Basically every event in Greek life is mandatory, so with it comes a fining system. There are plenty of reasons to keep fines and also there are many arguments to eliminate them.
Far too many times, we are asked, "Well, how much is the fine?" And based on how steep it is, people make their decisions on if they should skip the event or not. When people are like, "Oh, I'm just not going to go," I really just don't understand. How do you have $100 just lying around? Think of all the Chipotle you could get with that. But people have no problem skipping events that only have a $25 fine. If you keep skipping events, they definitely add up though, and wouldn't you rather buy T-shirts?
The main culprits of skipping events are those whose parents pay their dues. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but they see it as "it's not their money," so they have no problem racking up fines. Personally, I pay for everything Greek related all by myself. Yeah, it's super sad having to learn responsibility for the real world (ugh, thanks Mom), but I guess it has made me more responsible and learn how to budget. But do your parents just not care you are not going to all of these events and do they even know what they are paying for? So jealous. Anyway.
Another reason fines hurt is that it loses motivation to be at events. Let's be real, no one likes being told what to do. Being told where and when we have to be places makes you not want to go and feel like you're being treated like a child. "Ugh, it's mandatory?" It's pretty sad when people only show up because they are forced to be there. We signed up for all of these events and should want to be there. Except chapter, obviously. No one wants to be there. Chapter could really be summed up in an email, but that's a whole other issue. But philanthropic events should not have fines, you should want to go and give back and volunteer. The fines belittle us and do not make us feel like adults making our own decisions, if we're being forced to go places.
On the other hand, fines kind of make sense. I totally understand that sometimes life gets in the way or you have three tests, four papers and quizzes and the last thing you want to do is go to a ritual event. Sometimes you miss events and that is fine (haha, unintentional pun). However, if you sign up to go to an event, such as volunteering or something that uses the chapter's money, and you do not show up, you should get fined. It is not fair to commit to something and then back out because you do not have a legitimate excuse. Not a ridiculous amount of money, but enough to show your lack of responsibility.
After serving on our executive council last year, I learned a lot about how fines help the chapter. When a bunch of people just decide not to go, the chapter collects a lot of money. This money can be allocated somewhere else in the budget where it is needed. I also see the point how it teaches responsibility. In the real world if you don't show up to your work, that's going to be really bad. So, yes, mandatory events with fines are good for teaching purposes. Also, many of us are lazy and don't want to go to certain chapter events and not a lot of people would show up if there wasn't a fine.
Maybe I'm just getting old and realizing how ridiculous some events are, but down with fines. Let's go to events because we want to avoid a fine. And we're all broke college students who would rather spend money on T-shirts and Chipotle.
