Ladies,

I'm hoping you can help me out. My oldest daughter will be starting her freshman year at Ole Miss this fall. From our visits to Ole Miss and what I've heard, the recruitment process there is very intense. She has already started lining up her Letters of Rec from most of the sororities on campus and hopefully we will have the others located and in by the Aug. 1st deadline.

I guess we just really would like to have some input/advice from those that have gone through recruitment at Ole Miss.

BTW...I was reading on this thread about Ole Miss being open for expansion...I contacted my DZ National Headquarters earlier this week to see if they could give me any insight on the possibility of a DZ recolonization there. She said she does not believe that any sorority has been formally invited yet, but I got the impression that she was hopeful for a DZ chapter.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Ole Miss
 

I believe that they are still in the "send in a packet if you are interested" stage. I was at Ole Miss that past weekend doing a recruitment workshop, and my local advisers told me that interested groups will probably do their first on-site visits over the summer.The presentations will be in the fall. Thus a vote will follow for the extension group to come on campus either spring or fall 2013.

I don't know if they will be doing a stacked extension, but word is that space to build 3 new houses has been researched and located.

Right now they are thinking that over 1500 women will sign up for recruitment...and there are only 9 NPC groups on this campus! Crazy!

This is going to be a tough one for you. You may know by this fall (but my guess is probably not) if DZ will be coming onto campus, or if 1 or more other sororities will, but I bet you she's going to have to go through rush and decide if she wants to go through to pledging or take her chances and drop out in favor of the colony/ies. The colonies there will be EXTREMELY competitive, and if she loses out, rushing again as a sophomore wouldn't exactly be a walk in the park. Good luck to you and your daughter!

/eta - I phrased that wrong. You may well know who's coming on campus by fall, but I don't know that their colony recruitments will closely follow rush.

From what the Alumni newsletter said they will not decide until after recruitment 2012. Being a DZ myself I secretly hope we decide to throw our hat in the ring, but it is SOOOOO costly that I'm sure Headquarters will be doing a LOT of thinking on this one. It will be interesting to see who/who all eventually gets the spot(s). It was mentioned that 3 spots for houses were being opened, so I'm just guessing they may be doing a stacked expansion or just be planning a long term of 3 new sororities. Gees, who really knows. It's all conjecture and speculation.

My daughter quickly decided that she does NOT want to wait to see DZ is recolonized. She definitely wants to go through sorority recruitment this fall.

We could use some suggestions on getting recs. After going through most everyone we know, we have found alums to do recs for Tri-Delta, Phi Mu, Chi Omega, KKG, and Pi Beta Phi. My closest metro area is Tidewater/Hampton Roads, Virginia and that panhellenic alum chapter is closed. Can y'all help direct us to some other options? THANK YOU!!!

Hi! haven't been paying attention to GC for a few days.

The Theta, PiPhi, Kappa facilities at UofA (Arizona, folks) go back to circa 1917. I adore the Kappa and PiPhi facilities... truth: I have major envy of the Kappa property. Major. It is simply spectacular, IMO. I believe 70+ members can live in!

Architecture:in Tucson there's a hodge-podge/mishmash of styles, depending on when building occurred. Not a unified look at all, like Santa Fe NM, for example.

I will take AZ-Alpha Xi with me, go for a walk, and get photos (she's better at it than I am) of the facilities on our campus.

There are two fairly NEW facilities on campus, and just for fun, I'm going to not say which ones they are. I'll post photos and see if you guys can guess (no cheating from the AZ folks on GC, please).

When helping a friend whose daughter was going through recruitment at Alabama, we found Alumnae groups are easy to find on the web sites of different GLO's. But do got through the usual rounds before you cold call an Alumna Chapter President. Ask your physicians, school teachers, neighbors, pastors, volunteer-friends, whom they know. I bet some of those rec writers you know can help you find those other GLO alumnae.

If daughter has year-older friends who pledged, ask them where their recs came from.;)

Thank you for the suggestions. I didn't even think of looking at each national sorority's individual website, but after she did, she found some local contacts.

