brother/sister legacies
 

I was reading this and I noticed something that was missing..maybe its just us but..We give legacy preference to somone's biological sisters as well. AND..legacy is something that is very hard to get around..its not a simple thing to cut a legacy they are pretty much guareented a bid. So far as i know this hasn't been a problem...I think its nice. However, to keep things in perspective i'm from a small, not so greek friendly school.

Re: brother/sister legacies
 

Well this is from our policy on legacies....
"Special consideration is defined as being invited to all invitational parties before the Preference party unless the chapter has determined that the legacy is definitely not a prospective member or the legacy has chosen not to accept an invitation to return to a party."

i know my chapter only has usually just 2 parties, so if we had any legacies they'd be invited to the second one anyway....Of course, this leads back to the problem first stated....is this stringing them along if they don't get invited to pref and/or bidded?

I think it is...but I guess it's left to the sisters to decide(which means they should make a slight extra effort to get to know her so they can make an informed decision and be prepared to defend it to their advisor, alum and relative)

We usually have a good handful of legacies come through during formal rush... I'm not so sure I would want to be a legacy through our rush becuase often times chapters assumer "oh, she's a legacy to ZTA so she'll wanna be a ZTA..." or whatever, and they dont get a fair chance with the other chapters. Also, some girls who know they wouldnt be greek otherwise rush the chapter that they're a legacy of and get a bid becuase they are a legacy, but they dont fit in at all-- the sisters and pledges notice it, other greeks notice it, but they never seem to...

I think legacies are great. It would be awesome if my son joined Theta Chi anywhere, but especially here, because my name is on the charter, and he could look up and see my name there. But I definetly want family members to join.

How old is your son?

LOL I don't have a son. I'm only a juinor in college. I meant hypothetically.

Ohhhhhhhhh! You said it so matter-of-factly...I figured you were planning ahead. Obviously too far ahead! :o ;) :p

I think Legacy's are a wonderful thing and it can be beautiful to get to wear your mom's pin and everything but I am a true example of the fact that being a Legacy doesn't make a difference in some people's choice. I am a phi mu legacy. Third generation....My mom and grandmother were both phi mus. Everyone just naturally expected me to join my chapter of phi mu and those girls offered me a lot of hospitality during recruitment however that is not where I felt the most comfortable. My mother was happy with my decision because she saw how happy I was.

Anyways, that's just my story. Also as a side note, the phi mu girls didn't pressure me at all. They knew it was my decision.

-MLK

I do think that the Legacy question needs to be explored. Let's face it, 100 years ago, not too many people (women especially) went to college. Their children became legacies, and all was good. The same with their children, and the next generation. We once had a FIVE generation legacy go through Recruitment, and trust me, even though she really didn't want to go Greek, and wasn't exactly lovable, we had to extend her a bid - but that's a whole 'nuther story.

However, just like a family tree, legacies started to expand. If (as in my original example) one Greek has two legacies, and each of them have two legacies, and each of them have two legacies - that's eight legacies right there. Now multiply that by the original 30 people in a chapter, and you have 180 legacies - with a quota of 60. Ouch!

I don't have an answer to this, but I think this is an issue that truly needs to be discussed more fully. The number of legacies are only going to increase as years go by, and somehow, they should be offered some sort of courtesy. Granted, many legacies will prefer another house, but I do think we need to discuss how to show courtesy to legacies without hurting anyone else.

Suggestions?

Yes, but I'm thinking deeper. If you have 180 legacies who were groomed to be an ABC with her first onesie, and quota is 60, how do you tell 120 perfect women that she can't pledge the same house as her mother, grandmother, ggrandmother, etc? It seems too cruel - and yet, there will be other women who doesn't have any greeks in her family, but everyone loves her.

Let's face it, we've all heard about women who register at two different colleges, so that if they don't get a bid at University1, they can rush at University2 - due to recruitment schedules.

I agree with honeychile: I would like to see this topic considered more thoroughly. I only see this problem getting worse unless we hit a point where interest in joining sororities starts to decline.

I also wish it was as easy as thinking we could tell these mothers to get over it and realize times have changed since they were in college. As someone who has had to make those calls to alums when their legacies were released, I can tell you it is often sad and heartbreaking. I do not think we should take all legacies, or anything like that, but some of these women have been thinking for the past 18 years that their daughters will be given the same consideration they remember giving legacies when they were in college.

I like that my biological sister will get extra consideration when she goes through recruitment (especially since right now she is leaning towards Texas Tech). Although I do tell her how much I would love for her to be a DG, I also tell her that it is her decision and any sorority she chooses will be a good one. I would much rather have her go greek because the experience is one I would not give up for anything than go DG when she felt more comfortable at another chapter.

I can see your point; it does seem cruel. But I don't see how the problem can be rectified. As you've said, the potential number of legacies is huge (and getting bigger). How could we (NPC in general) possibly allow all of them to pledge their legacy house (and that's assuming the chapter wants them all)? Have no quota or ceiling?