Purdue's Recruitment

[PurdueGirlie]

Well lockdown starts at 7 p.m. (meaning no sorority members are allowed to leave their houses to prevent dirty rushing). We have lots of work to do tonight and then everything starts tomorrow morning bright and early at 7 a.m.!

I'll post on Sunday or Monday and let you all know how things went. Have a great weekend

[PurdueGirlie]

Well it certainly was an interesting weekend. We had 8 parties on Saturday and everything went really well. The weather wasn't too bad, but my feet did get a little chilly while waiting on the front porch to pick up my girls. (We wore our Go Greek shirts, capris and flip-flops.) All of the houses had to wear our Go Greek shirts for both days of Open Houses. It's to keep us all looking "uniform" so no one has an unfair advantage over each other during the first round.

Some of our Gamma Chi's told us that girls were talking about how they really liked the song we sang and liked our philanthropy project, as well. I met a lot of wonderful women and had some great conversations. It was a very busy day, but a good day.

We were a little upset because one of our Gamma Chi's also told us about something that happened at Chi Omega. Apparently, they decided to alter their Go Greek t-shirts. They cut them into one-sleeved shirts, tank tops, midriff tops, cut the collars, cut some of the shirt and tied them around their arms, totally changed them. She said that they looked really good but that all of the Gamma Chi's were upset because that is a definite infraction. At 10:45 p.m., we received a call from Panhel saying that no one would be allowed to wear our Go Greek shirts the next day because Chi Omega cut all of their shirts and we did not have new shirts to give them. They felt that if everyone else wore the Go Greek shirts and Chi O's didn't, that it would make Chi O stand out even more than they did on Day 1. And they definitely couldn't wear the Go Greek shirts that they cut up. So Panhel said that everyone had to wear lettered shirts and jeans.

It was pretty chaotic because I was actually almost asleep. I was so tired and then my Little came into the room and was like "Did you hear the announcement?" I was like, "No, what?" and then she told me about how we had to change our outfits. People were upset because some of our girls didn't even have a set of "cute" letters that were clean. Everyone was rushing around to find cute shirts. I felt bad for our newest pledge class because a lot of them don't have tons of shirts yet. Their Bid Night shirts were zip-up sweatshirts so they couldn't wear those because our recruitment chair said no sweatshirts. We got it all worked out though. I wore a black baby doll tee that has EK on it in silver glitter. I think everyone still looked cute, but I liked it more when we were all wearing our Go Greek shirts. Needless to say, most of campus isn't too thrilled with Chi O right now.

There was also some "dirty rushing" going on. A fraternity on campus hung up a sign that said "Rush the house across the street" and IFC had informed all of the fraternities that no one would be having any parties this weekend or advertising for any houses whatsoever. So that house will definitely be going to Greek Judicial Board for a violation. There was also an incident on Thursday night . A sorority member was at the Neon Cactus, a very popular bar here. She apparently gave a shout-out to the girls going through recruitment and said "Rush Alpha Phi!" and started screaming. It aired over the radio here, and on the most popular station in town. Again, a lot of houses were upset by this one too.

So it's been kind of a rocky start so far. I hate to hear of houses starting off already with infractions. Hopefully things will be a lot smoother in January. I know my house is extremely excited with the quality of the women we met this weekend. Also, numbers are higher than they have been in 4 years!

[PurdueGirlie]

I'm surprised no one commented on any of this, especially the Go Greek shirts. Has anything similar to this happened at your schools?

[SoCalGirl]

We didn't have to wear Panhellenic t-shirts. I know it's bad, but I think it was genius! If the rules didn't say they couldn't do it that is.

[xo_kathy]

Well, I didn't want to post b/c of my affiliation - I didn't want it to seem like I was defending them just because they are my sisters. But SoCal said what I think, too. If the rules said "You must wear the Go Greek shirts which cannot be altered in any way" then they should face the consequences. If the rules didn't say that, then more power to them!

I remember when I was Rush chair we did the Go Greek shirts for Round 1. Same shirt, different colors for each house. Alpha Chi also wore red bandanas - on necks, wrists, hair etc. It totally made them stand out and was a great idea. Of course, we were all jealous, but what could we do?

Also, as far as everyone scrambling to get letter shirts together, every house was in the same boat as you - including the Chi Os. So even though I'm sure it ticked you off, I bet the PNMs didn't even notice. Seriously! No worries.

I also didn't post b/c I didn't want to seem nasty with this next comment, and I really don't want you to think I am, but...Isn't it a rush infraction to talk to your Gamma Chis? It was at my school so I thought that part of your post odd. But maybe it is ok at Purdue. I'm not trying to be mean, just asking! I swear!!!

Good luck with the rest of recruitment!

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by DGMarie
I went through a few of the websites and I won't names names, but one in particular made a whole bunch of claims that had me scratching my head. We just had our chapter website reviews and some of those things would not have flown under the radar.

I assume you mean the group that claims they are the only "true Sorority" and misspells their flower? If our Purdue chapter ever sees that sorority part, some heads are going to roll!

[aephi alum]

The Chi Omegas didn't break the letter of the law (assuming there was no rule that said the shirts couldn't be altered) - but they did break the spirit of the law.

The idea was that no one sorority would stand out because of what they were wearing, right? So that the PNMs would make their choices based on the sisters and the sisterhood, not how cool their t-shirts are. I'm sure the "alterations" stood out in at least some PNMs' minds - for better or for worse.

[33girl]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
I assume you mean the group that claims they are the only "true Sorority" and misspells their flower?

Not to mention misspelling one of their colors LOL.

