[stufield]

It is one thing to have been an initiated member of a sorority or fraternity at one school, transfer to a second school, and then affiliate with a chapter of another sorority or fraternity at the second school, purporting to have been initiated into that other sorority or fraternity at either the first school or a third school. The members of the sorority or fraternity at the second school could take the individual at her or his word, especially if she or he had some supporting documentation and seemed knowledgeable about the [second] sorority or fraternity. But I would think that the members of the sorority or fraternity at the second school would take the precaution of testing the individual for secret motto, grip, and other secret material that enables members of a sorority or fraternity to identify other members and expose imitators/impostors/fraudsters ... every sorority or fraternity has such signs and other additional secret identifying material. If the new sorority or fraternity was suspicious or duly diligent, it would check with the chapter at which the individual purported to have been initiated and/or with its (inter)national HQ. So I suppose an individual could get away with this sort of deception, but the second chapter would have to be very careless/inattentive to enable it to succeed.

It is, however, quite another matter for an individual to have been an initiated member of a sorority or fraternity at one school, transfer to a second school, and then join a second sorority or fraternity from the ground up ... by rushing, being bid, accepting the bid, pledging, and subsequently being initiated, all without ever mentioning membership in another fraternity at a previous school. There is no way that the members of the second sorority or fraternity could know that the individual had already been initiated into another fraternity at a different school if she or he simply kept her or his mouth shut about it. There is no central registry of all initiates of all sororities or fraternities against which sorority or fraternity HQs check or cross-reference the pledge or the initiate lists submitted to them by their respective chapters. I personally know two different people who have done this. In one instance, the sorority or fraternity into which the individual had been initiated did not exist at the school to which the individual transferred, and the individual was not interested in attempting to start a colony/chapter of that sorority or fraternity at the second school. So she or he simply rushed at the new school, and joined a different group. In the other instance, the individual was dissatisfied with the sorority or fraternity that she or he had been initiated into, and, upon transferring, likewise had no interest in attempting to bring that sorority or fraternity to the second school. So she or he likewise simply entered into the greek system at that school at the base level by rushing, and subsequently pledging and being initiated into a another sorority or fraternity. It was no problem in either instance; the individuals simply had to pay two sets of pledge and initiation fees, and be completely mum about their respective initial memberships. I would not be surprised if this has happened numerous times.