Dear Ms Abbi McFarlane, 
 
My name is Brittne' Thomas. I was in the Alpha Delta initiate class in the Gamma Gamma Chapter of Phi Sigma Pi at Georgia Southern University. My mother, Tamela Brown, has already spoken to Ms. Anika Jackson (Director of Member Services), but I felt like I should e-mail you myself to discuss my feelings about my dismissal from the membership intake process. I feel that my dismissal was very unfair and somewhat subjective. Alicia Wilkins, the Initiate Advisory, is the person who told me that I was dismissed. She said the reasons for my dismissal was that I was rude and I was inconsiderate of people's time because I used the phrase, "I'm available at...", instead of "My schedule is..." when I was asking for interviews from the brothers. She says that another reason was because I was “nonchalant” about the whole process. I don't understand how I was being nonchalant when I showed up to every meeting as required, paid my dues on time, and participated in all the fundraiser and community service projects as required with my class. I put in an excessive amount of time in the last four weeks with this process.  Also, my mother is not thrilled about possibly losing her money either. These are some examples of how my dedication was demonstrated. I took off work to go to the community service project and I even left work to go interview one of the brothers knowing that I could be fired from my job, but I made a decision to go interview a brother to accommodate his schedule  solely without compromise.  

When at the meetings, Alicia would mention the interview books, but she never was specific about what was wrong with them and she never pulled me to the side to let me know what I was doing wrong, therefore, I assumed my interview book was written in the correct form. My Big was Whitney Causey, she was supposed to be my mentor through my process and supposed to help me and support me. She did mention that some of the brothers said that I was rude when I asked for interviews, but when I asked her why did they feel like that, she replied that she really didn't know but to be at ease because she too had been called rude  unjustly so by some of the brothers when she was in my shoes. She just told me to not be rude.  Honestly, I did not know that I was being rude about anything. I would say, "Hello [name]. My name is Brittne' Thomas. I was calling to see when you were available for an interview”…… and pretty much just go by the script.  

Alicia also told me that the Brothers voted me out, but as I have been asking the brothers and my fellow initiates, I found out that all of the brothers were not there to vote on me being eliminated out of the process. Some of the Brothers didn't even know that I was dismissed. I can honestly say that if there was something I did wrong, I did not know WHAT I did wrong. Every time they said I did something wrong, they never corrected me, or never told me exactly what I did wrong. Some of the Brothers would also twist up my words and tell my fellow initiates things to make it seem like I was saying something negative. It was like they were trying to divide and conquer us.  I felt like some of them were playing mind games.  If I was very nonchalant about this whole process, I would not take this much time and energy to even make a complaint. I feel like there was favoritism amongst my fellow initiates and the Brothers, meaning the Brothers favored some of the initiates more than the others.  
 

I have spent so much time and energy and money into this one organization. More than I have any organization I was ever involved in. It really did upset me that they dismissed me a week before everything was due and basically over. I tried to contact my Big that day of my dismissal and she never got back in contact with me, but when I did finally see her, her reaction was not very nice. She gave me a smile, more like a malicious smirk. And I don't think she would have spoken to me had I not said “hi “first. I really do feel like she voted against me, but I do not know for sure. I feel like she wasn't a good Big, either and she wasn't much of a mentor or guide for me. It's like she felt it was funny that I got eliminated out.  

Brittney Lemon, who was one of my fellow initiates, was also voted out by the Brothers, but her Big was not there to defend her at the voting, and she couldn't believe that they had eliminated her little from the process. Brittney Lemon got an entirely different reaction from her Big, than the kind of reaction I got from my Big. It would be a honor to be allowed to complete the membership intake process so that I can be initiated into Phi Sigma Pi. I feel like it is a wonderful organization to join and it does promote scholarship, leadership skills and fellowship. These are three of the most valuable assets during undergraduate years and beyond. I am definitely looking forward to continuing to working with the organization beyond my undergraduate years.  I’m heavily influenced by my mother because she has joined sororities and other organization as an undergrad and remain active within those organizations to this day.   

I do appreciate your time in looking into this matter.

 
Thank you, 
Brittne' Thomas

And she replied back:

Hi Brittne’,

Thank you for emailing. I appreciate you taking the time to inform me of your situation. I have been in contact with Cassandra, the President of the Gamma Gamma Chapter, about the situation, however, on a National level, we do not interfere with the membership decisions made by a Chapter. If you have concerns about the Initiation program (or suggestions for how to improve it), I strongly suggest that you send those to me and I can pass those along to the Chapter.

I am really happy to hear you are so enthusiastic about Phi Sigma Pi and its ideals. Rushing again next semester might be a great option for you. There are plenty of Brothers within our organization who rushed twice.

Concerning the money you paid, the Chapter does have a policy about refunds and you will be receiving a check for a partial refund soon. The Recruitment and Initiate Advisors will also be contacting you to further explain the release process and to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you again for contacting me.

Fraternally,

Abbi MacFarlane
Region Consultant