Hey, let's just open up all our groups to everyone. Sight unseen, even. Bad reps. Terrible grades. Drama kings and queens.

"Hey, am I in the right place? I'm here to sign up for the Sigma thingy. I'm sorry I'm so tired, I stayed up all night doing acid."

"Is this where we get hazed? I heard that the last 2 classes got hazed really hard! I saw the videos everywhere!"

I read all these with interest. My wife was—in the late 70’s and 80’s—an “area rec sister” (MY TERMINOLOGY) for her sorority. ANY chapter nationally that wanted info on a rushee contacted her from a huge list of such alums, and she would do her best to check alumnae rolls (in our adjacent 8 or 10 county area) and locate sisters who lived in those sometimes rural areas to gather information (a rec) on the girl in question. Once in a while it was even a teacher or—the mother lode—a guidance counselor! (I know now and then she’d have to use a “non-sister” teacher or counselor and indicated that on the form or in a phone call.)

So my question—I know an important part of that was academics. And occasionally she would be able to shed some light on a young lady with less-than-stellar grades who might have had a year-long illness or perhaps been in an accident.
NOW, will sororities still get HS grade information from universities or—if not—will this new lack of submitted recommendations throw that in the Panhellenic dust bin as well? And will groups just receive a “Yes, she’s eligible” which could range anywhere from a 2.75 to a 4.00 +?

Well played - but oh, Good Grief!

THIS!!

Please thank your wife for taking on such a demanding position!

Funny story, I went to homecoming a couple of years ago and some new actives were telling me that some of their pledge class decided they would brand each other and so they did. The brothers had nothing to do with it. Guys are just different.

Not necessarily. I could see some female pledges doing this-especially if recs are not a factor.

The way Nationals for many organizations are going, I can easily see our beloved sororities becoming social clubs open to anyone. Forget recruitment, it will be "sign up as you will" and "meet and mingle" to learn about our organization.

Sounds outlandish but there's enough going on that the powers-that-be will make these decisions, at least eventually - but eventually may arrive sooner than we could imagine.

Kappa Alpha Theta is now allowing anyone to write a letter of recommendation for a PNM.

https://www.kappaalphatheta.org/members/introduce-pnm

That will go over well. Not. Sure, I'll trust this person who has no stake in my organization to put their 2 cents in.

In related university student news, the Illinois legislature is proposing that its public universities drop entrance exam requirements. Just another great reason to allow anyone attending an Illinois public university campus to join a fraternal greek organization :rolleyes:

Again, I hope that they are being sure to expressly educate the collegiate chapters on these changes or there are going to be a hell of a lot of confused girls reading rec letters from Jim and Fred.

I will be teaching college classes part-time again in the fall. I would so love to have educationally unqualified people in my classes, taking up space that people who will actually apply themselves should be in. :rolleyes: After a zillion years in education, I can tell you that a lot of people didn't get the grades or scores to get into college because they refused to apply themselves, and if they get in they will still not apply themselves.

Not sure if it will be permanent or has to do with COVID, but both the University of California system and the California State University system have dropped the admission testing for those applying this year. They have had record number of applications this go around because those who don't test well felt free to apply. They are using grade basis and looking at extracurriculars.

DaffyKD

The problem with that is that many schools (I taught in some in the past) pressure their teachers heavily to hand out A's like candy. The students look like Einstein on paper! Then they get to college...