I haven't been through formal yet, and I don't think we can really blackball, anyway, but I have another story about another guy I know...

There was this guy who went through formal rush his freshman year. He got a bid to Sig Ep (a really good fraternity at USC). After knowing him for a little while, I couldn't see why they'd give him a bid, and then I thought back to when I first met him, and I could see why...

He was a decent-looking guy, from California, extremely wealthy, and made very good first impressions. The problem was, after a while the guys noticed things about him that were NOT right. He was just... uh... a little odd. So, eventually they balled him. Now, I don't know the whole story, one of my good friends is Sig Ep, but he's very good about keeping the whole secrecy of the fraternity, but I could tell that he was really mad at this guy and couldn't stand him... apparently after he got balled, he was really bitter about it and did nothing but trash the fraternity for a long time...

But, the story is not over. This guy went through rush again, and this time went DU. Well, I don't know any DU's, so I'm really unsure of the story, but apparently either he didn't get a bid, or got balled from this fraternity as well.

So, third time's a charm? He's currently pledging another fraternity, and he's hung on so far, but he's had quite a few little "talks" with the president (who happens to be my ex-boyfriend and the guy's big brother) and has come really close to being balled. I told my ex that taking him would be a big mistake, but he just replied "we believe in giving everyone a chance." Apparently, though, a lot of the brothers can't stand him... In my opinion, he's making this other fraternity look really bad, but apparently one of the brothers is really fighting to keep him in.

A sister of mine (who was um, shall we say a little feisty?) went beyond balling a girl from our chapter - she got her banned from all 11 NPC groups? Apparently she messed with my friends bf back home...we all know the story, and my friend made an effort of personally contacting someone in EACH sorority to explain the predicament to cut her round one. <LOL> Her reasoning? She couldn't bear even crossing paths with her one night at a frat house!!! Well, we will never know if she was cut from everyone but she never pledged.... and we never saw her out.


Also, we had to ball a new member just hours after she was supposed to be intiaited... She told our new member ed. that she had to miss initiation for a family reunion that had been planned for a year... then went to a frat. date party!!!! Stupid move, since the pledge ed and about 6 others girls went to same one, but left right after intiation and got there in time.....

Don't let the door hit ya on the way out!!!

Okay, so we don't really "black ball" in my sorority, but like others have said if you had a really big issue with a girl you could tell it to say the chapter Advisor, and President, and that would be taken in to consideratio. However in my opinion If even one girl in my sorority feels uncomfortable with a PNM, for valid reasons of course, then that's reason enough to cut her. Obviously not if you don't like her hair or something, but something sustantial. I myself have said I don't want that girl wearing my letters, I'm glad that my sisters trusted my judgement enough to cut that girl from our list.

Yeah, we had a girl skip initiation for a fraternity's mountain weekend... she's no longer with us. Funny thing was, I was invited to the same fraternity's mountain weekend, and had to turn it down b/c of initiation... did she really think I wouldn't find out, though?

Just wanted to add something that's kind of off the subject, but not...
When I went through, I cut a sorority just because a girl in their sorority had a "slutty" reputation... so I think it's important to make sure who's wearing your letters is right.

I can't believe the girl thought she would get away with it - the pledge ed, WHOM she lied to, was dating a guy in the house at the time. And EVERY other girl who went waited to go - it wasn't like this girl didn't have a way of getting there. It showed us where her priorities were......

we had a new girl skip out on initiation bc she had spent the night at a frat house and "forgot" to get up.....she never was initiated.

like most of the other people on this board, it usually takes more than one person to have serious issues with a person. "bad hair" and "food stuck in her teeth" are not good reasons.

With us, it is 3/4 by secret ballot. Of course, given that our chapters tend to be smaller than those of many other fraternities, it may not take that many "no" votes to prevent a 3/4 "yes" vote.

We don't have black balls per se. It takes more than one. If you get a certain number during pledge ship then you're red balled. usually if a brother has a big enough problem with you, then he's not the only one and you'll be voted out. But, we're pretty selective in who we give bids to, so thats rarely an issue.

"and she looked at me and said, "Oh.... yeah, well, I don't really do school." Um okay... then I'm afraid we don't really do you."


HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! I laughed SOOOOO hard about that! There's one of them at every rush.....

~ Jacquelyn

This is basically how it's done at my chapter, too, unless they've changed the process in the past few years since I've been away.

I personally never wrote in about any rushee. There was one girl who went through Rush several times, informally as well as formally, who I would have written in about if I'd needed to. She had been kicked out of her dorm during her first quarter as a freshman for starting a fight with another resident and had to drop out of Rush mid-week. By the time she was allowed to return to campus, everyone in Panhellenic pretty much knew the story. Giving her a bid just wasn't an option after that. She ended up pledging a local sorority and was kicked out by them for some bizarre behavior before initiation.

Hm. So we vote on a girl once, basically - whether or not to give her a bid. But once she has a bid, she's in. We never have to vote on her again. She could be kicked out by standards board for grades or something, but not by vote.

Several people have mentioned black balling someone during their pledge period. How does that work? I know ZBT does sabre-ing, but they don't have a pledge period, so I'd imagine that's different.

I would call it depledging...

Every week during the active member meeting we discuss how pledge is going and how the girls are doing. The pledge educators usually meet with each individual girl, outside of their normal meeting, to make sure things are going okay and to express concerns voiced by other members and pledges. If there are any serious concerns we take action.

Since I joined we have only depledged one girl. Another girl voluntarily depledged before we could depledge her. She got her sh*t together and we invited her to pledge the following year and now she is an alumna.

One week before initiation we have a final vote on all of the girls...basically speak now or forever hold your peace.

We have two votes, both by secret ballot after discussion, both by the entire chapter: one to offer a bid and one, toward the close of the probationary member period, to approve initiation. A 3/4 majority is required for both votes. Less than 3/4 majority on the first vote and no bid is offered; less then 3/4 majority on the second one and the probationary member is not initiated.

We had a girl come through formal rush one year who wanted to join a sorority - ANY sorority - but for all the wrong reasons... she thought it would make her instantly popular, give her an instant circle of friends, and give her the opportunity to meet fraternity guys. We had a lengthy discussion over whether to invite her to pref (I wasn't the only person who thought she wouldn't make a good sister) and we finally voted not to invite her. A few weeks later, she came through informal rush... we had another lengthy discussion, and finally voted not to offer her a bid. In that second discussion I made some comments... so I guess you could say that I'm a large part of why she's not a member.

In my org, once you get a bid, you're in. There's no second vote about whether to initiate each new member, although a girl can be asked to depledge if she, for instance, does something illegal.