Page 26 - 1908 November - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 21

the middle of November (for a few days) no rushing is allowed, so
that there is no excuse for fraternity work interfering with school
work. No pledge can be initiated until the end of the first semester,
and not then i f delinquent or carrying less than twelve hours work.
This does much toward raising the standards of scholarship, as any
girl pledged and not initiated is shown to the whole school as a
delinquent. I t also inspires the new girls to work for their initia-
tion, as well as establish them in scholarly habits in their first year.
The main objection to this plan is that the early pledging does not
allow the furthering of acquaintance and time for consideration on
the part of new girls, but on the other hand, it does not interfere
with the fraternity house problem (where there are no dormitories)
and satisfies each fraternity enough to do away with the anxiety
fostered by a late pledge-day.

Barnard College now has pledge-day in April of the Sophomore
year. This is a faculty ruling evidently for the purpose of doing
away with rushing. So far, howeer, it seems only to have elongated
the rushing season as rushing is just as hard as when freshman-
pledge-day was observed, and there are two classes to rush instead
of one. Restrictions as to the amount of rushing are almost abso-
lutely necessary with such a late pledge-day. A t Newcomb several
experiments have been tried. Last year's plan of having no rush-
ing or pledging until the end of the first semester, and then only for
two weeks, tended to so congest all the rushing for the year, that a
sophomore pledge-day has been adopted, that is, matriculation day
of the sophomore year. The Pan-Hellenic has a member of the fac-
ulty as an advisory member, but not with the power given to the
chairman of the Nebraska Inter-Sorority Council.

The Pan-Hellenic at Cornell University has shortened the rush-
ing season from the entire first semester last year to the middle of
November this year, as some of the fraternities felt the strain of a
rushing period of that length.

Tufts College and DePauw University have October pledge-
days. I n the latter, each fraternity is allowed one "function,"
and the different representatives in Pan-Hellenic draw for dates.

A l l attempts at regulating rushing and experiments with late
pledge-days are as yet so young that it can hardly be judged which
plan is best. That all conditions are far from ideal is only too evi-
dent. Time alone can remedy the evils, and then only as long as
each local Pan-Hellenic and each individual fraternity strives for
the good of the whole.

The rules on rushing in the colleges in which A O I I is interested
are here submitted in the hope that they may prove not only interest-
ing but helpful and suggestive in the way of good points which might