I've Got PEP, Yes I do!
I've Got PEP, How 'Bout You?
PEP is Alpha Kappa Psi's official pledge education program. This program has been tested and found to be tride and true. PEP, when implemented properly, will: increase a chapter's pledge retention rate, reduce member apathy and increase overall alumni development.
PEP takes the guess work out of pledge programming—you can spend more time working with your future and current brothers to deliver a positive student experience in Alpha Kappa Psi.
PEP includes the following: - Pledge Educators Guide - A comprehensive guide for pledge educators to use in order to deliver the program. It gives you tips, suggestions and helpful hints to present a powerful pledge program.
- Detailed lesson plans - This is a step-by-step guide to properly preparing pledges to be successful brothers.
- Electronic appendices - Practically everything you need to run PEP. Electronic forms, documents and presentations to help you present PEP lessons and learning objectives.
- An improved PEP Manual - This colorful manual will provide pledges with everything they need to know about Alpha Kappa Psi and pledging. It also includes never seen before historical photos and a more detailed historical section.
I want PEP for my chapter—how do I get it? Log-into the Web site and download the materials from this page.
To claify, PEP is the program your chapter follows to train pledges to be good brothers. The PEP Manual replaces the Pledge Manual. PEP includes lesson plans and teacher's notes, and the PEP Manual is the "text book." You do not need the PEP Manual to start implementing and preparing PEP.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do we have to use this program? This program was designed to ensure each pledge, regardless of home chapter, is receiving the fraternity’s minimum expectations during the pledge process. If your chapter covers all the minimum requirements and would like to present the pledge program in ways other than this program, then that is okay. Fraternity, university, state and federal regulations must be followed. If a chapter is caught not following the pledge program minimum standards, disciplinary action may result. If you have questions to if your program is okay or not, please contact the Director of Education.
Are there consequences for not following this program? This program is designed to help chapters, not punish them. However, if minimum requirements (see "Minimum Requirements"in the Pledge Educators Guide) are not followed, disciplinary action may result (per the Board of Directors Statement of Policy). The fraternity reserves the right to require strict adherence to this program after a vote of the board of directors or as a probationary term in result of a chapter investigation. Also, chapters not utilizing PEP will have 20,000 points deducted from its ACR.(See ACR minimum standards.)
How do we create chapter buy-in for using this program? You should evaluate this program and highlight key points that will specifically help your chapter grow and succeed. If you have problems with member apathy, this program will help as it does a good job of training pledges to be good brothers. If you have a low pledge retention rate, this program will help as it will provide structure for pledges and encourage their active participation.
By using this program, the guess work has been taken out for you. This allows the chapter to spend more time on providing better programming for brothers and moving more of the focus back on the brotherhood while still maintaining positive focus on the pledges.
How much does it cost our chapter to run this program? It shouldn’t cost much more than what you’re already spending. The pledge manuals are included in the cost of pledging which is why the fraternity collects pledge fees from each pledge. You may need to make photo copies of quizzes or other activities and local chapter information, but your chapter might already be doing this. If you use a chapter Web site for local chapter information you can continue to do so. No special materials are needed to run this program. How long do we follow this program? This program should be followed indefinitely. Your chapter should be building its pledge program and making minor adjustments from time to time. The pledge program should stay consistent and should not majorly change unless the fraternity makes changes or the university has new requirements. Our chapter has special activities and traditions, can we still do these? Yes. This program is not meant to wipe out your chapter traditions and activities, it is meant to supplement these. Your chapter-specific activities are fine as long as they do NOT violate fraternity risk management polices, university policies, state and federal laws. If you have questions on if your activities/traditions are okay please contact the Director of Education. How does this program tie into rituals? This program does not change or impact the conduct of the fraternity's rituals. If anything, it provides pledges with more understanding and appreciation of the rituals. All rituals should be run according to the instructions of The Rituals of Alpha Kappa Psi. Your chapter should be using ritual manuals from 1997 and later; any versions earlier than 1997 should be replaced immediately. Where do I get updates or make suggestions? This page will provide you with instructions on how to get the most up-to-date version of the program. This page will also instruct you on how to make suggestions for improvement. We’re on the quarter system, how do we adjust the program? See the question ”How do we adapt the program length to fit our chapter’s schedule?” How do we adapt the program length to fit our chapter’s schedule? See the section "Pledge Program Length" in the Pledge Educators Guide for instructions on how to adjust this program to fit your chapter’s pledge program length. Per the Constitution and Statutory Code, chapters cannot have pledge programs shorter than five weeks in length. How does pledge manual distribution work and how to we get more? The fraternity sent an initial stock of pledge manuals to each chapter at the start of fall 2007. A chapter then receives replenishment manuals every time after pledges are reported. Your chapter should always have an inventory of pledge manuals on hand; it works the same way as inventories for recognition pins. If your chapter should need more manuals they can be purchased at the Alpha Kappa Psi MarketPlace. We’re out of pledge pins, how do we get more? Pledge pins are NOT included in the pledge fees. Each chapter is required to have an inventory of pledge pins that are collected from pledges during initiation (or if they drop) and reused for the next pledge class. If you need to purchase pledge pins they can be purchased at the Alpha Kappa Psi MarketPlace. What do we do with pledge manuals from dropped pledges? Since each manual has a pledge agreement that is signed and removed from the book to be turned into the pledge educator for chapter records, pledge manuals are not easy to reuse. If the pledge manual has not been marked and is only missing the agreement the chapter can provide a separate agreement (use exact wording as seen in pledge manual) and reused. If the chapter does not want to do this or the pledge manual is marked, the manual can be discarded, kept for use by a pledge educator (for reference) or given to a brother that wants it.
What do we need to supply to run this program? See the section "Getting Started" in the Pledge Educators Guide for a list of the things the chapter needs to provide pledges in order to run this program.
If you've reviewed PEP and have questions, comments or suggestions please email the Director of Education. |
 Take a look at this online course to get a better understanding about what PEP can do for your chapter! |
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