Since we are so far away from Ole Miss, we didn't think we'd have much luck finding anyone who had gone there, but my daughter had her Ole Miss shirt on at a church function the other day and a lady came up and asked her about it. It turns out she was a Phi Mu at Ole Miss. She had seen my daughter on worship team and offered to write a rec for her. :-)

Again, thank you for your help.

It sounds like you know this, but just to be extra clear, the recs don't have to be from women who attended Ole Miss.

You might ask this lady if she knows anyone else who could help with recs. She probably does and might be able to point you at other Greek women in your church.

We are going to ask her if she will direct us to some other greeks she may know at Ole Miss. She is such a sweet lady. :)

Actually, I am on staff at our church so I've been through most of the membership already checking for sorority affiliations. I had missed this lady because she is fairly new to our church and our congregation is pretty large.

And they don't have to have attended Ole Miss...anywhere will do.

Gamma Phi's pink palace is another oldie. It was built in 1925 and houses 59 women.

Historic preservation is one of my hobbies and I love looking at old sorority and fraternity houses. In my research I've seen many of the original houses of chapters that now have houses that were built in the latter part of the 20th century. The styles were much more homogenous and very typical of the southwest during the time they were built.

Sounds like we need a University of Arizona Greek Architecture Thread?:D:p

Ole Miss Panhellenic has a Pintrest Account. They have boards with suggestions of what to wear for each round and Boards for each chapter on campus.

That is a great link! Thank you for posting that.

what a fabulous idea. hopefully other college panhellenic orgs. will do the same.

I'm an ADPi and that house is UGLY. Compared to the other houses, I see why it was a HUGE deterrent.

That being said I would LOVE for ADPi to present and try to recolonize our chapter there.

I know one of them (LOL). I've got pics of our house. I think I've got a "before" and "after". Definitely an "after".

Interestingly, one of those newer houses was modeled after the chapter's original house. The original house is still on campus. Do you know where it is? ;)

Okay, you Arizona peoples are letting AZTheta lead you astray with her typical lane swerves :p Love her but y'all need to get your own architecture thread for reals :D

I had a friend many years ago who was an Alpha Xi Delta at Ole Miss in the 70's (plus a couple of relatives were there at the same time). AXD closed within a very few years of colonizing, after having little recruitment and retention success. Kappa Alpha Theta colonized in 1976, I think, while AXD was struggling. AXD never came close to building a house, which hurt them terribly during recruitment. KAT quickly built a big house on Rebel Drive, and that made them much more attractive to PNMs. AXD could have been a great asset to OM, but they are long gone. KAT is still there in their big house. Houses count big time at OM. It's just a fact. Whoever colonizes will surely come in with some beautiful architectural drawings to show off if they have any hope of success.

Kappa Alpha Theta colonized Ole Miss in 1978 and was Charted in 1979 the same year the house was built. Alpha Xi Delta was given the lovely Barnard Building to use until they could build a house but closed in 1976 befor they could do so. The house that Theta built was estimated to require $500,000 to build, but site issues and lack of competitive bids drove the cost up to near $1,000,000 and the completed size was only 2/3 of the originally planned square footage. Barnard is now completely renovated and the home for the Studies on Southern Culture. It was the original campus astronomy and science building and named for the school's pre-Civil War Chacellor F.P. Barnard who discovered Barnard's Star and was the first Episcopal Rector at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Oxford, Miss.

Tiny correction... we broke ground on the Theta house at Ole Miss in 1980. It was not completed until 1982.

I pledged in the Fall of 1979. Theta rushed on the hideous orange and brown carpet of the Student Union in 1980 & 1981 (we had Fall formal rush back then). I still have my Bid Day picture from back then. They were done in thirds, one picture of the house, one of us all looking serious & one "silly" picture.

