"No Frills" Recruitment - Need advice

[astralis]

For as long as I know of, our campus has had a very eventful recruitment - three nights of water party, skit party, and pref party, each of which had themes, coordinated dress, decorations, and other planned revelry. We've heard about the campuses that have 'no frills' recruitment where girls are basically put in a blank room and educated that way, and we've always been very grateful that we're allowed to do such fun things to entertain our new girls.

Well.. all things must come to an end, right?
Our campus has a new Greek Life Coordinator this year, and he is completely wrecking into our system. Now if we want shirts (be it for fun, for fraternity mixers, for sorority mixers, anything) we must get them approved by (we assume) him. Our fraternities on campus have some rather funny double entendres on their shirts. Sororities don't, but apparently we need to get them approved anyway, just in case.
And now he's introducing a no-frills rush system. We aren't entirely sure the specific changes made, but we know we can't have themes, we can't have unique shirts (must be plain with just our letters) and we aren't allowed to perform a skit anymore.

I'd like opinions, please, from people who have done the no-frills deal before, and people who went through rush in such a system. If anyone has been on a campus that switched over, those opinions would be especially appreciated. Everyone here is quite distraught over the whole situation. I know there are pros and cons for both sides, but right now we're just disappointed.
Thanks.

[33girl]

I'm assuming he's approving the fraternities' shirts as well? Obviously, he is including the sororities as to not practice gender discrimination. He is 100% right in what he's doing.

Contrary to what you've heard, no frills recruitments are not in a "blank room" - you are allowed to have sorority memorabilia and some decoration, and it is often held in the sorority houses. It simply means not spending $10,000.00 to cover the walls of the room with gold fabric or favors such as mini Limoges boxes or nonsense like that.

NPC first recommended all campuses go "no frills" in around 1994. Unfortunately, the resolution had no teeth in it and so here we are 12 years later with campuses that still practice a very frilly rush.

[adpiucf]

It is honestly going to make your lives so much easier to go from frills to no frills. You will spend a lot less time preparing stupid skits and decorating your chapter house, and more time enjoying your membership. No more staying up until 2 AM to practice a dance that is supposed to represent "sisterhood and diversity." More time bonding as a chapter. More time on summer vacation as opposed to coming back to school early for "work week." Less with the cookie cutter matchy-matchy clothes and more opportunities to dress uniformly yet distinctly within your own budget. An end to t-shirts that bash other GLOs or make the Greek system look like a bunch of morons and a return to classier times and friendly sportsmanship without losing your competitive edge.

By moving to no-frills you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Embrace the change, enjoy the money and time saved. I went through recruitments on both side of frills and no frills. No frills was such a happier experience for everyone involved from sisters to PNMs. And I actually got to eat, sleep and enjoy recruitment. Imagine that.

[UGAalum94]

It may not be as bad as you think. The idea, if I have it right, is that "no frills" recruitment allow more time to focus on sisterhood, the ideals of the group, and getting to know the girls. I think it's also supposed to make recruitment less expensive for the chapters. In theory it makes sense, you aren't investing in decorations as much, the time that used to be spent performing the skit can now be spent talking to PNMs, etc.

I'm not sure how it actually works out: I don't think preventing bulk ordering of clothing makes girls spend less on what they wear during rush. I suspect the focus just shifts to something else that you are still allowed to do, and things don't change that much.

Wait and see and try to give the guy a chance. My guess is that someone was really offended by the fraternity shirts, and he was probably directed to get them under control. 33girl is right that it would have probably been weird for him to have too many different policies for the girls than the guys.

Edit: ADPIUCF has had direct experience with the change, and she says it's good. I'm probably too cynical about changes in general.

[adpiucf]

You can still decorate your house and make it look nice. That isn't going away. You're just not tasked with having to turn your formal living room into a desert oasis. Maybe instead you'll have a beautifully painted scene on a banner covering one wall, some balloons and potted plants. Instead of buying red polo shirts in bulk, each sister is tasked to buy her own-- they can be from Ralph Lauren or Target so long as they are clean and neat and fit her properly. There are some new rules to observe, but they're definitely going to benefit you and everyone else.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by adpiucf

It is honestly going to make your lives so much easier to go from frills to no frills. You will spend a lot less time preparing stupid skits and decorating your chapter house, and more time enjoying your membership. No more staying up until 2 AM to practice a dance that is supposed to represent "sisterhood and diversity." More time bonding as a chapter. More time on summer vacation as opposed to coming back to school early for "work week." Less with the cookie cutter matchy-matchy clothes and more opportunities to dress uniformly yet distinctly within your own budget. An end to t-shirts that bash other GLOs or make the Greek system look like a bunch of morons and a return to classier times and friendly sportsmanship without losing your competitive edge.

