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  #46  
Old 06-20-2020, 08:12 AM
TriDeltaSallie TriDeltaSallie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenAnchor View Post
Wow. That’s a jump. I’m shocked at how many people here are convinced this singular choice will be the downfall of all NPC groups. Have a little faith. Legacies still exist, even in DG, it’s not like that bond is being completely erased.
Watch the video I linked to and then tell me the same thing.

I was explaining this development to my husband and said that one of the big problems is that not only did DG change their legacy policy, they blew it up. Without input from members or voting. Apparently without warning. And announced it on social media to the general membership (read: a lot of the soon-to-be alienated middle).

On top of that, they directly tied the change to the most divisive developments in our culture at the current moment - identity politics, intersectionality, and critical race theory.

While colleges are already experiencing trouble with enrollment.

And I guarantee you that it will only be a matter of time before NPC organizations call out for every bit of "white ideals and perspectives" (read: Christian references and language) to be eliminated from the rituals. If that happens, the Tri Delta ritual won't even be my ritual. To re-write it would basically require an entire new ritual. Which brings me back to the question of what do we have in common if not our rituals? Colors and a mascot?

Someone sent me a PM and said they couldn't watch the video I shared because it was a word salad. If you don't understand the concepts they are using, then you won't understand what is happening in our culture and now our NPC groups.

If you think I'm wrong, go watch the interview Joe Rogan did this week with Bret Weinstein, formerly of Evergreen College. He told everyone this was coming because this is what happens once you start down this path. It takes on a life of its own that you cannot control.
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Last edited by TriDeltaSallie; 06-20-2020 at 08:14 AM. Reason: missing word
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  #47  
Old 06-20-2020, 09:42 AM
TXDG TXDG is offline
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@DGalumna, I’m glad you came here and shared your thoughts on this change. I’m sorry some of the other posters were incredibly condescending and dismissive towards you just because you view this change as a positive and they do not.

I said to another alumna this week it’s very interesting to me that generally alumna mid-40’s and younger are supportive of this change - and they are the ones with legacies who will be impacted by it.
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  #48  
Old 06-20-2020, 10:14 AM
shirley1929 shirley1929 is offline
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Disclaimer - not a DG, but a member of another NPC that I'm sure is watching and paying attention.

So, I totally get eliminating the courtesy invitation to an invitational round - I'm sure there are schools where there are SO many DG legacies, that there are great girls that are having to be cut because there aren't enough party invites for that first invitational round.

What I don't get is taking a legacy all the way to pref (where they WILL be on your bid list, so you want them...if you didn't you would have cut them before pref) and then not protecting them from getting a bid if they want it. I'm sure chapters will do this internally anyway (at least I'm guessing they will) but it just seems like poking a hornets nest to NOT protect them at that point. Can someone explain why that's a good idea to string a legacy along...?

Also, I agree with whoever said that DG should eliminate the mandatory RIF/REC requirement for membership. That seems to be the biggest barrier - SO many people who's families didn't do this before them have NO understanding of the process (even as many of us try to help them). It just seems like that's a bigger barrier to membership.

I should also add, I really liked what DGAlumna said - made me think about it in a different way.

Last edited by shirley1929; 06-20-2020 at 10:28 AM. Reason: Added last sentence.
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  #49  
Old 06-20-2020, 10:19 AM
UVASquirrel UVASquirrel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DGalumna View Post
I made an account just to comment on this.

I am a relatively young alumna (late 20s). I come from a mid-sized chapter (~150) at a well regarded private school. I have been active in my city’s alumnae group and have done some work with undergraduate chapters nearby. That is to say, I'm not someone who just left after my college years and have been an involved member of our sisterhood in a number of capacities.

I support this decision. There are a variety of barriers to entry for women to join a sorority. Some of them are wider NPC problems like the rising cost of dues and other costs associated with sorority membership. DG cannot do anything about that. What they can do is remove a policy that at the end of the day is mainly benefitting upper-class (white) women whose mothers and grandmothers had the opportunity to attend college and the ability to join a sorority. We can argue about what that privilege means and who has or doesn’t have privilege (which is what a lot of the comments on Facebook have devolved to) but that doesn’t change the fact that the legacy policy can and likely has prevented wonderful women from joining our sisterhood that we absolutely could have benefited from. If PNM A is a 4.0 student who also runs track and is an engineering major with a glowing personality and PNM B has fine grades but minimal involvement on campus and a personality that clashes with the sisterhood BUT is a legacy, don't we want to give our collegians the opportunity to choose A as often as befits their membership selection? And legacies do not suddenly disappear. A woman whose mother, grandmother, or sister is a DG is still considered a legacy. What changes is the requirements to look at them differently than any other woman who wants to join our sisterhood. She will still be welcomed as someone with a special connection to DG and her legacy relative is still welcome at initiation and any other events that they may host. The celebration just formally starts on bid day rather than before.

