Jackson State Greeks Cap New Members at 50


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Kelsey's Mom
Jackson State Greeks Cap New Members at 50

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By Jocelyn Stamps
Black College Wire

Jackson State University's Panhellenic Council has imposed a membership cap of 50 new members on the eight active fraternities and sororities on campus.

According to Cathy Patterson, coordinator of Greek affairs at the Jackson, Miss., school, the council voted during the fall semester to limit the number of members an organization can admit during the intake process. Each active fraternity and sorority has a representative on the council, and the measure is now part of the Panhellenic Council constitution.

The entire article can be found here: http://www.blackcollegewire.org/studentlife/050110_jackson-state-greeks/
 
Hmmm, I have mixed feelings. I guess I'd have no problem with the limit of 50. Seems like the ladies have more of a problem with it than the guys.

"The value of our fraternity is not in numbers, but in men," said James Jones, an English major from St. Louis and a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Bennie Crayton, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, said the membership limit was a good idea for some sororities known for their large numbers. "From a male standpoint, the cap has no bearing on us. It is good for females -- it will help them narrow things down," Crayton said. "It's not good to have large numbers. A group loses its luster with large numbers."
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Yeah...most guys appear to be ok with it because they hardly ever have over 50 people on line. We all know sororities may just have a line of 100, but usually there is an underlying reason.
 
"The value of our fraternity is not in numbers, but in men, said James Jones, an English major from St. Louis and a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
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........in REAL BROTHERHOOD!!!!!!"
ROO!!!!!

Speak on it J.J. H. Myzack!!!!
 
I, for one, am glad. With the intake process being what it is now, how in the world would 50 people have time to get to know each other and bond? It didn't make any to me back in the day when you could have lines in the Fall and Spring. Most campuses are now limited to one semester of pledging (intake). The tail wouldn't know who the head was...
 
Bennie Crayton, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, said the membership limit was a good idea for some sororities known for their large numbers.

"It is good for females -- it will help them narrow things down," Crayton said. "It's not good to have large numbers. A group loses its luster with large numbers."
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This is interesting. The AKA's petitioned for this rule last year, and the rest of the Pan-Hellenic Council voted on it and voted against it (4-3), and Gamma Rho ended up crossing 80 girls. Apparently, one chapter must have changed their stance on the whole thing, and only one other chapter crossed more than 50 pledges in '04. (I'll stop speculating there :D)

I'm no fan of excessive pledge lines, but what I want to know is how these organizations will select its initiates and determine who is qualified to be a member.

With this cap, there will be a lot of people denied initiation into orgs they've dreamed about being a part of for as long as they can remember. And we know that with some chapters there's a lot of politics involved.......Legacy Clauses, who know's who, etc. These things don't really seem to be a problem with fraternities (at least from what I noticed w/ the chapters at JSU). If a guy wants it bad enough, more than likely he's in. But for females, sometimes high GPA's, community service and really wanting to be a member is not enough.

Then there are some members of these frats/ sororities who go out of their way to keep someone off of line because of petty issues unrelated to their respective organization or intake. I can't count how many times I've heard someone Greek say, "He/ she won't ever make it because he/ she 'did this' or 'used to talk to_____'". With this mandate, they've made it even easier for members to "weed them out".
 
Tony said:
Must have, if he joined that Almighty YE
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ROO dawg. I know Bruh personally, he is definitly a pillar in the community in his hometown of St. Louis. He is from Hazelwood County actually.
 
LS Syndicate said:
I'm no fan of excessive pledge lines, but what I want to know is how these organizations will select its initiates and determine who is qualified to be a member.

With this cap, there will be a lot of people denied initiation into orgs they've dreamed about being a part of for as long as they can remember. And we know that with some chapters there's a lot of politics involved.......Legacy Clauses, who know's who, etc. These things don't really seem to be a problem with fraternities (at least from what I noticed w/ the chapters at JSU). If a guy wants it bad enough, more than likely he's in. But for females, sometimes high GPA's, community service and really wanting to be a member is not enough.

Then there are some members of these frats/ sororities who go out of their way to keep someone off of line because of petty issues unrelated to their respective organization or intake. I can't count how many times I've heard someone Greek say, "He/ she won't ever make it because he/ she 'did this' or 'used to talk to_____'". With this mandate, they've made it even easier for members to "weed them out".
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You make some interesting points. I guess my point is I remember as a child seeing a line of 3 Gamma Rhos or 10 Zetas or 18 Deltas. I'd never seen an excessively large line the average number of initiates was 22. Large lines started popping up after they revised the initiation process around the early 90's. My sister pledged Spr '93 and was on a line of 113. I'm sure back then there were many who were interested & didn't make line. You mention about people being denied w/a cap but, is it not a Sororities right to choose the member they'd like to admit into their chapter? If not then, there would be no need for the intake process. You just pay your fees & dues & become a member. I guess my line of thought has always been that sororities & fraternities "select" members based on miscellaneous criteria only known to those already in the chapter & that they had a right to do so.
 
