INTAKE ACTIVITIES AND HAZING
The Fraternal Order of Sophisticated Gentlemen Incorporated strictly prohibits Hazing in any form, whether physical or mental, as a term or condition of membership. Hazing is illegal and a crime in most jurisdictions. A candidate should participate only in the sanctioned membership process described herein to obtain membership. Furthermore, no brother or chapter of the organization may require any additional or different terms or conditions for membership for any candidate or group of candidates.
For your information: “Hazing….is any action taken or situation created, however, communicated, involving or resulting in abusive physical contact or mental harassment to a prospective member—whether on or off the organization premises, campus or place where chapters or prospects meet—designed to, or the result of which is to, produce excessive mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment or harassment. Such activities and situations include but are not limited to paddling in any form, creation of extreme fatigue, physical and psychological shocks, morally degrading or humiliating activities, late work sessions that interfere with educational activities, and any other activities that are not consistent with either fraternal law or the regulations and policies of the educational institution or federal, state or local law. Such violations are expressly forbidden. Members or chapters who cause these infractions are subject to disciplinary action.
GENERAL DEFINITION OF HAZING
“Any action taken or situation created, intentionally, whether on or off Organization premises, to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule. Such activities may include but are not limited to the following: use of alcohol; paddling in any form; creation of excessive fatigue; physical and psychological shocks; quests, treasure hunts, scavenger hunts, road trips, or any other such activities carried on outside or inside of the confines of the chapter house; wearing of public apparel which is conspicuous and not normally in good taste; engaging in public stunts and buffoonery; morally degrading or humiliating games and activities; and any other activities which are not consistent with fraternal law, ritual or policy or the regulations and policies of the educational institution.”
HAZING ACTIVITIES DEFINED AS (But not limited to):
Physical acts, such as hitting, striking, laying hands upon, or threatening to do bodily harm to any individual(s) while acting in one’s capacity as a member of the Society.
Behavior directed against any individual(s) to cause shame, abuse, insult, humiliation, intimidation, or morally degrading.
A variety of prohibited practices, including but not limited to “underground hazing,” “financial hazing,” “pre-pledging,” “post-pledging,” or “post-initiation pledging.”
Any other activities are inconsistent with scholarly law, ritual, policy, or regulations and policies of the institution of higher education, federal, state, and local laws.
PRIVACY STATEMENT AND CONSENT
Sophisticated Gentlemen Incorporated., knows how important privacy is to you, and we are committed to and looking forward to providing you with extraordinary service as a member of this organization. That commitment includes protecting the personal information you entrust to us by adhering to strict guidelines. Information we receive from you in this application, which may include your name, address, e-mail address, birth date, social security number, and phone number, is collected and stored in our secured membership management system so we can identify you as a member to establish, manage and protect your membership account; to complete transactions and to create and offer you products and services provided to members of the organization.
Furthermore, storing this information in our membership management system allows office administrators to contact you about your account when necessary and generally maintain your account, as well as prevent unauthorized access to or use of your account. Sophisticated Gentlemen Incorporated does not share your personal information with anyone outside the corporate headquarters office except in the limited situations described below. We will never sell or provide your personal information to third parties for their use. This policy is our standard for collecting, using, retaining, and securing nonpublic personal information. In limited situations, we may need to share your information with companies outside our organization to provide additional services. For example, corporate sponsors and partners may be used to help us communicate information about products, services, and special offers for members of Sophisticated Gentlemen Incorporated. We screen all potential outside business partners and sponsors very carefully. These providers only receive limited information about you as necessary to perform their functions. They are always required to maintain the confidentiality of the information, and we restrict their use to the purpose we authorize. They cannot pass the information on to others for their benefit. By submitting this application for membership into Sophisticated Gentlemen Incorporated, you consent to the collection, use, storage, and transfer of your data to our membership management system (membership database) for the purposes for which it is submitted and the policies outlined in this privacy statement.