<p>For some reason my work computer won’t allow me to access all of the Crimson White. I can only see the headlines. I see one headline that reads IFC Suspends Pledgeship effective October 1st. Can anybody give me the details on this? Greek life at Bama is huge and as you all know and is pretty important on the campus. Is the article saying all fraternities have to suspend pledgeship or just certain ones?</p>
<p>I just read it:
[Fraternity</a> pledgeship suspended | The Crimson White](<a href=“Documenting Justice (Video) - The Crimson White”>Documenting Justice (Video) - The Crimson White)
All Interfraternity Council fraternities will suspend pledgeship effective Oct. 1.UA Dean of Students Tim Hebson said at 11 p.m. Tuesday that pledgeship will be reinstated Oct. 8 following fall break.</p>
<p>IFC President Drew Smyth confirmed that pledgeship would be temporarily suspended for the week.</p>
<p>“We are right now working on making sure that everything in the greek community is running smoothly,” Smyth said. “We felt the new members needed to be rested up for their families.”</p>
<p>Earlier Tuesday, The Crimson White approached the University for comment on possible hazing violations or pledgeship cancellation. Hebson e-mailed a statement via a University spokewoman.</p>
<p>“A few pledge classes were suspended temporarily while we investigated allegations of hazing and identified the individuals involved,” Hebson said in the statement. “Individuals who violated the Code of Student Conduct are being dealt with appropriately. Thus far, no fraternities have been found responsible for hazing; only individuals were involved and it was not a chapter action.</p>
<p>“No pledge classes have been cancelled and the University has not threatened to cancel all new member programs,” he said.</p>
<p>Practically, suspension of pledgeship could mean potential new members in IFC fraternities may not be required to spend time at the houses they are pledging each day or participate in other activities required by the house.</p>
<p>Looks like it is suspended for Oct1-8 only “to give pledges time to rest up for their families”
Wonder if parents complained about the lack of access & time commitment during family weekend this year. I have mixed feeling about that, I wasn’t happy about not seeing my S a lot, but I wouldn’t complain to the University about it. I spent $$$$ on flights & accommodations last year but wouldn’t think about mentioning it other than on CC.</p>
<p>They are also talking about limiting the daily attendance commitment. Again, it seemed like a lot to me, but everyone has to do it.</p>
<p>Also “hazing incidents” were mentioned although they said they were individuals not chapters involved. To me that is when parents should get involved</p>
<p>I saw a CW tweet last night that pledgeship is suspended from Oct 1- Oct 8 for IFC. Don’t know why and am wondering about it also.</p>
<p>This just sounds like the school is telling the Greeks that they can’t make any demands/req’ts for their pledges during that time.</p>
<p>If the school didn’t do this, then technically a house could require pledges to do X and Y during that time and the pledges would not be able to have their fall break.</p>
<p>related to this on the news this morning?? [University</a> of AL football player accused in frat lawsuit - WLTZ 38 | Columbus Georgia Regional News & Community](<a href=“http://www.wltz.com/story/19644905/university-of-al-footbal-player-accused-in-frat-lawsuit]University”>http://www.wltz.com/story/19644905/university-of-al-footbal-player-accused-in-frat-lawsuit)</p>
<p>Thanks Josie and Ldinct for your quick responses. When I was going thru pledgeship they had just started cutting back on the time required of pledges being at the house. We couldn’t be there before 7 am. I think it is good to have some rules for the pledges sake so they aren’t taken advantage of but I believe it is getting too easy for them now. Pledgeship isn’t suppose to be a cakewalk, and in my opinion it takes more than 8 weeks to see the character in these pledges to see if they will benefit your organization. I’m all for punishing individuals or even chapters if they physically abuse pledges or do something that isn’t beneficial to the organization or University.</p>
<p>The two things are likely unrelated. Suspending pledging during Fall Break wouldn’t have anything to do with that. There wouldn’t be any point to that.</p>
<p>I’m hearing about a lot of parent complaints about Greek Life, some of which are minor. Perhaps it’s due to the increased number of OOS student & pledges not being familiar with the requirements & time commitment.
The “giving them time to rest for the families” sounds a little odd to me.I agree you need to be all over health & safety issues but the other stuff, not so much. If my student has a bad pledge semester grade-wise that is his responsibility. I wouldn’t contact the administration.</p>
<p>The “giving them time to rest for the families” sounds a little odd to me.</p>
<p>That doesn’t sound odd to me. It sounds like it’s either a proactive rule or the result of someone rightfully complaining that a house was expecting pledges to do X or Y (maybe attend meetings or do house chores) during Fall Break.</p>
<p>This reminds me of my kids’ private high school. A couple of the teachers showed no respect for holidays and would LOAD the kids up with homework over T-giving and Xmas break. Funny, they thought those times were breaks for “them”, but not for the students.</p>
<p>The principal had to step in and declare that T-giving and Xmas breaks were “homework-free” times. </p>
<p>This just seems like a similar thing.</p>
<p>Ah that makes more sense then. Not allowing or discouraging pledges from going home wouldn’t be good.</p>
<p>I do think they are hearing more complaints from parents overall about minor issues in Greek Life.</p>
<p>As much as I am glad Bama is very responsive overall, I am trying to let my S handle most things. Grades I am all over but he’s got to figure out the other stuff himself. Unless it’s useful info that I find out about on this board, I pass that along.</p>
<p>The suspension of pledge ship is so that the pledges can leave campus for Fall Break…that’s really it. It is not related to the Sigma Chi hazing incident which is being treated separately. Each year there are always complaints about time commitment (DD’s boyfriend lived on Red Bull during his pledge time) and the “availability” factor for fraternity pledges.<br>
We even encountered this when we came to Parents Weekend when DD was a sorority pledge. We were just discussing today that this will be a quick trip and we won’t be able to spend all of the time we’d like together due to her sorority commitments (she’s on Exec and they have meetings all day Sunday, she has an event that as a Exec office she is required to attend Friday night and them of course she will go to the game with her boyfriend and sit with is fraternity. We understood this when we picked this weekend to come (they are all actually like this on game days)
Each sorority and fraternity house has different hours and expectations and yes some are not time consuming than others. Fraternity pledges seem to be “on call” a lot more than the sorority pledges.
M2k is correct in liking this to “homework free times” in high school. I think the wording is a little odd which makes this sound more serious than it is. Fraternity pledge ship is intense…that’s for sure but it is short lived (usually over by Thanksgiving) and then it’s done. I know that DD’s boyfriend spent many many hours at the house both doing chores and studying.</p>
<p>Think of it like a “time out” or “furlough” from pledging for a few days. </p>
<p>:)</p>