By moving to no-frills you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Embrace the change, enjoy the money and time saved. I went through recruitments on both side of frills and no frills. No frills was such a happier experience for everyone involved from sisters to PNMs. And I actually got to eat, sleep and enjoy recruitment. Imagine that.

I totally agree!!!

[KSUViolet06]

There are different degrees of 'no frills'. I have never heard of a recruitment that is 100% no frills with NO OUTFITS, SKITS, or SONGS at all.

My school is 'no frills'. As part of this, we do not have skits. We also do not have door songs at all.

We are allowed to have any type of decorations we want, but our decoration budgets have a cap set by Panhellenic.

We also still have House Tours and Preference party at the chapter houses. Our first 2 parties are held in our student center.

The most complicated part of 'no frills' is with clothing. You can have similar clothing, but not identical. For example, you can all wear black tank tops, but they CANNOT be ORDERED/BOUGHT from the SAME STORE because then they would be identical.

We are allowed ONE item of identical clothing for the entire recruitment. Some chapters have lettered shirts ordered as their one bulk item. One chapter bulk ordered XYZ flip flops for Round One.

We are also allowed to sing songs during Preference party.

So as you can see, it is not what you think it is. It is just small little complicated rules, but 'no frills' is not entirely 'blank'.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

The most complicated part of 'no frills' is with clothing. You can have similar clothing, but not identical. For example, you can all wear black tank tops, but they CANNOT be ORDERED/BOUGHT from the SAME STORE because then they would be identical.

I'm not second guessing you, KSUviolet; I'm just thinking through frills vs. no frills.

Wouldn't really be less "frilly" to bulk order everything? It would probably end up costing each sister less than each buying her own things, and if the point to quit spending time and money on unimportant stuff, then having uniforms for each day really cuts down on that: everyone is dressed appropriately; it could be casual and cute, and you can show individual flair with accessories and styling.

If you look through the "what did your group wear for rush" thread, the schools who do the most dress alike or identical dress are also the ones who probably end up with the least expensive outfits.

[tunatartare]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

If you look through the "what did your group wear for rush" thread, the schools who do the most dress alike or identical dress are also the ones who probably end up with the least expensive outfits.

I have to disagree here. For sororities where every single girl has the same exact outfit, the sorority usually pays for all or part of the outfit, which costs the sorority more money. It's a lot more money to say "we're ordering everyone Seven For All Mankind jeans and a black Lacoste long sleeve polo," than it is to say "everyone wear nice jeans and a black polo for round 1."

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KLPDaisy

I have to disagree here. For sororities where every single girl has the same exact outfit, the sorority usually pays for all or part of the outfit, which costs the sorority more money. It's a lot more money to say "we're ordering everyone Seven For All Mankind jeans and a black Lacoste long sleeve polo," than it is to say "everyone wear nice jeans and a black polo for round 1."

Oh, this is surprising: I would have though each girl would just pay for hers, like the way we did T-shirts in the olden days*, and I was also sort of assuming that if you went bulk, you wouldn't go designer, for the polos, at least. (I wouldn't think bulk ordering of jeans would ever work: too many fit problems.)

*Everyone has an account with the group, and expenses that the group voted on would come out of it.

[33girl]

Another thing is, if you say "wear a red polo and khaki skirt" a lot of people probably already own those items. It's silly to make people order things they already own just to be "uniform."

[PeppyGPhiB]

My university has had no-frills recruitment since the year we transformed from locals to NPC. The year I rushed (the first year of NPC) there were, however, skits on one day. After that year, decorations were more limited, philanthropy day was added in place of the skits, and everything else pretty much stayed the same. The second round party remained a slide show/video day.

As others have said, outfits were not supposed to be "costume-y" or identical. However, you can still coordinate or pick a general color scheme. For example, instead of buying the same GAP red pocket tshirt, members pick their own red tshirt from whichever store/brand they want. The idea behind no-frills rush is to give the PNMs a look at the REAL chapter, which is why they don't want everyone dressing the same. You don't normally dress identically, do you?

