Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Mu - Arkansas
 

I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread for the colonizations at Arkansas ( a la the Delta Gamma at Bama thread for this year). More information is beginning to be publicized.

Such as: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

I was reading that Alpha Chi Omega will only participate in the first day of Arkansas recruitment and then have their own recruitment later. How does that work? If a girl decides she likes them would she drop out of regular recruitment? I would think that's risky and most girls would stay in to have the best chance of getting a bid from all of them instead of only trying for one.

That is ordinarily how it happens. Pnms will decide at some point during formal recruitment if they will formally withdraw from recruitment and pursue the colonizing sororities or they will go thru to the end, but not sign a bid card and will then remain eligible for recruitment with Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Mu at Arkansas. The pnms will be well instructed(probably several times) on how the process will work.

Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Mu schedule for colonization:

Aug 12-13 Phi Mu and Alpha Chi participate in Open House, both then withdraw from recruitment
Aug 14-19 All other houses complete formal recruitment and bid process
Aug 19 Marketing begins
Aug 22 Joint Info Sessions, 2 one hour parties
Aug 28 Alpha Chi Events, 2 one hour parties
Aug 29 Phi Mu Events, 2 one hour parties
Sept 4 Phi Mu Events, 2 one hour parties
Sept 5 Alpha Chi Events, 2 one hour parties
Sept 7 PNM Decision Day
Sept 9 Bid Day

Important: PNMs are not required to go to all of the parties, they are required to have an interview.

Here are some articles about the colonizations:

http://www.uatrav.com/2012/new-soror...-ua-officials/

http://www.uatrav.com/2012/a-team-pr...ew-sororities/

And, an article about Beta Theta Pi and Kappa Alpha Order colonizations:

http://newswire.uark.edu/article.aspx?id=18340

Sounds like a fair schedule to me except that while all the other chapters are celebrating and introducing their new members to the GLO community the AXO and PM PNMs will still be in the processes. Hopefully the colonizing organizers will have some exchanges planned for Bid week (we call it NM week when we have NM orientation, mixers etc to get them excited about GL).

I am sure that the powers that be in Alpha Chi Omega and Phi Mu have everything well under control.

Since dates for the interviews are not listed, do the the interviews happen after the parties?

Also, could a PNM - in theory - receive a bid from both colonies or will there be some sort of bid matching process similar to formal recruitment?

I would imagine that the interviews are held during the day, and perhaps the three days prior to the colonization info sessions.

I don't have any idea how the bid process would work with two simultaneous colonizations.

Would it be fair for a pnm to attend recruitment events for both colonies, or is that considered bad form (like sorority shopping)?

Well, they SHOULD be "sorority shopping" - it's actually more like a formal recruitment. Since they have two choices, they should make sure they go with the one they fit into the best.

Since there is a PNM "decision" day listed I would assume that this is some sort of ranking that they would do to determine which bid they might receive.

Here is some information to answer the questions:

The interviews will be held from Aug. 27 to Sept. 6. The parties and interview dates are not related, they are concurrent activities.

September 7 is PNM decision date, they will rank their personal choices. The sororities will construct their bid list and bid matching will take place with bids being issued on September 9th.

Will Alpha Chi and Phi Mu count in establishing quota? If not, I don't see how there would be many PNMs left to choose from.

No, they typically do not include the colony groups in quota. I am sure that with the numbers they have at Arkansas and the knowledge that alternatives exist, more PNMs will be highly selective and the existing chapters will also probably be more selective. Also, the women who drop out and the women (particularly upperclass women) who did not go thru at all will be available. If memory serves me correctly, Alabama had more women going thru the Alpha Phi and Delta Gamma colonizations than the number who did not complete formal recruitment.