To be frank, the comments that have turned truly nasty on the Facebook thread in particular have come from older alumnae demanding respect that they are not giving in return. The majority of the women for the change (again, mostly younger alumnae) have kindly, politely, and gently tried to explain where the policy change has come from and how exactly it relates to privileges they may not have realized. Instead they have been met with condescension, coded language and in some cases overt transphobia that had no place in the conversation. This is not an ageist thing and there are still many older alumnae who have actively engaged in debate in a way that is productive and polite. But the majority of women coming out swinging, accusing DG of pandering and belittling their own sisters, are those who have not been in college for a long time and are not as close to the current members and DG chapters. They have spoken down to their sisters, denied their experiences, and have in effect formed cliques that have ganged up on other women and used "laughing" reactions to some very serious posts. I believe someone quoted our Article II ("The objects of this Fraternity shall be to foster high ideals of friendship among women, to promote their educational and cultural interests, to create in them a true sense of social responsibility, and to develop in them the best qualities of character") to one of the woman and she replied " it’s ok, I’m a grown up that is not concerned with whatever article 2 is." These younger women coming out in force for the policy change may not have legacies of their own but they are the ones dealing with it day-to-day. They are the ones seeing its effects during recruitment (and in many cases being yelled at by women twice their age because her daughter is not a fit for DG at XYZ university the way she may have been 25 years ago at DG at ABC college) and beyond.

The reality is that our beloved Fraternity is going through changes that come with today’s world. What you deem as “wokeness” is not sudden and rather part of the last few years of Delta Gamma actively re-examining its history and contextualizing what it did wrong and how it now wants to do right. I would like to point you to the Winter 2019 Anchora cover article here which was a huge step in understanding our history and what that means for us moving forward. It's something many of the women who have been *chosen* for membership in Delta Gamma are passionate about and work for in line with our values. This is one piece in a long process and I doubt it ends here for us or for the rest of sorority life (DG noted in a comment that the NPC has requested that all members examine ways to become more inclusive organizations). I understand that change can be hard but many of the younger alumnae and collegians have been doing as much of the work as we can within the institution to push for more inclusivity within DG and we’re grateful to see it be taken seriously. This isn’t pandering or virtue signaling but instead shows a commitment by DG to work to bring new members from all walks of life into our sisterhood.

I’m young and I accept that. I am not a mother yet and don’t know if I will have a daughter (though I hope!). I’m sure that would color my feelings, but not enough to change my view. I will lovingly raise my imaginary future daughter with the values DG and I share. I hope that when the time comes to join a sorority she and DG are a perfect fit and she will receive an invitation to join based on her own merit and character. She will still be a legacy to Delta Gamma and if she joins I will probably cry when I pin her with our shared anchor badge. The only thing that changes is that she and I will both know DG chose her for her and not because twenty-something years ago it also chose me.
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  #50  
Old 06-20-2020, 10:22 AM
UVASquirrel UVASquirrel is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shirley1929 View Post
Disclaimer - not a DG, but a member of another NPC that I'm sure is watching and paying attention.

Also, I agree with whoever said that DG should eliminate the mandatory RIF/REC requirement for membership. That seems to be the biggest barrier - SO many people who's families didn't do this before them have NO understanding of the process (even as many of us try to help them). It just seems like that's a bigger barrier to membership.
I agree with this. I think that more than anything else, a lack of a recommendation (at the schools where it really matters) is probably the kiss of death. Eliminating the recommendation process would certainly level the playing field on those campuses and would also be a great first step for any NPC group that isn't willing to yet change their legacy policy.
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  #51  
Old 06-20-2020, 10:39 AM
carnation carnation is offline
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Here is how the rec system has helped many chapters--

Not by saying, "Miss Elizabeth Snootley has made her debut and will make you proud by marrying a fine and rich man right out of college." If a chapter is that kind of chapter, they know about that girl anyway.

