Recruitment Disasters

[borntobewild]

Back in the 70s there was a top tier sorority at a flagship state school in the midwest that went through some major drama when the wrong list got turned into PanHel after the first round. In other words, PNMs who were intended to be released got invitations to the next round and PNMs who were intended to receive invitations to come back got the shaft. The error happened when one of the more clueless actives in the house thought the person designated to turn in the list was going to miss the deadline and so she went into hero mode, grabbed up the reject list and ran it down to the PanHel office. The error wasn't discovered until the match list for the next party was received and it was too late to do anything about it. Panhel said the house had no choice but to move forward with the pool on record as having been selected. The only exception made allowed the biological sister of an active member to continue rushing the house. The house went nuts --- instead of splitting hairs over discriminators, all of a sudden they were scrambling to save face by finding qualities to appreciate in girls they had been quick to dismiss. It's hard to say how many of the pledges in that class ever figured it out, being new to how recruitment works and all. I sometimes wonder if the actives ever fully recovered or learned anything from that fateful year.

[carnation]

Can you imagine--they must have run the "hero" girl out of town.

[HQWest]

I know of a chapter that had the house they had leased sold out from under them about 6 weeks before recruitment? They had to find a house to lease, but it had to be within a certain distance of campus. The only house they could find that would work as a lodge was a historic house, but it had been a frat house. The fraternity had left, but the entire inside of the house was painted black and the outside of the house had not been maintained. The girls (and some experienced Dads) dropped the ceilings, installed air conditioning, repainted the house inside and out, and repaired the roof before recruitment. The transformation was astonishing.
The house would later gain a spot on the historic registry (and be sold out from under them again!) They have since taken steps to make sure that this doesn't happen again....

In another event - was it Southern Miss that had raw sewage back up into the sorority dorm suites after Rita?

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by borntobewild

Back in the 70s there was a top tier sorority at a flagship state school in the midwest that went through some major drama when the wrong list got turned into PanHel after the first round. In other words, PNMs who were intended to be released got invitations to the next round and PNMs who were intended to receive invitations to come back got the shaft. The error happened when one of the more clueless actives in the house thought the person designated to turn in the list was going to miss the deadline and so she went into hero mode, grabbed up the reject list and ran it down to the PanHel office. The error wasn't discovered until the match list for the next party was received and it was too late to do anything about it. Panhel said the house had no choice but to move forward with the pool on record as having been selected. The only exception made allowed the biological sister of an active member to continue rushing the house. The house went nuts --- instead of splitting hairs over discriminators, all of a sudden they were scrambling to save face by finding qualities to appreciate in girls they had been quick to dismiss. It's hard to say how many of the pledges in that class ever figured it out, being new to how recruitment works and all. I sometimes wonder if the actives ever fully recovered or learned anything from that fateful year.

What I wonder is this (assuming that the story is true and not an urban legend of sorts) : Did the "top tier" chapter retain its "top tier" status on that campus?

In other words, did it really make a whole hell of a lot of difference whether they took their top choice PNMs, or the PNMs they didn't plan to invite back?

Every so often GCers mention sort of jokingly that random selection / assignment might work fine -- I don't agree, of course, but now and then one is tempted . . . .

[SWTXBelle]

I remember when Phi Sigma Chi, the petitioning local of Sigma Chi at <Southwest>Texas State, lost the building they were planning to use for recruitment in 1985 (I think). I found out when I came home from class and the entire fraternity was in my apartment (I was married to the president). It reminded me of "Revenge of the Nerds" - but instead of their house burning down, there was a zoning issue (this was in the days of wet - VERY wet - rush). It took some scrambling, but they found another building and had a very successful rush.

[borntobewild]

@exlurker… I’m pretty sure that word leaked and for a short time it was hot super-secret news, but in my opinion damage to chapter status was limited. The chapter had recruited outstanding classes by every measure for many years leading up to that year. Nationals must have given the chapter execs a pep talk because from what I could tell most of the actives sucked-up the faux pas with grace and made the new girls feel welcome just the same; of course there were those who had a hard time with it and acted out in various ways, too. The new girls did pick-up that something was off on bid day, but without knowing the degree to which serendipity had worked in their favor they just ascribed it to actives being overcome with exhaustion as well as their own being naïve to the whole experience.

The chapter made quota that year (no surprise that they stood out as the chapter of choice for those who ended up in the running), and it being a huge flagship state school the pledge class was big. As you would expect under the circumstances, it was an eclectic mix of girls that year --- freshman as well as sophomores and a few juniors, too. Some with borderline GPAs, some with genius GPAs, some pretty but introverted girls, quite a few enthusiastic but plain girls, some from out-of-state and relatively unknown. There was a party girl or two, and some of the girls were legacies by distant relatives. The girl whose biological sister was an active was told by PanHel that the system had a glitch in it and she got to move through recruitment and pledge with the group as well. It was interesting that a few girls who made it through were no-shows at the round one party even though they had honest reasons for missing it, i.e. death in family, wedding of immediate family member, car trouble. Gives you some idea of selection criteria on the part of the chapter if you read all this backwards

It’s a true story to which I can personally attest --- no urban legend here. Sorry I can not reveal how I was in a position to know all of this information as it would compromise my identity to tell and it would really serve no purpose.

