...HELL NIGHT at a Girls Sorority...*Bwaaa Haaaa Haaaa"
I was invited to join the Women's Music Sorority at Conservatory, and did rise to be the PRESIDENT in my Junior year. The Office lasted until the second Semester of my Senior Year.
I ALMOST was voted to be President in my Soph year, so I could have been the second girl in the Sororities history to serve TWO terms as President...but I lost the election BY ONE VOTE!!! (And THAT vote was MINE!!! I voted for the other girl because I thought at that time in my life that it was improper to vote for myself...don't know how that concept entered my mind.
But I got OVER that habit after losing that election BY ONE VOTE, and always voted for myself as often as I could after that loss.)
Anyway, the Initiation period lasted for about a month. One of the things the pledges had to do was to wear their Pledge Pins at all times!!! Unless they were naked while taking a bath or shower, so I would wear the pin in my pajamas at night when I pledged. During the Xmas vacation, an Active unexpectedly arrived at my house early in the morning. My parents woke me up, and said there was a girl at the front door. I wandered down, in my pajamas, and the Sorority Active said that it was good that I was wearing my pin. I went back to bed after she left. The initiation ended with a Hell Night.
We would take over the Conservatory building after it closed at 10:00, and keep the pledges up all night doing various things to test their knowledge and commitment. Of course, we did everything we could to humiliate them and give them unfair tests. They would later be confronted with just how poorly they had performed musically...(They were given instruments to play that they didn't know. Me, a cellist/pianist, was handed an old violin that had no chinrest and was told to perform well on it.) The written tests had difficult questions on obscure musical topics and compositions, and nobody ever got above 12%-15% correct. They would also get verbally tested on their musical knowledge, and it was always unfairly difficult.
When I was President, we invited one girl to pledge who was a musical genius. She played the piano at the professional level, and knew almost all major classical works and the history of music and musicians and composers. During Hell Night, I was wandering around looking in at all that was going on, and making sure that things were moving well, and at times pulling the Actives back when a pledge was getting too upset. Crying was common, and we would back off a bit, and then get back to work when the girl calmed down. I walked into a room where the genius was being verbally questioned, and the Actives were concerned...because she kept KNOWING THE ANSWERS!!! I went out, and found an Active who was a brass player, and loved Jazz and Modern Music. I hauled her to the pledges room after I told her "Ask the pledge all about Jazz and such, she knows a lot about Classical Music and Composers." Sandi did a GREAT JOB...the poor girl kept stammering that she didn't know an answer to a question. I observed for a while, and sighed, theatrically, and said, "Oh, so you ONLY focus your studies on music that interests YOU. This is a Music Sorority, and we honor and study ALL music that is in Europe and America. You may not fit well with us, the Sorority eagerly seeks to educate all of us in ALL music", and walked out.
The highlight was the recital. We would turn on the stage lights, and the pledges would perform on the instruments we handed them, and try to sight read complex and confusing scores. We would catcall and jeer them.
During the recital when I was the President, a couple of the Actives got on the Stage to conduct and help the pledges...and...well...the Actives took it upon themselves to wear scanty clothing and do a burlesque strip dance while the pledges played. I was sitting in the Audience...embarrassed for them, and wondering who had come up with the idea. About halfway through, an Active nudged me, and said,,,"The Campus Cops are here." I looked over my shoulder...it was like 3:45 am...and the two night Cops were standing at the back of the Hall.
(The Conservatory Building was kept LOCKED after 10:00 pm)
I got up, and went to them, and showed them my Student ID, and explained that this was an Initiation Ceremony for the National Women's Musicians Sorority, and that I was the President, and that I had been given a key to the Building by the Dean, and that we would be leaving, soon. They listened...as they WATCHED the stage.. the Actives were topless...and then the Cops told me to keep it quiet, and make sure the Building was locked when we were done, and then they left.
I questioned the Actives later, and they just laughed. "Hey, we were distracting the pledges...and they were afraid that they would be told to undress, too. And, it was fun, getting almost naked on the stage." I chuckled and said, "The Campus Cops were ready to arrest you, and me...or throw you dollar bills. I took the bills and said I would give them to you, but I bought myself some ice cream." We cracked up.
