September 3, 1982 THE HARDING UNIVERSITY BISON, Searcy, Ark. 9 PledgeWeek rules change ByLaura L. Brown Major changes have been made in the structure of Pledge Week, scheduled for Oct. 5 through 8. · Many of the new regulations governing Pledge Week and social clubs in general are spelled out in a 32-page handbook which was given to each student during registration. Pledge Week activities will begin Sunday evening, Oct. 3, when all club presidents, pledgemasters and persons in– tending to pledge a club attend an orientation meeting at 7:30, Patty Barrett, coordinator of social club activities, said. The meeting, to be held in Benson Auditorium, is intended to acquaint both pledges and club members with the University's policies regarding Pledge Week. The meeting will "let pledges know what to expect and what they don't have to put up with," Barrett said. Club members will deliver bids Monday night between 6and 8: 30. Clubs may use the period from 8: 30 to 10: 15 for their own orientation meetings, to teach songs to pledges and pass out pledge books. The meetings should be "strictly to get to know each other," Barrett said, and not for "subservient-type" activities. Pledging will begin Tuesday, Oct. 5, at6 a.m., and will continue through Friday, Oct. 8, ending at 8 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday, Barrett said. "We're going to hold the club's officers responsible for keeping to the 8:00 curfew," she said. Pledges "cannot be required to have all sorts of paraphernalia," Barrett said. Clubs may require pledges to wear certain outfits, but pledges will have until noon Tuesday to assemble their en– sembles, she said, and pledges with time conflicts will be given more time. Clubs may schedule activities such as devotionals or skating parties after 8 p.m., but attendance will be optional, Barrett said. Such activities must first be approved by her. "Friday night, of course, is he problem," Barrett said. Persons involved in reviewing pledge week last year wanted to eliminate any activity that might be termed hazing, she said. The possibility of holding club competitions similar to Hilarity was suggested, but "vetoed like crazy," she said. No other suggestions were made. Barrett said students directed their energies toward changing the minds of the administration rather than generating con– structive suggestions. The handbook states that hazing is prohibited, and defines it as "any action designed to inflict discomfort, pain or harm upon a student or sobject a student to humiliation and degradation." The handbook reminds students that pledges should be treated as individuals and states: "What is fun to one person is humiliating to another. No Christian ever has the right to humiliate another." Activities required of pledges must be completed by 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, the regulations state. Clubs may hold a "final review and installation" of pledges between 6 and 9 p.m. Such meetings must be held on campus in a room reserved through the tudent Personnel Office, and sponsors will be present, Barrett said. All pledging will end at 9 p.m. Friday; clubs may hold parties or formal initiations from 9 to midnight, the handbook states. A detailed list of activities planned for Friday night must be sub– mi tted to and approved by Barrett. She is working closely with club presidents, meeting with each of them individually to discuss what will and will not be allowed under the new policy. Prohibited activities are listed in the handbook. Among them are making a pledge kiss · another person; telling pledges to steal pledging materials from other pledges; disrupting chapel or classes; engaging in food fights or standing on tables or chairs in the cafeterias or the student center; requiring pledges to sit in someone else's chapel seat; placing any substance in the mouth or on the body of a pledge; making pledges wear shoes of different heights, and placing anything such as food or objects inside a pledge's clothes. A major difference in women's clubs this year involves quotas, Barrett said. There will be quotas, but a club will be allowed to pledge five more women than the quota, while others will be taking in fewer pledges than the quota allows. This policy will allow large clubs to induct more ''first choice'' women, while preventing smaller clubs from being obligated to pick women "off the floor," Barrett said. "Clubs that are traditionally called small clubs were for this, as well as larger clubs," she said. Barrett said members of the administration-as well as students--do not know how well the new policy will work, but that they work with the students. "I don't know if this is going to work," she said. "We're willing to give it a try."
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