On Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, a 12-person fall 2011 pledge class was initiated as brothers into Lambda Alpha Epsilon (LAE), the criminal justice fraternity at Longwood University. Members of the fraternity are valued by the criminal justice department for academic achievements and service. Just like any other fraternity or sorority, LAE has approximately 50 active members and takes new members every semester. Pledges have to go through the process of a pledge period in order to earn letters and to become a brother.
The new member period of LAE lasts for six weeks and consists of learning knowledge about the criminal justice association, the criminal justice field in general and about the fraternity as a whole. In addition, just like other Greek organizations, new LAE members receive big brothers as additions in their "families."
According to senior LAE member Kaylin Minton, "[pledging LAE] is a time to get to know other brothers and learn how to be a positive advocate of the criminal justice system."
In addition, newly initiated member Madora Schrank added, "I'm a senior criminal justice major, and from pledging LAE, I've learned a lot of things about the criminal justice system that I had not known about before, and have made more friends within my major."
LAE is considered a fraternity, but is also more commonly known as The American Criminal Justice Association. Criminal Justice Professor and LAE Adviser and Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Dr. John Barbrey said, "[LAE] is an organization for criminal justice majors [and minors] to become exposed to the criminal justice field and all it has to offer. It is a great opportunity to seek out networking for possible future employment as well."
Barbrey said, "LAE is a nationally recognized organization with 16 active chapters here in Virginia." Longwood recognizes LAE as an academic fraternity representing the criminal justice major.
Minton said, "One of the points in our purpose of LAE is ‘to promote high standards of ethical conduct, professional training and higher education within the criminal justice field.'"
LAE does many activities inside and outside of the Farmville area. Minton explained, "LAE really helps transition students from school into the real world by helping them form bonds with criminal justice officials from the community, like the Farmville and Longwood police departments."
Barbrey said, "We regularly visit the Virginia State Police department in Appomattox, Va." Many of the academic fraternities on campus strive to get real life encounters with people that have jobs associated within their major/minor in order to gain experience.
Minton explained the members of LAE interact with the Longwood and Farmville police departments by doing various activities such as "going to the shooting range with them in order to learn proper techniques and gun safety." As far as activities on campus, Barbrey said, "We have had sponsored visits from the FBI before, and we have also assisted a CSIO-style 4-H camp for youth at a local state park."
Minton added, "Members of LAE helped the police departments this year during Oktoberfest by volunteering as security for some of the bands that performed."
Schrank said, "We also go on a D.C. field trip to the Spy and the Crime and Punishment museums." For bonding experiences, Schrank said, "We go to the ropes course to not only learn physical skills, but to also build bonds within our brotherhood."
According to Barbrey, "LAE is the largest club/organization within the criminal justice academic department with over 50 active members."
Understanding that LAE is indeed an academic fraternity, there are certain qualifications that each person must meet in order to be considered a possible member. Minton said, "[joining LAE] is open to anyone who has criminal justice listed as their major or minor and have at least a 2.4 cumulative GPA."
Something that other students outside of LAE probably do not know is that professors and faculty members of Longwood may become initiates into the fraternity as well. For example, Schrank said, "[Dr. Virginia Beard] is one of our advisers for LAE, but she also pledged and is currently my ‘twin' in LAE."
Minton said, "Last semester we initiated Officer [Garry] Hardy, who is a Longwood police officer, as an honorary member of LAE."
Forming bonds and networking plays a large part of being able to get a job after college, and for LAE members, this is a huge step in the right direction for preparing for future endeavors.
Shrank said, "LAE provides a vast networking opportunity for possible jobs within the major, and it also looks great on resumes, but in terms of being at school, [pledging] has helped me make bonds with people within my major, especially a few of my professors … I know more people in my classes [as well], so it's great to have people in class that are brothers."
