How the Pledging Process is Changing Black Greek Organizations (Fraternities and Sororities)

Twenty-five years ago, pledging a black Greek letter organization (BGLO) was about building oneness in a pledge line and making sure everyone knew their particular national and chapter organizational history. Whether it was when Phi Beta Sigma started or when the Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter was founded, pledges had to know who started what and how they did it. And when you were off or nonresponsive in your recollection of that information the consequences were swift and sometimes painful. The wood, this paddle-like creation brought grown men to their knees in pain while making young women cringe in agony as their failure to remember could only be seen as a challenge by others to make sure it did not happen again.

Days of moments like those experienced in Spike Lee's School Daze movie will probably never be seen again. Pledging like what Gamma Phi Gamma did has gone from underground to above ground and mostly out in the open as a new process called intake has been birthed in response to the growing number of hazing incidents that have been reported on college campuses around the country. While I pledged under the old model I am certainly not a proponent of causing someone physical harm because they could not remember a chant or particular founder's hometown. But one has to wonder has the intake process served the black Greek letter organizations as well as was intended when the process began. The question comes from what was accomplished under the old guidelines and the new methods of pledging.

I have spent the better part of my life around fraternities and sororities and there are some obvious implications to the new intake process that inhibit the chapter development cycle. Formerly, when a pledge crossed over and became a member of a specific fraternity or sorority, the process lasted 2-3 months time. That did not mean you pledged every day. In fact you may have only had one session a week for a period of time but that time was used to build continuity and unity in the line. When a line crossed over they were brothers and sisters in the truest sense because they lived together, ate together, and slept together. One or two dorm rooms became the hub of the line as everyone left their particular rooms behind to sleep in the same room while they were on line. In the new intake process the pledge time has been cut so much so that unless a fraternity wants to risk being in violation the available pledge time is like asking a coach to only get a couple of hours a week to build their team.

I had friends that pledged fraternities like Alpha Tau Omega and Kappa Sigma. These organizations are filled with great guys who are doing great things in their community. But the intent and role of those fraternities was and is completely different from that of the black Greek letter organizations where brotherhood did not occur during a one week cycle called Rush Week. For minorities, Rush Week was Rush Semester. And if the black community on a campus knew your pledge time was short you would be labeled with a moniker that defined you different from the rest of the black Greek world.

My wife does not understand my continued association with my fraternity. She is from New Jersey where pledging had less meaning than it does in the south. She does not understand how instrumental it has been over time on college campuses. She enjoys the step shows but does not get why grown men who haven't been in a college class in twenty years would continue to wear their Omega Psi Phi and women wear their Zeta Phi Beta paraphernalia. She does not understand it. She cannot understand it. She is not Greek.

It was during the time of pledging that pledges dropped from the rolls, having realized that the cost of become a member was more than they were willing to pay. And that was not a bad thing then and it is not a bad thing now. Today, regardless of where I go I have brothers and sisters that I can call when and/or if something happens. That has to cost something. And as someone whose father and three uncles all pledged the same fraternity before I did, pledging and receiving my letters actually means something. And the new intake process demeans that in some ways to me. It is not the fault of Phi Beta Sigma. It is about who makes the policies under which they can operate. And unfortunately, it is a segment of the college community that does not understand the intent of black Greek letter organizations.

Forty years ago, the minority institution on any college campus was the black Greek letter organizations, also known as fraternities and sororities. Pledging Phi Beta Sigma or Kappa Alpha Psi, Zeta Phi Beta or Delta Sigma Theta involved more than just remembering facts and figures. Anyone can quote information if you give them enough time. It was the brotherhood and the sisterhood that was accumulated as young black men and women pursued their dreams with people from different parts of the country, while embarking on this journey with friends that became instrumental forces in their lives.

That is what made Spike Lee's School Daze such a wonderful example of black Greek life. It was authentic and real. Everyone knows a Half-Pint on campus whose escapades made for sheer comedy. Gamma Phi Gamma is the ideal of black Greek life. But without that moment that encapsulated the movie near its end where Half-Pint announces he has crossed over, the movie's motivation would be lost.

And that is the problem facing black Greek letter organizations. Their mission has been lost because their methods have been changed.