It helps to introduce us to people who are not on the radar. Teachers, for instance, have alerted us to some fabulous PNMs who were, say, from small high schools or from out of state.

It also alerts us to people who could get our chapters in big trouble...girls who might make a racist video or go off and privately haze some pledges (that actually happens, no idea why). Or otherwise make us bad, usually with social media.

Actually, many NPC groups quietly dropped the rec requirement several years ago, and not due to anyone's "demands".
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  #52  
Old 06-20-2020, 10:44 AM
GoldenAnchor GoldenAnchor is offline
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Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie View Post
Without input from members or voting. Apparently without warning. And announced it on social media to the general membership (read: a lot of the soon-to-be alienated middle).

On top of that, they directly tied the change to the most divisive developments in our culture at the current moment - identity politics, intersectionality, and critical race theory.
To address this part - this is a direct result of calls to action on the collegiate level, multiple collegiate chapters made this request of EO. Input directly from the members being impacting by this policy and seeing it in action in their recruitment spaces.
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  #53  
Old 06-20-2020, 10:51 AM
GoldenAnchor GoldenAnchor is offline
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Originally Posted by UVASquirrel View Post
I agree with this. I think that more than anything else, a lack of a recommendation (at the schools where it really matters) is probably the kiss of death. Eliminating the recommendation process would certainly level the playing field on those campuses and would also be a great first step for any NPC group that isn't willing to yet change their legacy policy.
I think many Delta Gamma’s agree with you on this one, and this change does not mean they won’t be pushing for changes with regards to recommendation letters. The difference here (and reason that one was changed first) is that the legacy policy is just a policy and Council can change policies relatively easily as is their right as our elected representatives. The recommendation letter issue is not based in a policy and must be approached differently and will take much longer to accomplish.

To elaborate on that directly from a comment EO made:

“Hi, in response to your question:

There has been discussion at Delta Gamma regarding our current Constitutional requirement to receive a Recommendation Form for a Delta Gamma prior to pledging as it relates to removing barriers for membership.

Unlike polices, Constitutional changes must be made by the Convention body and follow a series of steps in order for any recommendation changes to be discussed and voted upon. While the deadline has passed to propose Constitutional changes for next week’s Convention, Delta Gamma will continue to follow NPC guidance on finding ways to reduce the barriers for membership.”

Last edited by GoldenAnchor; 06-20-2020 at 10:59 AM. Reason: Adding
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  #54  
Old 06-20-2020, 11:19 AM
UVASquirrel UVASquirrel is offline
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Originally Posted by GoldenAnchor View Post

There has been discussion at Delta Gamma regarding our current Constitutional requirement to receive a Recommendation Form for a Delta Gamma prior to pledging as it relates to removing barriers for membership.

