I need to be discreet here but I would love feedback.
I have a very close relative who pledged a fraternity this fall as a freshman. Everything seemed to be going well. His grades were fine and he held a position in his pledge class. Pledges had been let go along the way but none recently. However, when my relative showed up for initiation at 5 am (after a tough semester of pledging) he was met outside and told by 2 of his close friends (brothers) that he had been dropped. They were in tears as they took his pledge pin back. He was in shock. The only explanation given was that one of the brothers had voted against initiating him and that 2 of that brother's friends had backed him up. He had heard that this brother didn't like him but he didn't know why and they had always been cordial (its a pretty large house). To make matters worse, they told him that the only way to potentially "save" himself was to get his whole pledge class to threaten to drop if he wasn't initiated. He then had to plead his case and his class voted. He was told by a few pledge friends that one pledge refused to fall on the sword after completing hell week. Needless to say, he feels confused, betrayed and heartbroken.
I spoke to my son (an alum of another chapter at a different school). He said that although his fraternity had to unanimously agree to extend a bid, pledges were rarely dropped and there was a rule against doing so within 2 weeks of initiation. My sorority daughter at another university said she has never heard of anything like this from her fraternity friends.
My question is whether a reputable, national fraternity would allow this. There is not much to be done and the poor kid was told to try to win the brother over and rush again in the spring-which he unbelievably wants to do. He can't rush another house for a year since he accepted a bid. The whole situation seems very barbaric.
Any input would be appreciated.
