Re: Update!
 

I've been away from Greek Chat for a while...when did this update happen?

Is Sigma Sigma Sigma recolonizing during the 2003-2004 women's formal recruitment?

The system there is so bad that I dropped out of college entirely because of the depression I got from rushing. Read this and the comments...it only begins to describe the issue.

http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=68062

By Carrie Schedler | IDS
POSTED AT 12:42 AM ON Apr. 30, 2009 | PRINT | Email | SHARE | COMMENTS (17) | RECOMMEND (6)


http://www.idsnews.com/news//mfiles/...505271-tnl.jpg IDS File Photo
Members of Sigma Delta Tau rush into their house with their new members on January 7, 2007 during Bid Day.


On a whim, freshman Hayley Fischer decided to go through women’s formal recruitment this past fall.

But after going through all four rounds of recruitment, she didn’t receive a bid.

“When my Rho Gamma came and told me, I had no expression on my face,” Fischer said. “She asked if I was okay, and I said, ‘Uh, yeah.’ I felt like I was supposed to cry.”

Fischer is one of 150 women who went all the way through the recruitment process but did not receive a bid to join one of the 19 sorority chapters early this semester. Only 52 percent of women who start recruitment receive bids, a placement percentage that is almost 25 percentage points below the national average, said Kris Bridges, a college Panhellenic chair for the National Panhellenic Conference, the national governing body for sororities.

After considering the current system, the IU Panhellenic Association hopes to tweak the process and increase recruitment numbers.

“This has been years in the making,” said PHA Vice President of Recruitment Anna Berg. “We were all unsatisfied with the amount of women we were placing. It was a challenge of, ‘Can we change?’”

THE CHANGES

IU currently operates on a bed-quota system. This allows each sorority to choose the number of bids it will give out based on the amount of living space it will have available the following year, Bridges said.

IU is the only school in the country that still uses this system, Berg said.

Representatives from the National Panhellenic Conference told IU’s Panhellenic Association in February that it needed to change the recruitment process so more women could receive bids. One of the recommendations was that IU move to a “quota total system,” where the number of bids each house could give out would depend on the average chapter size at IU.

To increase the number of bids, IU’s Panhellenic Association voted in April on two measures to change the recruitment process.

The first, which was rejected by a vote of 6 to 13, would have changed IU’s system to an all-January recruitment. This would decrease the number of women who go through recruitment just for the experience and have no intention of joining a sorority. Berg said she thought the change was “too much, too soon.”

The second measure, however, passed at a meeting on April 14. In the upcoming recruitment period, women will now preference two more sororities in the first and second invite rounds.

Previously, women selected and ranked 12 sororities in the first invite round and six in the second. Now, they will choose 14 and eight, respectively.

“Each sorority would see a bigger pool of women and get more exposure to them,” Berg said. “It helps everyone.”

But junior Katelyn Walbridge, president of Kappa Alpha Theta, said her chapter voted against both measures because she said they do not do enough to solve the problems of recruitment.

“There’s no reason to change when the outcome will end up the same,” Walbridge said.

And, for some women like Fischer, the changes might be coming too late.

THE OTHER 48 PERCENT

Freshman Sarah Finnerty said she loved having a Rho Gamma, or recruitment guide, to help her through the recruitment process and was optimistic because of the support she received.

But when 19 Party – where women tour all 19 sorority houses – began, Finnerty said her recruitment experience changed completely.

“I felt like I was being speed-dated,” Finnerty said. “I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t find their true love through speed dating.”

Finnerty also said she felt like sorority members discriminated against her because she was a part of the Air Force ROTC.

“If there was more of an opportunity for sororities to get to know you longer, I could tell them I’m in ROTC but show that I’m not some strict, masculine woman who can’t have fun,” Finnerty said.

After receiving invitations from only two of the sororities she marked as “preferred” at the end of first invite, Finnerty learned of a death in her family and decided to drop out of recruitment.

Freshman Tiffany Barrios, who also eventually dropped out of recruitment, was excited at the beginning of the process.

But she felt “disappointed” after only being invited to five sororities during the first invite round and only receiving two invitations to the second round. She dropped out after visiting those two chapters.

“I didn’t understand how they eliminated people,” Barrios said. “But I’d heard it was really hard to get into a house at IU.”

Fischer also said she felt alienated by the recruitment process.

“The whole thing was hell,” Fischer said. “I got to the last round. After that I didn’t get a bid. It felt like the whole process took place after people had already formed cliques and were already friends with girls in houses.”

But Walbridge said that in Kappa Alpha Theta, having connections within the sorority doesn’t give prospective members an advantage.

