And if we get to the point where we have so many "active alumnae" that we would need to create "tiers" or quantify the involvement for comparison, I think we'll have solved a lot more problems than we've created.

True story. And I think the bonus side effect here could be that we'd encourage more active alumnae which is an ongoing goal that I support too.

(And in an effort not to be a hypocrite, I really need to get my own rear in gear too)

I think it would be helpful to have a section on the rec form that asks about the alumna's involvement. I don't see the need to have DG create a massive system to try and track all these different levels of involvement. I would love to see a section, right under the portion dealing with the legacy info, with something like check boxes and you can check which, if any, items the alumna has participated in:

Advising
Donations
Alumnae Chapter
Panhellenic
etc.

Then the chapter members can consider this information along with everything else when making membership decisions about the legacy.

I do think in some ways, though, this is already happening. I mean, when I was an adviser, we knew which of the legacies that were coming through had active moms/sisters/grandmothers. Not generally ones who regularly donated to the Foundation, but ones who participated in DG activities because we either knew the alums personally or the sponsorship form stated this outright.

Sigma Kappa's RIF already has a section for that. :) It's true that nothing would really need to be said for alumnae whose legacies are rushing at the school where they volunteer, but it's important to note if the legacy is rushing elsewhere.

Even with the out of state legacies from very far away, it's still pretty easy to see which pnms have active mothers. They're the ones who have multiple glowing recs and letters from the mother's sisters who have known the daughter most of, if not all of, her life.

Ooh, I'm jealous. Did you feel like it helped you when you were an active in making legacy decisions or did people not use it?

We knew about legacies whose mothers/sisters/whatever were active anywhere around the country through two sources:
1. we had heard of the alum when she was listed on the form and/or
2. the alum herself or others who wrote the recs stated the alumna's involvement in DG

I would certainly recommend that anyone who is an involved alumna makes sure that comes across in the rec letters.

I think it is a relatively new addition. Our RIF was revamped just last year. The chapter I advise (my alma mater) doesn't have many legacies going through, so we don't have this problem. I guess it's not that big of a deal to add it to the form, because the legacy relative involvement will most likely shine through in the letter of support, but it's a reminder to the rec writer to include/elaborate on that information.

All this is pretty much moot around here because if the chapter likes her, they'll bid her regardless of her mom's level of involvement and if they're lukewarm, she's probably not going to make it through--even if her mom was heavily and locally involved and liked.

Haha...right! Just saying. That's what's going on right now, so why not let alums know and not ruin the system for every other chapter where there is not a problem. I can't say I blame them for being upset, but reality is reality.

Absolutely agree. Why make the mom who's sending her daughter to Noncompetitive Northern U upset and worried when it's not needed? Is there a chance her daughter might not pledge her chapter - yes, of course. But it's more likely to be because she or the group don't dig each other, not because the chapter is farting in the general direction of established policies. I know we had (at my NNU) legacies who cut chapters, but I don't remember ever hearing of a chapter cutting a legacy.

I know one of our chapters had a mom as advisor and her 3 daughters in the chapter, all at the same school. (I don't know if mom was advisor before 1st daughter came along or not.) I can't imagine a situation where they wouldn't have bid daughter #3, although if they HADN'T, there most likely was some glaring reason (like the daughter went all through rush saying how little she wanted to do Greek life) that Mom & daughters needed to wake up and smell the coffee on long before this.

I honestly think, as some people have pointed out, that the daughters self-sabotaging their rushes happens more than anyone realizes. Yep, even the SEC triple legacies. Trouble is the daughters don't know what they're taking away from their moms/sisters by not being straight up with them and saying "I know YOU love ABC, but this chapter/Greek life is not for me."