In 1980, our "house" picture was of the building crew posing with a big Caterpiller machine in front of the foundation of the house! :D

So slightly off the OP's topic but I'm curious to how they used Barnard Observatory. I only know it from the 1990's and 2000's. Were there smaller rooms? Could anyone sleep there? Other side note, two of my good friends are Barnard great grandkids and he was also a Chancellor :D

Thank you ThetaLady! I was recalling the history I was told when I served on FCB 20 years ago so corrections are welcome! DZTurtle11, I saw old Ole Miss Year Book pictures of Barnard with Alpha Xi Deltas letters on the facade. Don't know how the inside looked :confused:

I can remember the very first time I saw a picture of the ADPi house at Ole Miss like it was yesterday. A few of us were looking at the picture and one of the sisters said, "Was Maxine (deceased Grand President for over 40 years) on drugs when she approved that?" We later found out that she has suffered from Alzheimer's in her later years. Coincidence? I think not.

Personally, I think a) that house simply didn't belong on Ole Miss Campus, especially for Alpha Delta Pi and b) I would go crazy mad with excitement if we were invited back - especially with a chance to build a more appropriate house.

I love columns, but especially when they don't "take over" the house, as in the Georgia Southern ADPi house.

Hi ladies!

I'm currently a Theta at Ole Miss. I wanted to add what we students have been hearing about the location for the new sororities coming in the next couple of years. It's currently sounding like they'll actually be located on Fraternity Row. We hear that Phi Tau, who has been having some difficulty with numbers the last few years, has been asked by the University to consider moving off campus, with the idea that one chapter will occupy that house. Then there is currently an empty lot where Chi Psi house used to be right next to SAE that has been heard will be the location of another house. As for the third one, no one really knows. There's a large parking area right by the Fraternity Row entrance to campus that seems like a viable location. Keep in mind as you read this, of course, that this is all rumor and that nothing has been confirmed by the administration or Panhellenic.

I'm not really sure how well having sororities interspersed with fraternities on Fraternity Row would be received, were these rumors actually proven to be true. They would certainly be very isolated from the rest of the sororities on campus, which would seem to put them at a disadvantage during recruitment. However, there aren't really many other places for these houses to go. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Hi Pyth!!

I graduated from EZ chapter in 1983, which is of course, about a million years ago! I know a LOT has changed on campus. Heck, we still had separate sex dorms & men were not allowed in the womens rooms & vice versa!

Having established how long ago I was there, I cannot possibly imagine any sorority house on Fraternity Row... I really can't. It is way across campus and as I recall, the men generally did not take good care of their houses. I really think that any sorority house built on Fraternity Row would put that organization at a tremendous disadvantage. It just doesn't fit.

1) I hope this isn't true.
2) I don't think you should spread a rumor like this.

Thetalady, I'm with you. All the more reason that it seems that the old ZTA and ADPi houses/lots should be made available to colonizing sororities if at all possible. It seems that sticking them in some odd or inappropriate location will be a big negative factor, and any new (vs. old, been on campus a bazillion years) sorority at OM needs as few strikes against it as possible as it seeks to get established. Does anyone know if other sororities considered colonizing when those lots/houses became available? Unlike the ADPi house, the ZTA house was/is a Southern style that could have been spruced up for a new sorority back then (or now) without the expense of tearing the whole thing down and rebuilding.

Ole Miss Panhellenic Recruitment Registration Opens on 5/14/12 at 12:00am.

Yes I DO!

I'll throw a photo in just for kicks.

Sorry, MaryPoppins, when I get the photos I'll start a new thread. Having an associational chaining brain in a linear sequential world = lots of chaos! :D and never a dull moment in my world. Sometimes the side convos are more interesting...

I've got one too, my Sister from another mother!:D

Thank you for posting this... my daughter is getting very excited.

I have to admit that this is bringing back all my memories of my collegiate chapter and I am so glad that she has decided to go through recruitment at Ole Miss. :o

While there is no minimum grade to participate in Ole Miss Panhellenic Recruitment potential new members should know that virtually all of the Chapters on campus require a 3.0 GPA to carry the PNM through to Preference Party. This is a competitive recruitment campus and Letters of Reference and Recommendations should be considered to be necessary.

An anonymous Ole Miss Sorority Girl created this cute video about recruitment. Seems to hit the high points of what a PNM needs to know. http://youtu.be/hdTahnO69E4

"Don't dress like a hoe." LOL!

The ironic thing is that the examples she showed would have been hoes back in the day. :eek:

How times have changed...

Most definitely!