BandFan said:
ROO dawg. I know Bruh personally, he is definitly a pillar in the community in his hometown of St. Louis. He is from Hazelwood County actually.
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Good to see bruhz living out their Creed.

ROO.
 
I have and always will have a problem with the Pan. Why is it that some outside organization has the right to govern my organization. If one organization is more popular than another they should not be limited by what they can do by other organizations. In this issue the Pan has too much power.
 
enswaclopedia said:
I have and always will have a problem with the Pan. Why is it that some outside organization has the right to govern my organization... In this issue the Pan has too much power.
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I agree. I am no fan of large lines, but if my chapter decides to have a line of 60 for whatever reason--we should have the right to as long as the university allows a line.
 

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Fortitude said:
I guess my line of thought has always been that sororities & fraternities "select" members based on miscellaneous criteria only known to those already in the chapter & that they had a right to do so.
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Point taken, but I guess I'm looking at it from the aspirant's perspective. I wanted to be an Alpha since I was 6 or 7 years old, and it was the second-most thing I wanted to get out of college, behind my degree. It would have been devastating to me to have been denied initiation because of what I did to one of the chapter brothers in the past (even before he was Greek) or because I used to talk to a chick he was talking to- these are just some of the cases I've seen with some orgs.......and this mandate will make it that much easier for chapter members to do that.

I understand where the Pan is coming from- and I'm not at all against it- I just feel bad for the person who will want it, as bad as I did, but'll be left out in the cold.
 
LS Syndicate said:
Point taken, but I guess I'm looking at it from the aspirant's perspective. I wanted to be an Alpha since I was 6 or 7 years old, and it was the second-most thing I wanted to get out of college, behind my degree. It would have been devastating to me to have been denied initiation because of what I did to one of the chapter brothers in the past (even before he was Greek) or because I used to talk to a chick he was talking to- these are just some of the cases I've seen with some orgs.......and this mandate will make it that much easier for chapter members to do that.

I understand where the Pan is coming from- and I'm not at all against it- I just feel bad for the person who will want it, as bad as I did, but'll be left out in the cold.
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In my most humble voice, not everyone's gonna make line. I was "left out in the cold" at JSU but, me & 2 other JSU classmates did pledge Spr. '93 while we were in grad programs at U of IL. I have a casual friend who had tried 3 times & wasn't successful. She called me & I gave her some pointers, she finally made the last Jackson-Alumnae line - on her 4th attempt. My thought pattern is, if you want it bad enough you'll preservere until you get it. You're NEVER too old to pledge(this is what I always tell my mom :) )
 
Man, when I was on the yard 86-90...we would have 100-200 dudes at our smokers.

The Deltas and AKA's would have about 300 at their rushes.

What if 50-60 out of those 300 are qualified? Who's right is it to put a cap on that? BTW, I was talking to a prominent faculty member the other day, and he told me that this crap will probably get blown over because they did not ger permission from the National Pan-Hellinic council to pursue with this in the first place.

I just find it interesting that the faculty members that made these decisions pledged on lines that were big enough to "block traffic" when they pledged.
 
I don't see 50 guys being qualified for each organization on campus.. The screening process for GPA's and disciplinary procedures rule out alot of people. The females have an issue because JSU only does intake in the spring. If they had spring and fall initiations, I believe the females would feel less pressed to be involved in such numbers. In the past, the huge lines tend to be the organizations who fell into some kind of trouble and missed an intake or two.

It is the school's prerogative to do whatever they feel is necessary. The organizations are sanctioned by the school, and enjoy privileges as being officially recognized. There will always be this one person who cries foul every year, but hell there are always people crying foul come m.i.p. time. It is nothing new.
 
^^That's the sad thing Dirty.....

They wanna put the cap at 50 for everybody. Which would mean between the 9 orgs they could only have 5.5 members iniated.
 
^^ Yep, which is why it is probably gonna get rescinded. According to the JSU official I talked to, they went about the process without National Pan Hellinic approval....so it will most likely die out.

Hopefully...
 
Mak, I didn't understand the article to say that it would be 50 between the 8 orgs. If so - I know that ain't gonna fly. If it's 50 per org. I see no prob. w/it.
 
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