70's Recruitment at SPU.

ladybug12 · #1 06-12-2010, 11:46 PM

Since lurking on these boads for several years, I have decided to write my formal recruitment story. Anybody remember the mid 70s...bad polyester pants, hair with "wings", platform shoes. Not fashions's finest!

My parents were graduates of a local Baptist college with a great reputation, and were thrilled that I had been offered a full Presidential scholarship that covered tuition, board, books, etc for 4 years. One problem...I did not want to go to school there. It was in my hometown, had many more repressive rules for female students (males could pretty much go and do that they wanted). Remember, this was the 70's and many private secular schools had very strict rules for women.

When I informed my parents that I did not want to take advantage of this wonderful scholarship, they were very disappointed...and I was told that I would either get a full scholarship to another school or that I would indeed be attending said Baptist college. Luckily, a family friend had attended a small public university in my state, and he managed to have my information sent to this university. I was accepted, full presidential scholarship and all! So off to SPU I would go.

ladybug12 · #2 06-13-2010, 12:08 AM

The first time I visited SPU I fell in love with the campus! About 4,000 students, and a small but active Greek Community. I knew that I wanted to rush that fall! I had cousins and an aunt who were Greek, but they were considerably older than me and did not offer much advise. I met women in all 3 NPC groups during my first campus visit, and actually spent a weekend with several of them on different visits. They were all so nice! I even attended the spring formal with one group...they set me up with a very nice date (football player) and I had a ball. (Quite sure this would not be allowed these days but it was the norm at this school at the time).

ladybug12 · #3 06-13-2010, 12:31 AM

All three NPC groups are very strong nationally and prominant in my state. I'm going to name them for three of my favorite (southern) trees:

Dogwood
Magnolia
Crepe Myrtle

ellebud · #4 06-13-2010, 02:04 PM

I remember the 70s...I was there. My university didn't have "hours", but I missed that by a few years. The universities were very into "in loco parentis" in those days. And as for "wings" (a la Farrah Fawcett), very face framing and eye highlighting. ahem.........

ladybug12 · #5 06-19-2010, 02:56 PM

Rush begain the week before classes started, so the rushees, sorority members, and football team in summer practices were the only ones on campus.

I really wasn't nervous about rush. My roommate, whom I had met over the summer through some Crepe Myrtles, was wonderful! We had shopped for matching bedspreads and cute accessories for our dorm room. Roomie had graduated from a well-respected private school in the city, while I had attended a public school in a nearby suburb. She had several close friends who were Crepe Myrtles and pretty much knew she would pledge there. I figured that I would do the same thing as Roomie.

Although I was not a cheerleader or homecoming queen, I had been very involved in high school. Editor of the school paper, honor societies, varsity athletics, and band kept me very busy... and I had a large cross section of friends as a result. I had also graduated as valedictorian of my class.

ladybug12 · #6 06-19-2010, 06:01 PM

We moved into a dorm where all rushees were housed. SPU did not have sorority or fraternity houses, but all groups had nice chapter rooms in several dorms.

I suppose that there were rush counselors, but I do not recall being assigned to one person in particular nor do I recall sessions where we were advised what type of questions to ask, etc.

There were 3 rounds...open house, skit, and pref. All attended open house round, could attend all 3 skits if invited, and could attend 2 pref parties if invited.

My memory of open house is that...pretty much nothing stood out. I was surprised with the singing and clapping, but enjoyed all 3 parties. I knew more Crepe Myrtles and Magnolias than Dogwoods, but recognized girls in each party that I had met during orientation and campus visits. All 3 groups had campus beauties, cheerleaders, and members in honorary/leadership societies.

honeychile · #7 06-20-2010, 12:41 AM

I can't wait to hear more! Talk about wings -we had a sister who won a Farrah Fawcett look-a-like contest!

TPA85 · #8 06-22-2010, 02:12 AM

Anxiously awaiting the rest of the story!!

dreamseeker · #9 06-22-2010, 02:31 AM

this is actually pretty cool.

ladybug12 · #10 06-22-2010, 02:37 PM

Sorry this story is dragging on so long...tried to post twice last night at a different computer and lost it both times. Now on with the story...

In the Old Days, rushees received invitations for the next round of parties and selected which ones they wanted to attend (hopefully maximizing their options). So, I was excited to be invited to all 3 skit parties and accepted all invitations. Roomie did the same.

This round of parties was held off campus in activity centers (we called them fellowship halls back then) of local churches, and alumnae of each group drove us from campus to the party and then back to campus afterwards.

Party 1 was Dogwood. It had a movie theme. The costumes and skit were pretty good, but in that large room it was obvious that currently Dogwood was the smallest sorority on campus. They worked hard at selling their close sisterhood, and the conversations were great. I left liking Dogwood.

