New Member Orientation season is once again underway, and even students who are not participating say it is impossible to ignore.

From coordinated outfits at Chapel to chants echoing through the campus, pledging traditions have become part of the daily rhythm of campus life. For students watching from the sidelines, the experience is equal parts confusing, entertaining and loud.

“I was in the library two days ago, and every 30 seconds, I would hear, like, 10 girls just screaming at the top of their lungs,” said Grant Hardie, junior computer science major from Denton. “And it’s kind of hard to focus when I hear that.” 

The chant, “I will respect Kojie Park,” is shouted by new members in Ko Jo Kai and is familiar to many. Hardie, however, is still unsure what the pledges are yelling and what it means.

“Who is Kojie Karp?” Hardie said. “I don’t even know what that means. I’ve never known what they’re saying there.” 

Elizabeth Peralta, freshman multimedia major from Fort Worth, said her first introduction to NMO came during her campus tour.

“My tour guide did point out, ‘Hey, this is rushing,’” Peralta said. “So we weren’t completely taken aback by everyone with the outfits.”

After a semester on campus, Peralta said she better understands what is happening.

“Now, I understand the whole process, like why they’re doing this,” she said. “I thought they were just doing it for fun. That’s a lot of commitment, but now I understand this is for initiation, I guess.”

From the outside, pledging might appear both exciting and intense. Hardie, who has watched three years of new member classes cycle through, described it as entertaining.

“Well, I haven’t pledged before, so I don’t know from the inside,” he said, “but I think it’s pretty amusing seeing everybody do their pledging activities.”

Some of those activities can be hard to miss.

“On my way here, I saw a guy holding a whole strap of chains, just walking around sounding like he was chained up,” Hardie said. “I looked over, and he’s just holding a whole Rambo-style chain.”

Peralta said she also sees the pressure that comes with the process.

“Everyone looks really nice with their outfits, and it’s fun to just have a group,” Peralta said. “But it’s definitely funny to see them all go through all the stuff, and then all the stress that comes from it.”

Part of that intensity, she said, is the secrecy. 

“They go through so much trouble, like apparently people steal the binders,” she said.

While both students said they understand why others choose to pledge, neither has decided to join. For Hardie, the decision came down to logistics.

“It’s just not good for me,” he said. “The reason I didn’t pledge the first year, mainly because I had no time. When I’m not doing school, I’m working. So I just didn’t have time to pledge or attend a lot of the events.”

As NMO comes to an end, students not involved say they are observing the traditions unfold around them. From late-night meetings to balloons, chains and the ongoing mystery of “Koji Karp,” pledging season has a way of pulling everyone into the spectacle, whether they signed up for it or not.