100 Hazing alternatives 100 Ways to Create Good…

                     100 Hazing alternatives


100 Ways to Create Good Members Without Hazing

1. Participate in a Ropes Course.
2. Teambuilding Activities (can be facilitated by campus
professional ­ there are hundreds of these activities that you could
use)
3. Participate in and/or plan a Community Service Project
4. New Member Surprise Party hosted by members
5. Have a Resume Writing Workshop presented by Career
Development Center
6. Attend Educational Speaker of new member's choice and
discuss as a chapter
7. Leadership Book-of-the-Month/Semester Club facilitated by
new members
8. Invite Faculty Advisor to lunch with new members
9. Have a Discussion about the Relevance of the Principles and
Obligations today
10. Study Skills Workshop presented by the Learning Center
11. Successful Alumni Speaker to talk about how
fraternity/sorority gave skills to succeed
12. Arts and Crafts for a Cause
13. Participate in a Recruitment Workshop
14. Invite IFC/PHC Officers to Speak about Community
Governance
15. Invite Coordinator of Greek Affairs to speak about lifetime
membership
16. Dinner and a Movie
17. Shadow an Officer and assist in planning of a program/event
18. Create a vision and goals for the organization
19. Plan a fundraiser to pay for initiation fees
20. Include new members in chapter meetings
21. Include new members in regularly scheduled chapter activities
22. Discuss fraternal values and how they apply (or don't apply)
23. Plan and present a speaker on a health/wellness topic
24. Require active membership in at least one organization outside
the group
25. Evaluate the process during and after new member education
26. Host a Family Weekend activity
27. Have consultant or national visitor talk about national
programs
28. Discuss what the General Fraternity does for the chapter with
dues money
29. Attend a Panhellenic or Interfraternity Council meeting
30. Participate in all-Greek events
31. Review parliamentary procedure and its purpose
32. Ask leadership experts to discuss issues such as motivation and
group dynamics
33. Have new members take the Meyers-Briggs Personality Type
Inventory and discuss
34. Ask a faculty member to discuss ethical decision making
35. Ask a faculty member to facilitate a conversation on diversity
in fraternities and sororities
36. Ask campus health educator to do a presentation on eating
disorders or depression, etc.
37. Ask university police to discuss the prevention of violence
against women
38. Ask Coordinator of Greek Affairs to describe what the college
offers fraternities/sororities
39. Plan a philanthropy project for a local charity
40. Have a contest for who can recruit the most new members to
join and reward the winner with a fully-paid membership badge or
initiation fee
41. Members and new members make "secret sisters/brothers"
gifts for each other
42. Discuss risk management and liability with the university
counsel
43. Brainstorm ways to recruit new members to present to chapter
44. Have an all-campus or all-fraternity/sorority community "Meet
Our New Members" Picnic
45. Have new members play on the chapter intramural team
46. Plant a new member class tree
47. Sponsor a big/little academic challenge with free textbooks to
the winner
48. Have a candlelight/pass the gavel ceremony about what
fraternity means to me
49. Have a senior Student Affairs administrator talk about history
of fraternities/sororities at the College
50. Brainstorm ways to improve scholarship (other than study
hours)
51. Attend theatrical production or athletic event of the new
member's choosing
52. Ask the library to give a lecture on effective research methods
53. Attend a program or event another organization is sponsoring
54. Have a discussion about membership standards and
expectations
55. Have a chapter goal-setting retreat
56. Ask new members to accompany members to regional
leadership conferences
57. Attend the campus Leadership Conference or workshops
58. Deconstruct past hazing activity to determine intent and
brainstorm alternatives
59. Write a "letter to the founders" to thank them for the
opportunity (not to be shared)
60. Attend an Executive Board meeting
61. Have new members help Executive Board develop an
icebreaker for each meeting
62. Develop a leadership "wish list" or time line of chapter and
campus activities
63. Invite the Chapter Accreditation Program Coordinator to speak
about the rationale and benefits of the program
64. Invite the Learning Center or Career Development Center to
explain their services
65. Develop a faculty advisor appreciation gesture
66. Chapter and new members collaborate on a house
improvement project.
67. Develop an event with a non-Greek organization that requires
new members to ask the Student Association for additional
allocations or to apply for a campus grant.
68. Have new members develop a list of ways to end chapter
motivation issues.
69. Ask the Mayor to discuss city issues and how the group can
help.
70. Ask the Elections Commissioner to discuss politics in the
city/county/nation.
71. Require members to register to vote. Give an incentive to those
who do.
72. Require members below a 3.0 to attend a study skills program.
73. Develop a program that allows you to begin calling them "new
members..." rather than "pledges".
74. Discuss the founding of the group and how the organization
has evolved over time while maintaining the vision. If it hasn't,
how can the group return to its' roots?
75. Attend the Greek Diversity Enlightenment Program sponsored
by the Centers for Greek Affairs and Diversity, Pluralism &
Inclusion.
76. Review the history of hazing, the evolution of Greek new
member education and the direction fraternity/sorority recruitment
is headed.
77. Discuss the "old way" of pledging versus the "new way" with
a panel of alumni, administrators and council officers.
78. Develop or co-sponsor a program or event with another
sorority if you're a women's group or a fraternity, if a men's
group.
79. Have a professional discuss the "Millennial Generation" and
how groups can better recruit based on this research.
80. Offer a discount or reimbursement of part of the initiation fee
if a new member completes Alternative Winter or Spring Break.
Extra money if completes Greek Alternative Spring Break.
81. Give highest new member GPA recipient a plaque or $25 gift
certificate to nice restaurant.
82. New member who develops best recruitment plan (or
scholarship plan) gets a free ____.
83. Ask Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI) graduates to
speak about lessons learned and opportunities to attend.
84. Do a chapter fundraiser to send a new member to the North-
American Interfraternity Conference's FuturesQuest program or
UIFI.
85. Have a discussion about why new members wear pins and not
members.
86. Attend New Member Workshop with the Coordinator of Greek
Affairs.
87. Check a book out of the Greek Resource Library to read and
have a chapter discussion about.
88. Allow new members time for themselves to do and be what
they want. Don't monopolize their time.
89. Have a weekly forum for the new members to discuss their
feelings.
90. Invite another group to develop a program to benefit the entire
Greek Community.
91. Invite a Campus Fitness Specialist or Dietician to discuss
dietary fads ­ pros and cons.
92. Ask each member to list the offices/chairs they would be
interested in. Have them list five things they would do differently
about each. Compile results without names attached and have a
constructive conversation.
93. Develop one memento of the new member class to present to
the campus.
94. Eliminate the creation of pledge class "paddles", no matter
their use. They're symbolic of hazing. Come up with an
alternative.
95. Ask a professor to do a workshop on etiquette.
96. Have lunch together once a week in a dining hall with the
entire sorority/fraternity.
97. Invite faculty advisor to new member meetings.
98. Visit the national headquarters.
100. Question each activity and evaluate the program each
semester with the help of the advisor and Coordinator of Greek
Affairs.

Developed by Allison Swick-Duttine, Coordinator of Greek Affairs
& Leadership Development, Plattsburgh State University of New
York