USC Lawsuit

[GreekOne]

Lawsuit filed at USC over restrictions on deferred recruitment. This will be interesting to watch.

http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/201...rush-to-court/

[carnation]

Good for those GLOs! The university should not be allowed to only apply their new policy to Greeks!

[Sen's Revenge]

I side with the school on this.

It's interesting which posts inspire "We're guests on campus" responses and which posts don't.

[33girl]

I also agree with the university.

The huge and obvious difference between a GLO and interhall council, or the Students for a Green Campus, or the science club, or literally any other college organization is that once you join a NPC or IFC GLO, you cannot join another one. The “membership is for life” trope rings a bit hollow when GLOs would rather rush to pledge people who might be unsuitable for that college, or college life in general, than giving them a semester to get used to their new world.

[AnchorAlumna]

People who are used to deferred rush/recruitment will tend to side with the university. People who are used to having rush/recruitment at the beginning won't.
I used to think that was a good idea. What it does is just stretch out the rush/recruitment period to the whole semester.
Personally, I feel it's better to get it all over with at the first of the year.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

People who are used to deferred rush/recruitment will tend to side with the university. People who are used to having rush/recruitment at the beginning won't.
I used to think that was a good idea. What it does is just stretch out the rush/recruitment period to the whole semester.
Personally, I feel it's better to get it all over with at the first of the year.

Don’t we always say that rush is 24/7/365? That all our chapters’ and members’ actions are a part of it, all the time, not just a week of rush?

As long as deferred recruitment isn’t being used incorrectly (for example, semester-long silence rules that defeat the entire purpose) I think it probably leads to fewer mistakes on both sides, when real people get a chance to get to know real people, instead of just glowing recs and sparkly recruitment videos.

[carnation]

Well, we've all been through this over and over for the last 18+ years but what I've seen with that is massive cheating--illegal recruitment parties, sleepovers, bid promising, and other things that defeated the good points totally.

I also feel like our personal viewpoints of deferred vs. non-deferred recruitment should not matter when the real issue is freedom of association. This is only affecting Greeks. Would more people yell if it affected all student organizations? Or if no one was allowed to pledge or join any student organization until senior year?

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I also agree with the university.

The huge and obvious difference between a GLO and interhall council, or the Students for a Green Campus, or the science club, or literally any other college organization is that once you join a NPC or IFC GLO, you cannot join another one. The “membership is for life” trope rings a bit hollow when GLOs would rather rush to pledge people who might be unsuitable for that college, or college life in general, than giving them a semester to get used to their new world.

Our organizations should be able to adjust their expectations of numeric return, in both the financial and membership senses, with the newly-deferred recruitment schedule being required for some campuses. The number of students joining, and the number of new chapters being opened, are already becoming fewer.

Our orgs often hold formal recruitment before school transpires. The rejection felt by some who do not succeed in joining is evident in stories shared here on greekchat.

I try to remember that the current teenage generation can and do suffer helicopter parents and multi-activity burnout. They often do not learn to drive. Their young hearts and minds are attached to the glowing phone in their hands.

While our type of greek organizations do support and educate their membership, I agree with 33girl that a suitable time frame be allowed before the fraternal recruitment of new college students.

[AZTheta]

Pretty certain this is a First Amendment issue. Although technically no, legally yes - that's my thinking.

Where's Kevin?

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

Pretty certain this is a First Amendment issue. Although technically no, legally yes - that's my thinking.

Where's Kevin?

Exactly what I was thinking: a potential First Amendment issue. But based on this situation in particular, I don't know that they have a steady legal leg to stand on.

Regardless, how we all feel about lifetime membership, grades, etc. is irrelevant. The question is whether or not the school is permitted to do this.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

Pretty certain this is a First Amendment issue. Although technically no, legally yes - that's my thinking.

Where's Kevin?

USC is a private university. I don't think this is a First Amendment issue because the Bill of Rights is a proscription on government activity. I don't think that's necessarily the end of the analysis and I'd love to read the complaint. The media organization obviously has a copy which they took a picture of... sideways... but didn't post a pdf to their site.

I can only guess that the complaint might state that USC hods themselves out as a bastion of free speech and there might even be aspects of the Student Code of Conduct which are relevant to a student's First Amendment rights. That might be more of a breach of contract situation... or at least there are a lot of right wing legal groups which have been talking about filing suit against a school on those grounds. I'm unaware as to whether anyone's prevailed on that sort of complaint. The case was filed in state court, so I can infer non-federal questions may be part of the content of the complaint, but there's no way of knowing because of the incomplete reporting.

[AZTheta]

Thanks, Kevin, for your speedy and reasoned response. I should have known better. I'm always telling others about what the Bill of Rights does and doesn't cover, and this is a big DUH on me. Shows that we all make mistakes.

Thanks also for pointing out the omissions in the news coverage. It would certainly be useful and helpful to read the complaint.

USC has deep pockets. They wouldn't take this action without believing they would prevail. That's my opinion here.

Going to be interesting to watch this play out, indeed.

[Kevin]

They have a legal department and a law school faculty. I imagine they consulted the right people.

[AGDee]

It's being watched carefully and the University of Michigan (very much a public school) is doing the same thing.

The big problem is with filling a house. For a lot of chapters at Michigan, this will mean all juniors and seniors will be required to live in because sophomores can't if they aren't members until second semester of freshman year. Leases are signed for Fall by October for most students. They won't know if they are Greek yet so they will have to get alternative housing and sign leases. Most seniors don't want to live in and Juniors aren't usually thrilled about it.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by AGDee

It's being watched carefully and the University of Michigan (very much a public school) is doing the same thing.

The big problem is with filling a house. For a lot of chapters at Michigan, this will mean all juniors and seniors will be required to live in because sophomores can't if they aren't members until second semester of freshman year. Leases are signed for Fall by October for most students. They won't know if they are Greek yet so they will have to get alternative housing and sign leases. Most seniors don't want to live in and Juniors aren't usually thrilled about it.

As far as Michigan goes, could the chapter houses be re-configured to hold fewer women with nicer amenities? Having only one roommate or being able to get a sleep in single might have made me actually enjoy living in the house. Do the houses there have cold dorms? I have seen chapter houses where the cold dorm was renovated into single or double rooms. The day rooms were converted to single or double sleep in rooms. I know with fewer women living in the lost revenue would have to be made up by splitting parlor fees among the sisters living off campus. But those living in might do so more willingly.