Spring pledging receives student evaluation

Issue 23, Kaitlin Cassidy, News - By Kaitlin Cassidy on Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 03:57

On Saturday, March 12, alumni, current actives and new members of the Palmer, Orthogonian, Franklin and Sachsen societies gathered in Memorial Chapel to present their new members to the Whittier College community.

Last year it was announced that JanTerm would be shortened for the next two years as a trial run for a new academic year.

The trial is to determine whether or not the new academic year will save the college money. This caused societies to re-examine their pledging schedule. Some societies had been pushing for spring pledging for a while and a decision was made to allow some societies try spring pledging as a trial basis.

There were mixed reactions amongst societies with the community being split into two different pledging times. When asked about the pledging changes, Associate Dean of Students Andre Coleman said, “The campus environment felt different.”

No data has been available to compare the grade point averages (GPAs) of JanTerm initiates to spring semester initiates, however, the overall fatigue was still felt. “It seemed that members who pledged in the spring felt fatigued from just how long the process was,” Coleman said, however, JanTerm pledges still felt fatigued due to the intensity of the packed pledging schedule.

“Spring pledging is so different from January because it requires a lot more time and commitment from both candidates and current members,” senior and Palmer member Tammy Miyata said. Although the Palmers had their new members pledged in the spring, she feels JanTerm is a more appropriate time to pledge. “I personally think that JanTerm is better suited for pledging because there are more obligations and responsibilities during the spring,” Miyata said. “There is much more time available and flexibility during JanTerm.”

One of the new Orthogonian members, junior Mark Alvarez, found time management to be one of the most difficult things about spring pledging but he would not want to change pledging period back to JanTerm. “The six-week process is an essential amount of time for the values and traditions of the society to be learned by the potential new members,” Alvarez said.

The next step is for Coleman to compile all the necessary data about how the new members performed during each pledging schedule and present it to President Sharon Herzberger. “As of right now, the plan is for all societies to move to spring pledging next year,” Coleman said.