Party 2 was Magnolia. It had a 50's theme...and this was before the movie Grease came out, so I thought it was wierd seeing alot of girls with their hair slicked back like the guys wore it back then. The girls in the poodle skirts were cute, though. The skit was not very good. The chapter members tried to act like they loved the skit and were having a great time, but they could not quite pull it off. To make things worse, I recall having to sit on a child-sized chair. I am 5'9" tall, and felt like the Jolly Green Giant. If I had not felt so awkward, I might have been able to relax and enjoy the party more. I knew several Magnolias and they were so much fun...but I left this party underwhelmed with Magnolia.

Party 3 was Crepe Myrtle. It had a circus theme. The room was decorated impressively and all the costumes were so adorable. I had the best time! I enjoyed talking to 3 different Crepe Myrtles. They were girls that I had not really met before, but since I had gotten to talk to the Crepe Myrtles that I knew that previous round it was OK. Just before the party ended, my third girl asked if I had any questions. I said "no"...and then said "I really, really want to be a Crepe Myrtle." She hugged me and grabbed a nearby Crepe Myrtle and told her "she wants Crepe Myrtle" to which I replied, "yes, I really do." Hugs all around. I left the party feeling confident that I would be a Crepe Myrtle on Bid Day.

groovypq · #11 06-22-2010, 02:57 PM

uh oh... I smell trouble. :-)

ladybug12 · #12 06-22-2010, 05:00 PM

The next day after lunch we received our invites to Pref. I opened my envelope and found two cards. I looked at them...Dogwood and Magnolia. I looked back in the envelope...no more cards. My heart sank. I looked at Roomie, who of course had all 3 cards in her envelope. I told her that Crepe Myrtle had not invited me back for Pref. She looked astonished and said "there has to be a mistake. Let's go to Greek Life to straighten this out." So she marched me into the office and asked the person in charge of rush to check over the invitation lists because she was sure that a human error had occurred (everything, inclucing bid matching, was done by hand in those days). The lady checked and said no, there had not been a mistake.

I turned in my acceptance to Dogwood and Magnolia. Roomie chose Crepe Myrtle and Magnolia. We went back to our room. I broke into tears as soon as the door was shut. Roomie was furious. She said "I don't know what those girls are thinking. The Crepe Myrtles love you." I continued to cry and even thought about dropping out of recruitment. Roomie suggested that I call my mother. OK, remember that phones were rotary dial, and this was in the middle part of the day on a week day. Call home collect in the middle of the day? The charges would be astronomical!

But that is what I did. My mother accepted the charges and probably thought that I had been in a terrible accident or something...the way I was sobbing on the phone. No, I told her...a terrible thing has happened. The Crepe Myrtles did not invite me back for pref. Not being Greek, and not really understanding why I wanted to be in a sorority, she really didn't understand why I was so upset. But she also realized that I felt rejected. She said "Honey, you don't always get what you want in life, and sometimes that is a good thing. But, come home if you really want to. I don't see you as a quitter. And, didn't you like all 3 groups?"

She may not have said those exact words, but the message got through to me. I told her that I guessed that I would stay and go to my 2 pref parties. Before she hung up, she asked me if I had gotten her letter. (My sweet Mama would faithfully write me a newsey letter each and every day whenever I was away from home at camp, so apparently she thought rush was like camp and was writing me every day). I told her that I hadn't checked my mail but would do so right away.

So, I go back to my room, wash my face, and walk over to the student union building where the mail boxes were located and found mine. Sure enough, there was a letter inside. I dialed my combination and took out the letter...and then realized that I was cornered by 2 Crepe Myrtles that I knew fairly well. My face flushed red, but one of them immediately said that they were so sorry about what happened. There had been a big fight in selection session, because they knew that they would be 2 below chapter total after they made quota and decided that they would cut 2 sure things and then pick them up as COB after rush. And they decided that an in-house legacy and I were the 2 sure things and we were among those cut. They didn't think that this was the right way to do this, but they guranteed that I would get one of those bids after rush. Not wanting to get caught dirty rushing, they turned and hurried out of the post office area.

I don't know what was most upsetting to me...being cut or finding out the reason I was cut was that I had told them that I wanted to be a Crepe Myrtle. And all of the "chapter total and COB" talk was totally foreign to me and I did not know what it meant. So, rather than turn the Crepe Myrtles in for dirty rushing and getting my questions answered, I went back to my dorm and told Roomie what had happened.

Drolefille · #13 06-22-2010, 05:24 PM

The plot thickens!

dreamseeker · #14 06-22-2010, 05:26 PM

wow. I can't fully grasp the implications as i'm not in NPC...but wtf.

Drolefille · #15 06-22-2010, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamseeker

wow. I can't fully grasp the implications as i'm not in NPC...but wtf.

Teenager has dreams crushed, then is essentially promised a bid after recruitment which is all kinds of wrong. She now faces two options, go through pref and accept a bid from one of the other two or drop out/finish without accepting a bid and count on the promise from Crepe Myrtle.

You may very well have gotten that without me, but writing it helped me be sure I was understanding it right