One must be a Criminal Justice major or minor with a Criminal Justice GPA of 3.0 coupled with an overall GPA of 2.75. If one is a freshman or a transfer student, then the GPA requirement does not apply. The cost for the entire semester is $125 for pledges and thence $105 each following semester as a member; dues can be divided into installments that are to be paid on dates per the discretion of the LAE Treasurer. These dues are utilized to pay for national membership, socials, Pledge Retreat, and in/formal.
General business meetings for members will be held every Tuesday evening at 8:00pm; it is required that active members attend 75% of these meetings. During these meetings members will be informed of upcoming events/important dates, signing up for fundraising and community service projects, and discussing and conducting general business.
General business meetings for pledges will be held every Tuesday evening at 9:00pm; it is required that pledges attend 75% of these meetings. During these meetings pledges will be taking general information quizzes, signing up for fundraising and community service projects, and discussing general business. The first Tuesday of every month is a professional dress meeting where all will be required to dress in professional business attire.
Socials are held every Thursday afternoon at 6:00pm at varying venues. Some examples of social activities are capture the flag, ice cream socials, pool parties, football games, BBQs, etc. Both active members and pledges are required to attend 60% of these events.
As an active member or a pledge, it is required that seven (7) hours of community service be undergone throughout the long semester. LAE provides the opportunities to acquire these hours and sign-up sheets are available at each general business meeting. Examples of community service activities include Huntsville’s Fair on the Square and Highway clean-up. LAE has adopted a section of highway 30 whereupon one (1) of the required seven service (7) hours must be a highway clean-up.
As an active member or a pledge, it is required that seven (7) hours of fundraising be undergone throughout the long semester. LAE provides the opportunities to acquire these hours and sign-up sheets are available at each general business meeting. Fundraising most often involves selling criminal justice shirts at T-shirt table venues held in the College of Criminal Justice or the Lowman Student Center mall area.
As an active member or a pledge, it is required that five (5) hours of fraternal hours be undergone throughout the long semester. LAE provides the opportunities to acquire these hours and information concerning the date and time of these events will be announced at each general business meeting. Fraternal hours consist of involvement in the form of participating or spectating* at any LAE event under any committee head excluding the fundraising and community service heads. Most of said hours can be acquired by intramural game involvement, prison tours, physical fitness training, and gun range time.
There will be weekly quizzes for pledges throughout the semester. Pledges will be given a packet/booklet of information including the current LAE Chapter Bylaws and general LAE information. Each quiz will be in multiple choice and/or True/False format. The quizzes will be administered at each general business meeting. In the event that a pledge does not produce a satisfactory grade, s/he will be granted until the following general business meeting to retake the quiz. The questions from these quizzes will be used as preparation for Oral Boards; a pledging final, of sorts.
Throughout the semester pledges will be required to conduct thirty (30) interviews of LAE members. These interviews will be thirty (30) questions in length and are to be undergone in person.
Pledge Retreat is a required event that all pledges must attend. The event is a social oriented event designed for fraternal communion between members and pledges. Usually, the venue is that of a local camping site where the organization will stay for a single night.
During the semester a pledge will be paired up with a member who will become his/her “Big." The Bigs are to act as mentors and are to prompt pledge involvement within the organization. The Big/Little Social is the event where pledges are assigned to a Big of their choosing.
Oral Boards are the final mandate of the pledging process. Its purpose is to simulate the interviewing process of numerous law enforcement agencies. The Oral Boards contain questions from material presented throughout the pledging process and questions that graduated members have been asked during their job interview process; they are intended to help prepare members for life within the organization and life after graduation.