Although we were able to have rush themes for the week or each day, decorations at my school were heavily regulated. I think this had more to do with money, since some chapters had more to spend than others. For each day they usually gave us a budget and perameters we needed to follow (ie only two walls decorated, only 200 balloons, etc.). The only day that we could go hog-wild on was preference. There were no rules on decorating for that day, and chapters really went all out. Our rush was held in classrooms (we didn't have houses), but you couldn't tell...we'd cover the walls in black fabric, tablecloth/slip cover all the tables and chairs, and cover the ceiling in balloons with curled, sparkly ribbon hanging down. Flowers were all over. Amazingly, they even let us use candles on the tables. So, you might still be able to decorate!!!

Regarding drink/food, the only stuff we had was water, plus food provided by panhellenic at a snack break between a couple parties in the first round. Since some chapters were worried PNMs would judge chapters on the type of water they offered, panhellenic designated a brand.

We still sang enter and exit songs at the door, so i hope you can. The PNMs love them (though they're startled at first if they're not expecting it), and they sometimes are very helpful when it comes to keeping each sorority straight.

One more regulation we had was regarding alumnae or actives from other collegiate chapters on the rush floor. This may not apply at your campus (and I suspect many), but some chapters on our campus would sometimes enlist the help of collegiates from neighboring chapters if they were afraid there might be more PNMs than actives. It helped them avoid double-rushing, and sometimes gave the PNM a big-picture view of the sorority. Alumnae were sometimes used to communicate with Rho Chis, get more water if needed, or other tasks that might be needed during a party. If a chapter wanted either these collegiates or alumnae on the floor, they were limited to a number set by panhellenic.

Honestly, when I went through rush, I hated watching the skits at each sorority. I thought they were cheesy, and told me nothing about what it was like to actually be a member of that sorority on a daily basis. I would've rather spent the time meeting more members so that I could make decisions on whether I fit in there. No-frills formal rush is really not intended to "entertain" women so much as it is to help them make an informed decision on membership. Instead of focusing on cute dances/lip syncs, they focus on conversation with members. Most of the women on my campus liked the no-frills way - although the rules can be a bit tedious - and couldn't imagine doing it with frills.

Before recruitment is planned, maybe think about meeting with the greek advisor to discuss the really important things you'd like to keep. Try to keep in mind, though, that the no-frills way of recruitment is actually the way NPC wants things done now...the greek advisor is just following the trend.

[UGAalum94]

I think part of what throws me off is that rush at my school was so dressed up, relative to clothes being described, (and I think it still is.)

I'm sure letting people wear clothes they already have saves money, but I think it was the norm at my school to buy some new stuff. We got dressed up for football games too, so I think you sort of shopped for things you could wear for both, which may sound insane, I realize.

I think I have matching clothing equals less expensive clothing incorrectly stuck in my head because of the shift in type of clothes too.

It sounds like from what PeppyGPhiB writes, there's still lots for a chapter to do for a "no frills" rush. Did the Rho Chis count balloons?

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

I'm sure letting people wear clothes they already have saves money, but I think it was the norm at my school to buy some new stuff. We got dressed up for football games too, so I think you sort of shopped for things you could wear for both, which may sound insane, I realize.

I think I have matching clothing equals less expensive clothing incorrectly stuck in my head because of the shift in type of clothes too.

It sounds like from what PeppyGPhiB writes, there's still lots for a chapter to do for a "no frills" rush. Did the Rho Chis count balloons?

Usually we already had most of the stuff we were told to wear for rush. Jeans/denim skirt, khakis (it was the 90s!), black skirt, black slacks, different colors of shirts, black dress, black heels, etc. The key was picking wardrobe staples instead of creative or unique items. As you said, we could be creative with accessories if wanted.

Re: counting balloons...you know how I said things could get tedious? Yep, panhellenic exec. went into the rooms prior to the first party and counted balloons, checked outfits and other decorations. It was actually really fast and easy to do.

[UGAalum94]

I'm glad it went well and that your overall impression is positive.

It does seem like everyone would have the clothes that you described, and that you would look cute as a group.

I was just afraid that rather than being low maintenance, "no frills" was just a different kind of high maintenance. I'm glad to hear that it doesn't work out that way.