What It Means to Pledge PIKE
You’ve Rushed PIKE. Now What?
You’ve Rushed PIKE. Now What?
Rush is about meeting the brothers, learning what Pi Kappa Alpha stands for, and deciding whether PIKE might be the right fraternity for you.
Pledging is the next step.
When you accept an invitation to join Pi Kappa Alpha, you become a new member and begin the process of learning what it actually means to be a Pike. It is your introduction to the fraternity, its history, values, traditions, expectations, and brotherhood, and your opportunity to begin becoming part of it yourself.
But pledging PIKE isn't supposed to be about proving how much punishment you can take, performing meaningless tasks, or being treated as less than everyone else.
It is about learning, participating, building relationships, accepting responsibility, and earning the trust and respect that come from being a contributing member of the brotherhood.
At Sacramento State, it means something else, too.
You aren't simply joining a chapter. You have an opportunity to help rebuild one.
What Is Pledging?
“Pledging” is the traditional fraternity term for the period between accepting a bid and becoming an initiated brother.
Pi Kappa Alpha today refers to this process as New Member Orientation.
During this period, you begin learning about PIKE and preparing for active membership. You'll learn about the fraternity's history, values and traditions; get to know the men beside you; become involved with the chapter; and begin understanding the responsibilities that come with wearing the letters ΠΚΑ.
Think of it less like an entrance exam and more like onboarding into a brotherhood you could belong to for the rest of your life.
You're not expected to arrive knowing how to run a fraternity.
That's part of what you're there to learn.
What Does It Take?
Show Up
One of the simplest expectations is also one of the most important.
Be there.
Attend new member meetings. Participate in chapter activities. Help with events. Get involved on campus. Spend time getting to know your pledge brothers, active members and alumni.
College gets busy. Classes, work, family, relationships and other responsibilities all compete for your time.
Being a Pike doesn't mean those things stop being important.
It means learning how to manage your time and honor the commitments you make.
Put Academics First
You came to Sacramento State to earn a degree.
PIKE should help you succeed in that goal, not get in the way of it.
Pi Kappa Alpha identifies Scholarship as one of the characteristics it seeks and develops in its members. Being a Pike means taking your education seriously, developing good habits, helping brothers who are struggling, and surrounding yourself with people who expect you to succeed.
Being a Scholar doesn't mean you need a perfect GPA.
It means making academics a priority and continually working to improve.
Learn the Fraternity
Before becoming an initiated Pike, you should understand the organization you're joining.
That includes learning about Pi Kappa Alpha's history, its founders, values, traditions and organization, as well as the history of the Theta Tau Chapter at Sacramento State.
Why does that matter?
Because when you put on PIKE letters, you're representing something much larger than yourself.
Pi Kappa Alpha was founded in 1868. Theta Tau's history at Sacramento State reaches back decades. Generations of men wore the same letters before you, and future generations may wear them after you.
Understanding that history gives those letters meaning.
Get to Know Your Brothers
You can memorize every date in PIKE history and still miss the most important part of fraternity:
the people.
Your new member class goes through this experience together. You'll spend time learning about one another, working together, solving problems, attending events and building friendships.
You'll also get to know initiated brothers and alumni from generations of Theta Tau.
Some of those relationships may last far beyond Sacramento State.
PIKE describes friendship as one of its core values because fraternity isn't supposed to end at graduation. The goal is to create genuine relationships built through shared experiences, trust and mutual respect.
Scholars. Leaders. Athletes. Gentlemen.
Pi Kappa Alpha commonly describes the qualities it seeks to develop through four characteristics:
Scholars. Leaders. Athletes. Gentlemen.
They aren't four boxes you have to check before you can become a Pike.
They're areas in which you should continually challenge yourself to grow.
Scholars
Take your education seriously. Develop discipline. Be curious. Help the people around you succeed.
Leaders
Don't wait for someone else to solve every problem. Take responsibility. Volunteer. Organize. Communicate. Learn how to lead, and how to follow when someone else is leading.
Athletes
You don't have to be a varsity athlete. It's about competition, teamwork, discipline and the drive to improve. That might happen through intramurals, recreational sports, fitness or simply bringing a competitive spirit to what you do.
Gentlemen
Treat people with dignity and respect. Have integrity. Keep your word. Take responsibility when you make a mistake. Represent yourself, your family, your university and your fraternity well.
Nobody enters PIKE as a finished product.
The point is growth.
You Will Be Expected to Contribute
A fraternity doesn't run itself.
Someone organizes recruitment.
Someone plans philanthropy and community service.
Someone manages finances.
Someone schedules social events.
Someone runs meetings.
Someone communicates with alumni.
Someone manages technology.
Someone organizes athletics.
Someone keeps records.
Someone takes photographs.
Someone designs graphics.
Someone helps a brother who's having a difficult semester.
Eventually, those “someones” become you.