[ZetaGirl22]

A few years after I graduated, there was some kind of short in the sprinkler system at my collegiate chapter's house during winter break (We have deferred recruitment at my alma mater). I think the damage was confined to the first floor, but basically the entire first floor had to be redone (TV room, study room, chapter room) because of the water damage. I think the people who were doing the carpeting were finishing up just a few hours before Tours started EEK! LOL

[OneHeartOneWay]

As alluded above, a huge storm blew through Louisville during recruitment this year, and yes, house tours were given by flashlights! (Ok, so maybe not actual flashlights, but by the light of the exit signs running on emergency generators and sunlight from the open windows).

About 5 years ago, the chapter was undergoing a major renovation to the chapter house that required it be closed for recruitment. This was, a huge disadvantage, but the chapter made the most of a fraternity's suite and had the interior design company produce some nice boards of what the house would look like- fabrics, wall colors, etc. As posted above, if the women don't dwell on it, the PNMs won't either. Especially if they only reference it as a positive- "we're so excited to get xyz fixed! Our house is going to be so pretty/safe/awesome when it is. You'll just have to see it!!!"

[greekchef]

As has been said by several, how a chapter reacts to challenges really says a lot about them. I am proud to say of the ladies that I feed and help look after is that they have really rallied together and are putting a brave face on a stressful situation. While all repairs are scheduled to be done within hours of the first round, who knows what nasty little surprises fate may have in store. Already, everytime I have felt bold enough to say nothing else can go wrong from here on, BAM (once literally).... and we are back at square one.

Several years ago the chapter returned to school in the midst of a severe drought only to find all the grass totally dead and crisp, flowers wilted, shrubs brown, all the landscaping in a mess. A new house mother was starting and it was not the smoothest of transitions. The interior work that needed to be done was put off until the last possible minute. The morning of the first round mounds of stuff were all over the house and we feverishly stuffed every available nook and cranny with all the junk laying about. The chapter had one its best recruitments ever. I pointed out then as I have frequently since that it wasn't about brown grass, junk hidden in closets, or dead flowers.... it was about the members. That group a few years back didn't believe that until they saw it happen. I think this year's group is counting on it.

[greekchef]

More stories? It's been 4 years.

[navane]

Originally Posted by DaffyKD

Heard it happened to the AXO house at SDSU during preference years ago. SDSU was one of the first campuses to ban candles after that. I don't know about other sororities, but KD will no longer allow candles for this very reason.

DaffyKD

I know this is an old post; but, I was their Faculty-Staff Advisor at the time! I remember sitting down to watch the evening news with my dinner when the reporter chimed in with breaking news. The cameraman was taking a close-up shot of the burnt out window. I remember noticing the color of the house and thinking, "That looks like AXO." Then the camera panned back to show the entire house and all of the girls standing in the street in their pref dresses. My thought was "Crap! That *is* AXO!!"

I had just been appointed Faculty-Staff Advisor a few weeks earlier. Nothing says, "Welcome new advisor!" like having the girls' house catch on fire during pref!

[Momoftiger]

Our toilet had been leaking in our old Victorian House. 15 minutes before our party started, the toilet fell through the floor into the main area below where we were supposed to hold most of the party-- no joke. it was terrible!

[33girl]

You could have turned that into the party theme. Sisters will stick with you even when your life is in the toilet! Lol

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by Momoftiger

Our toilet had been leaking in our old Victorian House. 15 minutes before our party started, the toilet fell through the floor into the main area below where we were supposed to hold most of the party-- no joke. it was terrible!

FTW. I really hope the PNMs didn't nickname you the "toilet house" for the rest of recruitment.

[clemsongirl]

My chapter experienced disaster on a personal level when the younger sister of a beloved active became sick and died suddenly in the middle of recruitment this past year. I've posted about it on here before, but obviously it was very hard on us and the Panhellenic community as a whole, especially since she was going through recruitment as well and we all knew she was going to be our sister on Bid Day. We would get updates on how sick Virginia was in between parties, and then have to clap and cheer like nothing was going on. The PNMs were told what was going on, but that didn't make it any better on us.

The younger sister's roommate-who is one of the kindest, strongest people I know-still stuck it out through recruitment and joined ADPi. I think the way we supported Sarah Katherine, her sister who was an active, and how the Greek community supported us spoke volumes about strength we didn't know we had.