show their true colors and turned to crap... skip weeks of class, sleep through meetings, etc. About the only thing they're good for is making everyone else's dues a little lower, and some of 'em don't even pay that. 8 weeks just isn't long enough to tell if you really want or need a person in my opinion.

When I first pledged, 10 weeks was the standard, 14 weeks later I was initiated. Now we are told that we have a 60 day maximum with extensions on a case by case reason and based on the chapter. Having pledgeship for a max of 60 days is suppose to eliminate hazing. Some feel that it cheats the chapters on getting to know the pledges and seeing if they are worthy. I am split on the matter, I went through for 14 weeks and I want the new guys to go through what I did, (there was no hazing at all). Maybe not 14 weeks but atleast the original 10. THere was so much information that I had to learn that the new pledges do not have to.
Its as if the are learning the cliff notes.