As a new member, you'll begin learning how the chapter operates and discover where your own skills and interests can contribute.
You may also discover abilities you didn't know you had.
That's part of the experience.
What Pledging PIKE Should Never Be
There is an important line that should never be blurred:
Pledging is education, not hazing.
Pi Kappa Alpha's position is straightforward: True Pikes don't haze.
Hazing is prohibited by Pi Kappa Alpha. A new member has the right to refuse to participate in hazing without putting his membership at risk.
You shouldn't have to endure humiliation, physical abuse, dangerous activities or degrading treatment to prove that you deserve friendship.
Brotherhood built through fear isn't much of a brotherhood.
There will be expectations. There will be responsibilities. There may be long days, difficult projects, disagreements and moments when your pledge class has to figure something out together.
Those experiences can challenge you.
But challenge and hazing are not the same thing.
The goal should always be development.
Your Pledge Class
One of the most memorable parts of becoming a Pike can be your pledge class.
These are the men who start the journey alongside you.
You'll learn together, work together, make mistakes together and eventually, if you successfully complete the process, become initiated brothers together.
Years from now, the details of a meeting or event may fade.
You'll probably still remember the guys who were standing beside you.
At Theta Tau, pledge classes are also part of our chapter's history. We preserve those classes because they tell the story of PIKE at Sacramento State one generation at a time.
Your class could become another chapter in that story.
At Sac State, You Have an Unusual Opportunity
Most students who join a fraternity enter an organization where everything has already been built.
The traditions already exist.
The leadership structure is established.
The events are already on the calendar.
Someone else decided how things work.
Theta Tau is different.
Pi Kappa Alpha has a long history at Sacramento State, but today we're working toward rebuilding that undergraduate brotherhood.
That creates an opportunity very few fraternity members ever receive.
You can help decide what the next era of Theta Tau looks like.
What traditions should return?
What new traditions should begin?
What kind of reputation should PIKE have at Sacramento State?
What philanthropies should the chapter support?
What events should become annual traditions?
What kind of brotherhood do you want to build?
What do you want people at Sac State to think when they see the letters ΠΚΑ?
Instead of inheriting all of those answers, you can help create them.
Build Something That Outlasts You
There is something special about joining an established organization.
There is something entirely different about helping build one.
Imagine returning to Sacramento State ten or twenty years from now and meeting a group of undergraduate Pikes.
They won't know every detail about the work it took to rebuild Theta Tau.
They may take for granted the traditions you helped start.
They may attend an event you helped create, hold an office you helped define, or learn a chapter tradition that began with your pledge class.
And that's the point.
You helped build something that continued after you left.
For the right person, that's an opportunity worth taking seriously.
What Happens After Initiation?
Initiation isn't graduation from PIKE.
It's the beginning of being a Pike.
Pi Kappa Alpha's membership-development philosophy continues throughout a member's undergraduate experience through leadership education, chapter involvement and the True PIKE Experience.
After initiation, the expectations become greater because the chapter becomes partly your responsibility.
You'll have opportunities to chair committees, organize events, recruit the next generation, hold elected office, mentor younger members and eventually become one of the people teaching new members what you once had to learn.
And someday you'll graduate.
That's when you'll discover something important:
You graduate from Sacramento State. You don't graduate from Pi Kappa Alpha.
The friendships, alumni network and connection to Theta Tau can continue for the rest of your life.
Is Pledging PIKE Right for You?
We're not looking for perfect people.
We're looking for men willing to become better ones.
You should consider pledging PIKE if you want to:
- Build genuine friendships instead of simply joining another campus organization.
- Become more involved at Sacramento State.
- Develop leadership skills through actual experience.
- Challenge yourself academically, socially and personally.
- Compete, participate and contribute.
- Serve your campus and community.
- Build relationships with alumni who span generations and careers.
- Take responsibility instead of waiting for someone else to do the work.
- Help rebuild something meaningful at Sacramento State.
- Leave Theta Tau stronger than you found it.
You don't need to already be the best student, strongest leader, greatest athlete or most polished gentleman in the room.
You need to be willing to work toward becoming better.
From Prospect to Brother
It starts with a conversation.
You meet some Pikes.
You come to a rush event.
You ask questions.
We get to know you.
You get to know us.
If there's a mutual fit, you may receive an invitation to join.
Accepting that invitation makes you a new member.
Then the real experience begins.
Learn the fraternity.
Learn about your brothers.
Get involved.
Contribute.
Grow.
Earn the responsibility that comes with membership.
And, when the time comes, stand beside your pledge brothers and become an initiated member of Pi Kappa Alpha.
Not because you survived pledging.
Because you're ready to be a Pike.
Once a Pike, Always a Pike.
Interested in becoming part of the next chapter of Theta Tau?
Come meet us. Ask questions. Learn about what we're building at Sacramento State.
Then decide for yourself whether you want to help build it.