Unlike polices, Constitutional changes must be made by the Convention body and follow a series of steps in order for any recommendation changes to be discussed and voted upon. While the deadline has passed to propose Constitutional changes for next week’s Convention, Delta Gamma will continue to follow NPC guidance on finding ways to reduce the barriers for membership.”
Yeah..I get that as Alpha Gam is voting on 4 changes to ours right now, but luckily, I don't see anything in our Constitution regarding recommendations. It may be in our Membership Handbook, but that doesn't require a vote to amend. So, easier process I guess for us to just eliminate the requirement, assuming a requirement exists. I'm fairly certain that not all of our chapters require them. I could be wrong. But, I never had a recommendation. They weren't a "thing" at my campus back in the late 80's. If they were, I was totally unaware of it. Of course, I was a charter member of my chapter, so maybe they were required, but not if you were part of the charter class.
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  #55  
Old 06-20-2020, 11:45 AM
33girl 33girl is offline
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Originally Posted by GoldenAnchor View Post
To address this part - this is a direct result of calls to action on the collegiate level, multiple collegiate chapters made this request of EO. Input directly from the members being impacting by this policy and seeing it in action in their recruitment spaces.
I would think, though, that this would come up directly after recruitment, not NOW, when people have other things on their minds to put it mildly. If in October or November they would have opened a discussion saying, many chapters felt hamstrung by our legacy policy this past recruitment season, they had to cut great women and many of these women were POC, etc etc, it would have been much more well received. Instead, it gets tied to the George Floyd murder and subsequent recent events and really does come across as virtue signalling.
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  #56  
Old 06-20-2020, 11:50 AM
carnation carnation is offline
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Originally Posted by 33girl View Post
I would think, though, that this would come up directly after recruitment, not NOW, when people have other things on their minds to put it mildly. If in October or November they would have opened a discussion saying, many chapters felt hamstrung by our legacy policy this past recruitment season, they had to cut great women and many of these women were POC, etc etc, it would have been much more well received. Instead, it gets tied to the George Floyd murder and subsequent recent events and really does come across as virtue signalling.
This a million times over.
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  #57  
Old 06-20-2020, 11:57 AM
ASTalumna06 ASTalumna06 is offline
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Originally Posted by 33girl View Post
I would think, though, that this would come up directly after recruitment, not NOW, when people have other things on their minds to put it mildly. If in October or November they would have opened a discussion saying, many chapters felt hamstrung by our legacy policy this past recruitment season, they had to cut great women and many of these women were POC, etc etc, it would have been much more well received. Instead, it gets tied to the George Floyd murder and subsequent recent events and really does come across as virtue signalling.
But if their alumnae were paying attention, they'd know that it isn't tied to that. Go back and read the Winter 2019 Anchora posted by DGalumna. It seems apparent that this isn't a decision that emerged out of thin air.
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  #58  
Old 06-20-2020, 12:13 PM
GoldenAnchor GoldenAnchor is offline
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Originally Posted by ASTalumna06 View Post
But if their alumnae were paying attention, they'd know that it isn't tied to that. Go back and read the Winter 2019 Anchora posted by DGalumna. It seems apparent that this isn't a decision that emerged out of thin air.
This!

Legacies have been a discussion for a long time, this isn’t coming out of nowhere. Last year they made another change regarding legacies that largely went unnoticed. We used to be required to call the legacy connection (sister, mom, grandma, etc) when a chapter chose to release a legacy, intended as a courtesy. This was changed last year because the alumnae who had to make these calls were not being treated well and it resulted in some chapters feeling like they couldn’t release a legacy without extreme backlash.
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  #59  
Old 06-20-2020, 12:49 PM
TriDeltaSallie TriDeltaSallie is offline
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Originally Posted by ASTalumna06 View Post
But if their alumnae were paying attention, they'd know that it isn't tied to that. Go back and read the Winter 2019 Anchora posted by DGalumna. It seems apparent that this isn't a decision that emerged out of thin air.
I agree with this and it rather proves my bigger point.

I have no doubt that collegians and very young alumnae have only the best of intentions. There is no snark behind that. I mean it sincerely. They are looking at this from street level and see what they perceive as a real need in their immediate situation they want to address.

The alumnae who are upset are looking at this from a different perspective. It's like they are standing on the Empire State Building. They see the bigger picture because they have been a member longer. They also see how it may potentially impact them and their legacy. I would venture some are also upset because (from their perspective) it's One. More. Stupid. Thing. in their life that is in upheaval.

I'm trying to get people to look at this from 30,000 feet. To see the really big picture. The really big picture that is explained in detail in that video.

I agree that this has probably been in the works for some time in DG. They have already adopted a framework that includes critical race theory, intersectionality, and wokeness. Many of them may not even realize that is what they have bought into, but it's there in the language they use. Contextualization, "white ideals and perspectives" and so on.

So they may realize what they have bought into and the leadership is making the choice to fundamentally change DG in incremental steps. Their goal is to do away with everything that is not in line with these paradigms.

Or they may not realize the Pandora's box they have opened. I have no idea. I don't know them and I don't know DG enough in any way to have an opinion or any particular insight.

All I know is that those of us who have a ritual with "white ideals and perspectives" (read: significant Christian content and text) have real reason to be concerned. I'm telling you right now that our ritual will not survive a purging of "white ideals and perspectives" and any Tri Delta who is reading this knows exactly what I'm talking about.
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  #60  
Old 06-20-2020, 12:56 PM
carnation carnation is offline
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Ditto on ours. And I will be frank, I have seen most of the NPC rituals because I have a friend who's a ritual collector-- and gutting their rituals will leave little as well.
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