“The recruitment process does give everyone a fair chance,” Walbridge said. “But I don’t think knowing people has that much of an effect.”

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

While most people agree a change needs to be made, there is no consensus about the best solution.

Finnerty said the PHA-proposed changes aren’t enough.

“Even if there were more rounds and you could see more houses, you could still get screwed out of a bid,” Finnerty said.

Barrios also said changing the size of rounds won’t make enough of a difference, since it’s normal for women to only get six invitations during the first invite round.

When women like Fischer, Barrios and Finnerty don’t receive bids, then women’s recruitment needs to be changed, Berg said.

“When it comes to that, I’m speechless,” Berg said. “It’s a difficult situation that doesn’t happen at every school.”

But until recruitment changes, Fischer said women who don’t receive bids will question themselves.

“You’re wondering what you did wrong,” Fischer said. “You second-guess yourself. Girls shouldn’t have to go through that.”

Man...why does my day long buying trip have to be today! I'm going to miss all the comments on this one!!

what they heck do they think adding the choice of 2 additional houses will do? they are idiots. as someone in the article said,"there is no reason to change when the outcome will be the same". wake up and smell the coffee, IU.

If this is true, and you are still hurting enough to be posting about it on the internet, it's probably time to get some professional help. And I mean that in the kindest and most sincere way imaginable.

You know, perhaps at IU PNMS should go through psychological evaluations before recruitment. There seems to be a lot of girls going through who have a hard time handling the pressures or the disappointment after being cut. Or at least offer emotional counseling beyond Rho Gammas after the fact. It seems like so many girls have crazy over-dramatized reactions to being cut. I'm being completely serious, here.

Unfortunately, I know some girls who dropped out of IU because they did not receive bids to sororities. They did, however, go to other schools, and thrived. To a girl, they all look back on it now and realize that at age 18/19, not getting a bid at such a competitive school seemed like the biggest deal in the world when other friends of ours did and it was devastating at the time. Many of them joined sororities at their new schools--some didn't--and loved the experience. It's unfortunate that you had such a bad experience, and clearly others do too. But IU is a great school and there are clearly plenty of girls that don't get bids, and they seem graduate and go on with their lives ok. Greek life is wonderful, but it's not the end all, be all.

Here's the other IU thread
 

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=105077

Until IU sororities are comfortable with the idea of not everyone living in the house, the bed rush system will continue.

When or if it DOES change, the complexion of the Greek system at the school will change a great deal. Most likely (as I said in the other thread) some of the women who love it now will hate it and drop out.

Maybe the solution is limiting the number of women rushing somehow.

I guess I don't understand why the school feels that greek life is only worth living if everyone lives in? At most schools, only a small percentage or half of the chapter lives in, and some chapters have a hard time filling the house with so many members wanting to live out! I don't know what the housing situation is in Bloomington - maybe there's a housing shortage in the community/campus? - but why would they want to limit the system's growth just so they can cram everyone into the houses?

Maybe someone at IU could ciarify, but based on this comment in a news article linked in the other thread, it sounds like on-campus housing is indeed in short supply:

This could also explain why IU women who go bidless often transfer to another school.

Thank you KSUViolet. I am doing much better now and am actually taking summer classes and will be starting at a new school here in a couple of weeks. It just always makes me sad to think "what if" knowing that if things had gone a different way I might still be at a school I loved having the time of my life. But that's in the past...my new school does not have greek life so we will see how things go!

I don't think it's short supply, just a crappy location. It's one thing to move far off campus when you're a senior...it's another thing to be basically forced out into no-man's land when you're a sophomore. If you've made a solid core group of friends you're probably OK, but that doesn't happen for everyone. Considering my freshman-year friends (almost) all dumped me when I dumped my ex, I would have been SOL in that situation.

Yes, there has been a housing shortage in the past-- however I think it is mostly dorm-based housing. I'm not sure if there is a shortage regarding off campus housing.

I do know of one fraternity that was kicked off campus last year, however the university allowed the men to remain in their house for the rest of the year because they didn't have any other available housing (the house was run similar to a dorm from what I was told).

Time to throw my IU $.02 into the pot (oh wait, IU already took my last $.02. Anyways...)

Off campus housing isn't necessarily in short supply, but it can be very isolating. Granted, you're probably rooming with your close friends, but you're not surrounded by the same social atmosphere you are during your freshman year.