[precious25]

yea... we were really really annoyed. The chi-o's know how panhel is, everyone here does, and they did it knowing without a doubt they'd get an infraction for it. one would think they'd be watching themselves a little more closely with an incident earlier this year i'm sure purduegirlie is familiar with. the point is every chapter had to scramble to get thier outfits together the second day, and come up with something that would unify them when not everyone has the same t-shirts. yes the chi-o's had to do it too, but it was thier fault!!

[Glitter650]

At my school we wear go greek shirts for our open house night and for tabling on the quad the week before recruitment and if one of the other chapters altered their shirts.. I'm sure we would be mad about it, I mean sure they didn't "break" the rule but they knew damn well what they were doing and sure as heck bent it as far as it would go in my opinion. AND can I just say......WOW all those pretty houses and huge chapters... SOOO jealous.... makes me sad I don't go to a school with a more active and larger greek population...

[Little E]

The split rush is an interesting idea, esp if it works well.
ChiO knew the spirit, it seems a little cheap, cause once you cut a shirt you can't go back. The bandanas could always be taken off, so that seems different that way.

Hey girls, just a few random comments.......I went to Baylor and we also had split rush. There was a round in late October, early November called Fall Parties and decisions were made after this round. In January, formal recruitment starts, and girls find out if they were invited back after Fall Parties. Many PNMs drop out after the first round anyway. Personally, I think it sucks. So much dirty rusing goes on, it's not even funny. I hate this system!! I hate this system!!!!
Second, formal recruitment is not required. It's kinda dumb I think not to participate if you want to have a chapter, but seriously, it's their choice.
Finally, I've heard that some sororities actually budget a couple thousand dollars to pay for rush fines they plan on getting. Has anyone else heard of this ever? Like they knowingly do things they know will get them fined, but it helps them somehow so they PLAN for it!!! I just thought that was ludicrous.

[MFC2002]

I think that there are two ways to look a Chi O's "t-shirt-gate"

Did they probably know they were pushing the envelope of the spirit of the rules? Yes. Should an infraction have been filed? Sure. But a chapter should never blame their lack of success on what another chapter did during recruitment.

Dave Westol the Executive Dir of Theta Chi wrote a great article on recruitment (Dave also speaks on hazing and is pretty well known on campuses)
link to the whole article :
http://www.thetachi.org/rattle/fall0...ecDirector.pdf

" Take every excuse you may hear about a poor recruitment effort—everyone of them. Write them down. Crumple the paper or wad it into a ball. Burn the paper. Now, we’re ready to get going.

Excuses for a poor recruitment or rush effort have one common aspect. Every excuse has been used for years and recycled.

“No one did well this semester on our campus.” Yes, someone did.
There is/are always one, two or three fraternities that did very well. When that fact surfaces, the excuse du jour is “ Well, they took anybody they could. We got quality.” Nope. It doesn’t work that way. Quantity and quality are usually indistinguishable because good men join good men, and the chapter that does well in recruitment also does well in quality and caliber
of men.

“The IFC didn’t publicize recruitment.” IFC is not an acronym for, “I’ll Fill Chapters.” We are Theta Chi Fraternity. The chapter and charter are ours. It is our responsibility to recruit New Members—the lifeblood of thechapter, as so often is stated.

“We didn’t advertise/put up posters/signs/___ .” Recruitment is not a passive endeavor. Signs, ads in the campus paper, posters, and email announcements do not bring forth significant results. Getting out, meeting people, introducing them to fraternity life and then to Theta Chi is the key. And, that’s not easy, especially for members who are much more comfortable sitting in their rooms with their PlayStations and waiting, in vain these days, for scores of underclassmen to storm the chapter house, demanding to know how to join.

“We just don’t do well in ___ semester”, or “You don’t understand our campus. The student paper/faculty/administration/residence halls hate
us.” Aside from the agonizing generalities, how do other groups begin on the campus if every person’s hand is against the Greeks? The semester or quarter has nothing to do with recruitment. You control how you do. We control how we do. "

[33girl]

Originally posted by MFC2002
There is/are always one, two or three fraternities that did very well. When that fact surfaces, the excuse du jour is “ Well, they took anybody they could. We got quality.” Nope. It doesn’t work that way. Quantity and quality are usually indistinguishable because good men join good men, and the chapter that does well in recruitment also does well in quality and caliber
of men.

I think this is an oversimplification, if not outright bullshit.

Some groups DO take anyone that will sign a bid. I think it's been a while since Dave Westol has seen rush happening and met some of the wabols that participate. If you think bigger always equals better - in caliber of members and more importantly, in the quality of each member's Greek experience - I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

[AGDee]

Here's another way to think of it.. if you're on a campus of 25,000 and quota is 30, don't you think that there truly would be at least 30 women who are quality women that you would love to have as a sister? If you don't find them through formal recruitment, then you should be able to find them through COB if you get good at getting to know women on campus! There are campuses where there are only 1200 students and 80% are Greek! Then there are those with 35,000 and only 5% are Greek. Perhaps we need to examine what those smaller schools do and what makes Greek Life so attractive at those schools! And, think about what would make Greek Life attractive at your own school and provide that! I've seen chapters double in size with all quality new members and I've seen chapters take 2 really quality women but end up closing. There are enough quality women and men on every campus to fill every sorority and fraternity.. the trick is figuring out how to let them know what they're missing and going after them. I know, it's not as easy as it sounds, but instead of griping about others who take "anybody", figure out ways to go after the quality and get them interested in being Greek. I think that speaker's point is that there are more productive ways to analyze your recruitment successes and failures than just using those excuses!

Dee