PKT25: Black Books & the Curriculum of the Associate Member Education Program
So we had weekly associate member meetings. What actually happened in those meetings? It turns out that there's rather a lot of things involved in keeping the fraternity running successfully. We talked about a lot of them over the many weeks of the program. Some example topics:
- The constitution of our local chapter and the house rules. These were two separate documents, each of which was often amended by the chapter. These documents were often referenced during chapter meetings, so this was pretty relevant.
- We ran through the many, many offices of the fraternity. Most these were defined at a high level in the constitution, but it was much more useful to have the current office holders come to the meeting and talk about their role.
- We learned about the history of the chapter. Much of this was a slightly more formal introduction to the extensive oral history of the house.
- There were a great many pieces of house culture, like our song book. I no longer recall which we learned in the meetings and which we picked up along the way more informally.
- We also talked about upcoming events in the program so that we would have some context for what was happening when during them.
This doesn't sound like a lot, but it was more than enough to cover a semester's worth of (mostly) one hour meetings.
Beyond that, much of the pledge program was about meeting the active brothers. This was facilitated by the assignment of the Black Book. A Black Book was a small notebook that was handed out to each at the first meeting. Pledges were supposed to carry their Black Book with them, and were assigned to get "Firsts" and "Seconds" from all of the active brothers before the last pledge meeting of the program.
How did this work? You asked an active or an alumnus for their "First" and gave them the notebook. They'd write a series of questions in there. Practically speaking there was no limit to how long a "First" could be, but usually it was no more than a few pages. Basic questions might include:
BB: (Big Brother)
BBB: (Big Big Brother)
BBBB: (Big Big Big Brother), etc.
LB: (Little Brother)
LLB: (Little Little Brother), etc.
Pledge Class
Members of Pledge Class
Graduation Year
Major
Minor
In addition to these basics, there were usually some additional personalized questions. For example, when I gave out a First I often asked what varsity sport I had played freshman year. Later, I'd ask when my radio show was, or ask them to call into my radio show. Then there were fun questions like "How tall is the Phi Kappa Theta House?" (Answer: "One Phi Kappa Theta House tall.")
Once a First had been completed, the pledge would go find the answer to all the questions listed, or to complete any actions that were listed. Once done, they could go back to that brother and ask for their "Second", which they would earn by demonstrating they could answer the questions. Having done so, the brother would add their signature to the page to indicate it was completed.
When I pledged there were only 17 actives, so we were required to get all the Firsts and some high percentage of the Seconds. Later in my college career the house was much larger, and then the requirement was usually a high percentage of both. You were allowed to get firsts and seconds from alumni. Since most alumni weren't around very often it wasn't uncommon for them to give a really easy First followed immediately by a Second.
I don't recall if we were required to have our Black Books on us at all times, or if that was just highly recommended because you never knew when you might run into a brother whose First you didn't have yet. Pragmatically, I think I carried mine with me everywhere.
The only real catch to the Black Book was that if a pledge was unwise enough to let an active leave the room with their Black Book, that Black Book might disappear for a few days. It would usually be returned by the pledge's Big Brother, but it might have a lot more questions added to it at that point. If the pledge lost their black book or otherwise destroyed it (I seem to recall one of my contemporaries accidentally running it through the washing machine), they might have to start all over again. Another risk was that if a pledge was being a real pain in the ass an active could ask for their Black Book and add more items to their already assigned First, or even rip out the pages of a Second. I only saw that happen a few times though.
I still have my Black Book filed away, although it's a little bit worse for the wear after having spent a semester in my pocked and another 24 years in drawers, boxes and file cabinets as I moved from place to place.
So what exactly were Big Brothers and Little Brothers, let alone BBB, LLB and the like? We'll talk about that next time, and since your BB gave you your pledge pin, we'll discuss that as well.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata
The Pledge Program Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books
Pledge Classes Fall 1996
Events Detour
Other Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History
- The constitution of our local chapter and the house rules. These were two separate documents, each of which was often amended by the chapter. These documents were often referenced during chapter meetings, so this was pretty relevant.
- We ran through the many, many offices of the fraternity. Most these were defined at a high level in the constitution, but it was much more useful to have the current office holders come to the meeting and talk about their role.
- We learned about the history of the chapter. Much of this was a slightly more formal introduction to the extensive oral history of the house.
- There were a great many pieces of house culture, like our song book. I no longer recall which we learned in the meetings and which we picked up along the way more informally.
- We also talked about upcoming events in the program so that we would have some context for what was happening when during them.
This doesn't sound like a lot, but it was more than enough to cover a semester's worth of (mostly) one hour meetings.
Beyond that, much of the pledge program was about meeting the active brothers. This was facilitated by the assignment of the Black Book. A Black Book was a small notebook that was handed out to each at the first meeting. Pledges were supposed to carry their Black Book with them, and were assigned to get "Firsts" and "Seconds" from all of the active brothers before the last pledge meeting of the program.
How did this work? You asked an active or an alumnus for their "First" and gave them the notebook. They'd write a series of questions in there. Practically speaking there was no limit to how long a "First" could be, but usually it was no more than a few pages. Basic questions might include:
BB: (Big Brother)
BBB: (Big Big Brother)
BBBB: (Big Big Big Brother), etc.
LB: (Little Brother)
LLB: (Little Little Brother), etc.
Pledge Class
Members of Pledge Class
Graduation Year
Major
Minor
In addition to these basics, there were usually some additional personalized questions. For example, when I gave out a First I often asked what varsity sport I had played freshman year. Later, I'd ask when my radio show was, or ask them to call into my radio show. Then there were fun questions like "How tall is the Phi Kappa Theta House?" (Answer: "One Phi Kappa Theta House tall.")
Once a First had been completed, the pledge would go find the answer to all the questions listed, or to complete any actions that were listed. Once done, they could go back to that brother and ask for their "Second", which they would earn by demonstrating they could answer the questions. Having done so, the brother would add their signature to the page to indicate it was completed.
When I pledged there were only 17 actives, so we were required to get all the Firsts and some high percentage of the Seconds. Later in my college career the house was much larger, and then the requirement was usually a high percentage of both. You were allowed to get firsts and seconds from alumni. Since most alumni weren't around very often it wasn't uncommon for them to give a really easy First followed immediately by a Second.
I don't recall if we were required to have our Black Books on us at all times, or if that was just highly recommended because you never knew when you might run into a brother whose First you didn't have yet. Pragmatically, I think I carried mine with me everywhere.
The only real catch to the Black Book was that if a pledge was unwise enough to let an active leave the room with their Black Book, that Black Book might disappear for a few days. It would usually be returned by the pledge's Big Brother, but it might have a lot more questions added to it at that point. If the pledge lost their black book or otherwise destroyed it (I seem to recall one of my contemporaries accidentally running it through the washing machine), they might have to start all over again. Another risk was that if a pledge was being a real pain in the ass an active could ask for their Black Book and add more items to their already assigned First, or even rip out the pages of a Second. I only saw that happen a few times though.
I still have my Black Book filed away, although it's a little bit worse for the wear after having spent a semester in my pocked and another 24 years in drawers, boxes and file cabinets as I moved from place to place.
So what exactly were Big Brothers and Little Brothers, let alone BBB, LLB and the like? We'll talk about that next time, and since your BB gave you your pledge pin, we'll discuss that as well.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata
The Pledge Program Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books
Pledge Classes Fall 1996
Events Detour
Other Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History