In terms of the rest of it...IU recruitment does suck, I can't deny that, and I'm in a chapter now. Part of the problem is that many PNMs come in only wanting a Third Street chapter or a select number of Jordan Ave./extension chapters, rather than realizing that a 'lower tier' chapter might be the best fit for them. Another part is that as much as women hate to say it, knowing active members really does help, they can fight for you and know you beyond a 5 minute conversation. The party structure isn't the best either, but there aren't many options. 19 houses in two days in the middle of winter (I did my first day when it was snowing sideways and my second day it was approximately 15 degrees out) is brutal, then waiting is horrible, and you're forced to fly/drive back early despite not knowing if you have chapters. It sucks.

Oh and ForeverRoses, a chapter did get kicked off my freshman year (2007-2008) for hazing, they'll never be back IMO. Phi Kappa Sigma/Phi Sigma Kappa (whichever one is not Skulls...they're basically right next door to each other so it gets confusing) is in that chapter's house. There will be an empty house on the extension however, a fraternity was 'removed' by their nationals HQ for a year, but they'll be back my senior year

"19 houses in two days in the middle of winter (I did my first day when it was snowing sideways and my second day it was approximately 15 degrees out) is brutal, then waiting is horrible, and you're forced to fly/drive back early despite not knowing if you have chapters. It sucks."

how horrible that pnms who have no invitations are not notified prior to returning to campus. that is just wrong.

It says a lot about IU recruitment that, according to someone in the other thread, one girl who rushed unsuccessfully twice transferred out and ended up finding her home ... at an SEC school.

And at IU, if you plan to join a sorority, you know you will live in the house for 3 years, and you don't think twice about it. There is no thought about moving out as seniors or anything. At other Big Ten schools, for example, when you join a house, you usually only have a one-year live in requirement, and off-campus housing is a lot closer or even intermingled. Most juniors and seniors in sororities at other schools like living in a house for a year, but then are excited to live on their own for a year or two. At some schools, sophomores even commonly live in the dorms--we got priority over Freshman if we wanted to live in the dorms again and I know my brother did at his school too. It's hard b/c I think IU is the last Big Ten school to rush, and when your friends have a whole semester of fun under their belts, it just adds to the pressure.

I have to agree with quite a few people on this issue. I think the way IU housing is structured leads people to seek out the Greek system for a place to live the next year. Dorms are geared almost indefinitely towards freshman/international students. We had a total of two sophomores on my floor of about 45 last year. Furthermore, I do believe (although I dont have solid stats to back it up) that there is not nearly enough housing for those interested. I lived in one of the larger dorms and we actually had students living in our floor lounges for a good portion of the year (thankfully not on my floor). So, with situations like that, it's easy to see why one would want to leave the dorm asap...not to mention that a sorority/apartment is, in most cases, cheaper than living in the dorms. The worth of a greek house at IU is often determined by their house location (i.e. "Third Street Elite") and whether they have a house at all (obviously this applies more to fraternities). Living in the house is just IU culture but it does and will continue to cause problems. To comment on the IDS article: I think people sometimes overlook the fact that some of the reason we don't have a higher bid match rate is due to PNM's lacking an open-mind. I saw/heard of several girls that dropped out of rush because they didn't get the houses they wanted...(sadly I was one of them before Bid Day...which I really regretted). When you worry about which house is top-tier or which girls are the prettiest, you miss out and I was entire stupid to care about that because that's not the people I am. Girls in my Rho Gamma group tent talked and discussed reputations and some even admitted to being rude on purpose at certain houses they didn't think they liked or thought they were too good for. Long story short, while I do think awesome girls slip through the cracks, I think a lot of people just don't have an open-mind. Maybe things will be a lot better this year now that sites like Juicy Campus are gone. I don't really think the new changes for recruitment 2009 will really help the situation...It only makes the 2nd round that much more tiring. Apparently PHA was really pushing to have recruitment all during January instead of 19 party and then waiting 2-3 weeks. I really wish that would've gone through.

What ever happened to the Sigma Sigma Sigma colonization efforts?

Were they in vain?

I thought the whole point of doing it the way it is now was to weed out the girls who aren't really interested - trial by snow as it were. That's just the way it seems to me, looking in from the outside.

Just wanted to point out an inaccuracy in the first paragraph: Lady Gaga does not have a song called Star Dust. They probably meant Starstruck. It might seem minute, but they didn't even take the time to verify that.

That girl who posted the comment about having the "values centered recruitment" seems like a sanctimonious little twat I'd like to punch.

Just saying is all :)

Bid Day is on Monday this year. Is this new? I remember it being on Sundays in the past. (Then everyone would wear their new letters on Monday!)

This comment makes me want to punch somebody.