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Kristin AGD
10-03-2003, 02:37 PM
**I thought this was a great letter to the editor. Reading this I really thought this was great PR for all the Cornell groups. I think the writer sounds thoughtful, and I like the way she emphasized that there is a place for everyone in the system.

Article paints an inaccurate picture of fall recruitment, could damage Greeks' reputation

To the Editor:

I am concerned with several misrepresentations and factual inaccuracies found in the article "Cornell Panhellenic Association Sponsors Fall Recruitment" (News, Oct. 2, 2003). For example, fall recruitment is not limited to women who did not join last spring. In truth, all non-freshmen, unaffiliated women may participate in fall recruitment. Freshmen women can first participate this coming January, during Formal Membership Recruitment (FMR). All women are encouraged to register for FMR and can do so by visiting the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs website.

Furthermore, the reasons that chapters participate in fall recruitment are varied. The statement that only chapters not making quota the previous spring participated in fall recruitment is completely unfounded. Eight chapters participated in fall recruitment, and six of these chapters received quota the past spring.

Additionally, the statement that only a few members of each chapter participate in voting is completely false; in reality, each chapter has a different method of selecting members.

Most importantly, I'd like to dispel the statement that "not all those who visited houses received bids, which were emailed this week." First of all, bids were not emailed. Secondly, recruitment events are still occurring and bids are still being distributed. There are enough open spots in our system that nearly all interested women can find membership. I encourage women who have not yet received bids to continue visiting participating chapters and to keep open minds.

Finally, misrepresentation of information in published sources further harms a community that is constantly plagued by stereotypes and undeserved reputations. During the 2002-2003 school year alone, Cornell Greeks contributed over 22,000 hours of service to the community and raised over $176,000 for philanthropic endeavors. There is a place for every interested Cornellian in the Greek system at Cornell, and I encourage all men and women to seek membership opportunities.


-- Meghan Dubyak '04
President, Cornell Panhellenic Association

Link to the Cornell Daily Sun (http://cornelldailysun.com/articles/9377/)

oceanphi01
10-03-2003, 04:13 PM
That is an amazing letter. :-)

Tom Earp
10-03-2003, 06:08 PM
Holy S**T,

Fanf**King- Tastic!

Some one is showing a little Hutspah!

Some of these Moronic semi-want to be editoralist write things just as The Tabiloids do, just give what they think the public wants!:(

If I had Email address, I would give Her KUDDOS many times over!:cool:

aopirose
10-03-2003, 06:55 PM
Meghan's letter is great.

Here is the article that prompted her to write. http://cornelldailysun.com/articles/9333/

Cornell Panhel Association Sponsors Fall Recruitment

By LOGAN BROMER

Cornell's Panhellenic Association kicked off Fall Recruitment this past Sunday after lifting the moratorium on all recruitment issued last Spring. Recruiting ended last Spring after many houses exceeded their quota.

While schools around the country, such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, hold Formal Recruitment exclusively in the fall, forcing students to decide on what chapter, if any, they wish to join while picking out their fall schedule, Cornell has always taken a different route. The fall recruitment process at Cornell is limited to students who did not participate during the previous spring.

For this reason, Fall Rush is notoriously less formal than Spring Rush. Certainly, many fall rushes appreciated this more informal, less prolonged approach. "I'm completely in awe of someone who was able to last the full week of rush, but it was a fun weekend," said Anthea Dexter-Cooper '06, who participated in the recruitment.

Many of those perusing houses were sophomore students who either transferred to Cornell from other schools or did not want to rush in the Spring. They signed up and visited houses this past weekend. There was a lot of diversity in those who did choose to rush, at least among female participants. "Actually, not all of the people were transfers. A lot of us realized that we were interested in rushing after [the bigger recruitment in the Spring]. Some people were rushing again after not getting bids at houses they had thought they wanted," said Dexter-Cooper.

Fraternities on the other hand did not hold any sort of formal or centralized recruitment. Houses invited those who were interested in getting bids to their houses, much like what is done in the spring.

Though Fall Recruitment is not usually considered the primary enrollment in the Greek system, the number of participants this year was encouraging.

"Usually, 40-50 women sign up for fall recruitment with Panhellenic. This year, 108 women went through the Fall Recruitment process," said President of the Panhellenic Association Meghan Dubyak '05.

Dubyak attributed the increase in participation to a number of new policies the Panhellenic Association has instituted in the planning of Fall Recruitment. These policies focus on more coordination between those houses participating.

"These initiatives included a moratorium of Continuous Open Bidding for the first three weeks of fall classes for all chapters making quota last spring, and the restructuring of our Fall Recruitment process to ensure that all prospective members visit all chapters participating in fall recruitment," said Dubyak. "We institutued a new stucture and attempted to centralize the process with a visitation week, more Panhellenic involvement and coordinated schedules."

Increased participation might also have had to do with the planned events, which included ice cream and pizza. "We had two events," said Amanda Stein '06, a member of Alpha Chi Omega, one of the participating houses. "The first day we just had pizza and talked to the people who came, and the second one we had ice cream. It was fun."

Dubyak said that to get a more complete view of Cornell's Greek Life opportunities, "over the course of the weekend, these women will have visited all participating chapters."

Only those houses that did not accept the maximum number of pledges last spring participated in Fall Rush. Consequently, most houses that had filled quota were reluctant to participate because of the time and money Fall Recruitment can require. This year the Sororities that took part were Alpha Phi, Pi Epsilon Phi, Delta Phi Epsilon, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Omicron Pi and Kappa Delta. Many of these houses seek fall pledges to satisfy the standards of their national organizations. It allowed the sororities to increase funding for activities and event as well as boost membership.

This status was the source of some of the complaints about the process. "There were so many girls and so few spots, some houses could only take a small number of girls and others had a lot of room, so some houses put more effort than others and got more into it," said Dexter-Cooper.

Another sore spot came from the small voting body used to decide who does and does not receive bids to the houses visited. After what Dubyak and Panhel termed Visitation Weekend, many participants were given bids to houses, though others were left disappointed. "You had to look at every house so we ended up spending about 40 minutes at the each. You didn't get to meet everyone, though, so it was important that you meet the right people. Not everyone in the house voted, it was usually 15 or so people, so if you didn't meet them they might not be able to discuss you," said Dexter-Cooper. Consequently, not all those who visited houses received bids, which were emailed this week.

Aphigal
10-03-2003, 07:47 PM
Go Meghan! Before she was Panhellenic President she was the Alpha Phi chapter president.

I have known since she was a freshman she is terrific.

Munchkin03
10-04-2003, 09:05 AM
I lived with an Alpha Phi from Cornell! From what she told me, the house has done very well in the past years, after either recolonizing or being a new chapter. Go Alpha Phi! :)

33girl
10-05-2003, 05:39 PM
Obviously the newspaper writer doesn't understand the difference between "quota" and "total." If he had done a little research I doubt if anyone would have objected to the article.

AOcutiePi2002
10-05-2003, 11:56 PM
Hey all,

I think Meghan handled it very well. She is such a sweet girl :)

Yay for Cornell greeks!

~Lacey

shadokat
10-06-2003, 12:26 PM
So how did recruitment actually go at Cornell then? i think that girl's letter is fabulous and she should be commended by the Greek community for her articulate nature.