PKT25: Initiation
We've run all the way through the schedule of the pledge program and discussed pretty much everything on it. I skipped Candling, which was another ritual event that I'm not at liberty to discuss. The only other things left are the Long Walk and Initiation, which I'm also not at liberty to discuss, although you can clearly tell what happens during Initiation since it's right in the name. On a side note, apparently there are a few fraternities that completely open their ritual events to family and friends. We were not one of them.
After initiation we had a nice party, which was usually set up for by female friends of the house so that when the brothers all returned from initiation to the house it was ready to go. The Newly Initiated Brothers would come into the house via the front door and would be issued house keys. We'd celebrate, and then next semester it would be time for rush and the cycle would start all over again.
One thing that had to happen before initiation was that the brothers would vote about whether or not to initiate each of the pledges. I was an active for eight semesters (not counting my pledge semester or my semester on co-op in another city), and in those eight semesters no pledge was ever voted down. Most people sailed through, a few had a concern raised for discussion, and less than a handful of people in those eight semesters triggered some really contentious conversations and close votes. The main difference from the bid conversation was that with bids we typically had at most two weeks of information, while with initiation we now had a full semester of data to consider.
I suppose that in theory, we could look back now with the benefit of hindsight and evaluate who was a good addition to the brotherhood and who wasn't, but pragmatically, it really depends on what you meant by 'good'. We had some brothers who attended very single event, and others who pretty much only made it to the required ones. We had brothers who got great grades and others (like me) who kind of scraped by. We had brothers who were in many other organizations and others who weren't in anything else. Some brothers did a great job with multiple fraternity offices and others rarely held an office at all or did them poorly. We had extroverted brothers who brought people in during rush and introverted brothers who did not. Most brothers lived in the house, but some never moved in. Most paid their bills on time, and some graduated with a lot of money owed to the house. And I could easily take someone who was in any of those categories and talk about why they were a credit to the house. There was certainly no correlation between people who were the subject of contentious votes and who ended up being bad for the house.
Honestly, if you look back at my time as a pledge, I doubt I was problematic but I'm sure I didn't seem very impressive. I finished the black book requirement, but I essentially missed our party and didn't run for an office in the spring semester. I played football, but our house didn't really care about varsity sports (I think maybe five of us in five years picked up a varsity letter) and I only ended up playing the one year anyway. I was the kind of pledge who showed up reliably and participated but who didn't have one standout thing about me. In a year when the membership wasn't so depleted, I may have never even gotten a bid, but I somehow ended up holding a gazillion offices in following semesters, including Secretary, House Manager, Risk Manager, President, Vice President, Rush Chair and Associate Member Educator. I doubt anyone, especially me, would have predicted that based on my pledge semester. As the saying goes, it's not where you start, it's where you finish.
Interestingly, my membership certificate says I was initiated on December 8, 1996, but the perpetual calendar says that was a Sunday and I could have sworn initiation was on a Saturday night. I don't recall it running past midnight, but it's been 25 years. Clearly, history is hard even when the dates are written down! The date is also on my fraternity wallet card, which also includes my fraternity number: 026-0758. 026 is the number of the Ohio Alpha Beta chapter, and 758 means I was the 758th brother initiated in our chapter. I learned at National events that some chapters made a really big deal out of memorizing the fraternity number, but ours did not. I happened to see it when I was confirming the date!
Those end of semester chapter meetings had a lot of voting between Initiation decisions and officer elections. We'll talk about chapter meetings and elections in future posts.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters Fall 1996
Events Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo
Other Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU
Additional Commentary Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout
After initiation we had a nice party, which was usually set up for by female friends of the house so that when the brothers all returned from initiation to the house it was ready to go. The Newly Initiated Brothers would come into the house via the front door and would be issued house keys. We'd celebrate, and then next semester it would be time for rush and the cycle would start all over again.
One thing that had to happen before initiation was that the brothers would vote about whether or not to initiate each of the pledges. I was an active for eight semesters (not counting my pledge semester or my semester on co-op in another city), and in those eight semesters no pledge was ever voted down. Most people sailed through, a few had a concern raised for discussion, and less than a handful of people in those eight semesters triggered some really contentious conversations and close votes. The main difference from the bid conversation was that with bids we typically had at most two weeks of information, while with initiation we now had a full semester of data to consider.
I suppose that in theory, we could look back now with the benefit of hindsight and evaluate who was a good addition to the brotherhood and who wasn't, but pragmatically, it really depends on what you meant by 'good'. We had some brothers who attended very single event, and others who pretty much only made it to the required ones. We had brothers who got great grades and others (like me) who kind of scraped by. We had brothers who were in many other organizations and others who weren't in anything else. Some brothers did a great job with multiple fraternity offices and others rarely held an office at all or did them poorly. We had extroverted brothers who brought people in during rush and introverted brothers who did not. Most brothers lived in the house, but some never moved in. Most paid their bills on time, and some graduated with a lot of money owed to the house. And I could easily take someone who was in any of those categories and talk about why they were a credit to the house. There was certainly no correlation between people who were the subject of contentious votes and who ended up being bad for the house.
Honestly, if you look back at my time as a pledge, I doubt I was problematic but I'm sure I didn't seem very impressive. I finished the black book requirement, but I essentially missed our party and didn't run for an office in the spring semester. I played football, but our house didn't really care about varsity sports (I think maybe five of us in five years picked up a varsity letter) and I only ended up playing the one year anyway. I was the kind of pledge who showed up reliably and participated but who didn't have one standout thing about me. In a year when the membership wasn't so depleted, I may have never even gotten a bid, but I somehow ended up holding a gazillion offices in following semesters, including Secretary, House Manager, Risk Manager, President, Vice President, Rush Chair and Associate Member Educator. I doubt anyone, especially me, would have predicted that based on my pledge semester. As the saying goes, it's not where you start, it's where you finish.
Interestingly, my membership certificate says I was initiated on December 8, 1996, but the perpetual calendar says that was a Sunday and I could have sworn initiation was on a Saturday night. I don't recall it running past midnight, but it's been 25 years. Clearly, history is hard even when the dates are written down! The date is also on my fraternity wallet card, which also includes my fraternity number: 026-0758. 026 is the number of the Ohio Alpha Beta chapter, and 758 means I was the 758th brother initiated in our chapter. I learned at National events that some chapters made a really big deal out of memorizing the fraternity number, but ours did not. I happened to see it when I was confirming the date!
Those end of semester chapter meetings had a lot of voting between Initiation decisions and officer elections. We'll talk about chapter meetings and elections in future posts.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters Fall 1996
Events Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo
Other Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU
Additional Commentary Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout