Does Omega have an automatic legacy admission clause?

I would love for my daughter (if I have one) to join my sorority, so I would have someone to share that with. However, I will not put pressure on her to join my organization, but she will be exposed to it. I think though that just by joining a GLO, we will have something in common. I find now, when I talk to my friends from high school, I really enjoy talking to my friends that are in GLO's about the way they do things, what they get out of it, etc... Even though they are in other organizations, we do have a common bond of being Greek.
Also, I would probably want my sons to join the fraternity that I hang out with the most (that is unless their father is in a different fraternity...) because I see what a positive impact it has on the lives of its members.

After I joined Alpha Xi my sister came to college with me. She did NOT want to leave high school let alone be Greek, but a roommate of mine encouraged her to go through Recruitment. On move in day....she and my parents came to my room where she preceeded to cry because she didn't want to be in college. I called a sister to sit with her while I walked my parents out and without Rachel knowing Buckley from Eve she just bawled in her arms for a half hour. Mind you we were breaking every NPC pre-recruitment rule out there, but she was my sister for Pete's sake! =)

She did join Alpha Xi (Amen she cut the wrong group for her second Pref! Devine intervention there!!), but to be honest I would have been heartbroken had she gone somewhere else. She even called my mother to say how much she loved Tri-Delta (had to give you kudos girls b/c my sister is awesome!) In the end we have great memories of our collegiate days together.

Our other sister doesn't want anything to do with our sorority....just because we are in it. We cannot figure that one out! If she did choose another chapter to join....I wouldn't be quite as heartbroken, but it would still hurt!

First - go carnation with 9 daughters! Alas, I'm stuck with only a couple boys, but have hope in a niece.

I think if I had a daughter that it would be impossible for me not to put pressure on her as I work so much with my organization and she would see how much it means to me. I think it would be more disappointing to me to have her go to a university without and Alpha Xi Delta chapter and pledge somewhere else because then she never had the chance to see if it was for her. I honestly don't know if I could resist putting pressure on her to join Alpha Xi Delta or putting pressure on the chapter to pledge her. One of the most special memories I have with my mother was when she was initiated into my chapter as an alumnae initiate. Because Alpha Xi Delta means so much to me it is another bond we share as mother and daughter.

Of course as I don't think I'm going to have anymore children (although accidents have been known to happen ;) ) I realize that I have hundreds of daughters in the collegiate women that I work with - they are the daughters of my heart - and how wonderful - they're all already Alpha Xi's!!!

My two cousins are in different sororities - Kappa and Alpha Phi. The older hated it and suspended her membership after a year the younger loved it and was a very active member of her chapter.

On the frat front, my cousin was a Sig Ep that was closed for hazing after he graduated. I hope by the time my boys are ready for recruitment, fraternities (and sororities for that matter) have realized that hazing doesn't get you anything but gone.

As for my niece, I've got 13 years to work on my her. I think it's time for her to start learning door songs! :D

It seems to me that legacies can get a little out of hand sometimes. My big is a 3rd generation ADPi and was released from all other sororities quite early. Her little sister will too when she goes through recruitment this next year. There was a girl in a friend of mine's recruitment group who was a 4th generation legacy but because the oldest sororities on campus have more legacies than quota coming in some years, they have to release some of them, and this girl just happened to be one they didn't like . So this poor girl not only felt like she let down her entire family, but she had nowhere else to go.

I realize that I might just not know what it feels like to have the legacy, but I would honestly be a little upset with my mom is she had practically forced me to join her GLO and not let me find for myself what she found. I think for the most part they were just so thrilled I decided to go greek, where I ended up wasn't the biggest issue. But then, that may come from that fact that I have a family member in half the NPC sororities on campus. When I have a daughter I would love for her to be an ADPi here, but who knows what the chapter will be like then or if she fits into it. I want her to be happy, whatever GLO she may join or even if she just wants to be a GDI.

I believe in treating our legacies with respect and accord, out of consideration for their mother, sister or grandmother. It can be complicated when the number of legacies coming through outnumber the size of a chapter's new member class!

And it is true that the non-legacy chapters can immediately dismiss a legacy without giving her a chance to try out her legacy sorority or the others at all. I have also known some legacies who to this day wonder if they only got a bid because of their status-- making them very insecure in their membership!

Those challenges aside, I believe the legacy policy is important and should continue as it is.

If I have a daughter who someday wants to explore Greek Life, my greatest wish is for her to find the happiness I have found-- in the sorority that is best for her! It would be a wonderful experience to share ADPi together, but not a deal-breaker in her persuit of sorority membership.

I personally feel that many legacies are pressured in joining houses based upon their parents or siblings. I know it is cool, but many people feel forced rather than chose it on their own free will. One guy in our chapter was forced to be a TKE by his older brother and that guy causes the most problems socially and ritually. I feel that legacies should be given the same treatment as non-legacies rushees, because they might not be the best for the house and honestly, the brotherhood is more important then taking a legacy

I think it would be one of the most special days in both of our lives if my daughter is Initiated into Alpha Gamma Delta someday. I really hope that she wants to at that point. She sees my involvement and thinks it's pretty special. If she did choose to remain a GDI or accepted a bid from another sorority, I would be disappointed. I have to be honest about that. I'd get over it though and would be glad that she found a place to call home.

Ladygreek-
No, Omega does not have an official "Legacy policy" to my knowledge. Back in the '80s there was a push to get more legacies to pledge. The Fraternity encouraged brothers to encourage sons to pledge. The reason: as I stated earlier in my previous post, the rationale was that legacies understood most by the example they received in their home from fathers what the Fraternity was really all about and thus would be better candidates than total outsiders. But this emphasis has ebbed away. But in reality,legacies do make up a substantial percentage of Omega neophytes. Not necesarily the father-son variety but those that encompass brothers, uncles, cousins, and very dear teachers and mentors, ministers,etc.

To the other respondants-
If you believe in the movement which your fraternity represnts why wouldn't you want your child to share that. Should you force them through guilt, cajoling or various kinds of pressure to do so. Of course not!!!! But the testimony I continually hear from neophytes is that some Omega man, be he father, brother, uncle, cousin, minister, teacher so impressed them that they want to follow in their footsteps. If anything those who have been drawn thusly typically exhibit a cetain reticence about becoming an Omega because of the seriousness of this which has been impressed upon them.

I wouldn't force my daughter to be a Phi Mu... I wouldn't make her feel bad if she didn't either.
I know of too many stories where it was so hard on the PNM if they were a legacy and wanted to go somewhere else...
It was really hard on one of my classmates--her sister was a member in one of the sororities (an active member) while her mother was a member of another sorority(all on the same campus). there were lots of tears, and it was hard on everyone when the girl joined the sorority her mom was in. It worked out though, because she would have not fit into the other sorority.

So what would level the field for legacies? I mean, they get the leg up (so to speak) in their legacy chapter, but may be punished on some campuses for their legacy status because the assumption is made that they will pledge/be pinned by their legacy org. What about not disclosing legacy status to any chapter except the legacy one? Or would this be hard to do...I don't know, I just think it would be a shame for a girl to get cut from every house just because of the chapter her mom pledged.

That is to true.

A Legacy dosnt make a Member.

Each Child of a legacy has to find the right place for them to be. Period.

Right or wrong, if they find the right place, then it is all good.:)

Let Them find Their Niche of Greek Life.:cool:

i know many sororites have the PNM mother contact the organization and let them know their daughter is going though rush. Fraternities are kind of the same way, I know our house, the Alumni usually brings his son down to might us, or the active member lets everyone know about his brother. Sometimes, it is hard for us to say, " He should go though the same bidding process as every other guys" B/C one guy one year just told us his brother was rushing, and many people were mad. He shoul have gotten a chance to look at the house. Sometimes, being a legacy is good. My friends lil sis is a triple Legacy of Tri Delta and she was one of the most hardcore girls they got.

At my school, each chapter only knows legacies that are their own. For example, I would know if a girl was an ADPi legacy, but I would have no way of knowing if she was an AGD legacy.

Is this a new rule? Because that's not how it was when I was there.

I've just never known it any other way...maybe it's just my chapter. The only person who knew was the formal recruitment chair.

I think that's just your chapter then. Legacy information is listed on rush applications and we all got to take a look at those so we saw who was a legacy to what chapter.

That makes sense. My best friend was our FRC last year, so I helped her make little info cards on each girl. We only listed the legacy info for ADPi legacies.

That's all that most of the posters in this thread are trying to say. I don't recall anyone saying they wouldn't want their son or daughter to follow their footsteps.

my little brother pledged frat.

pretty safe bet that i was the first in my family.

LOL!!! :p

Interesting. In Delta a legacy is a legacy regardless of chapter, and it can help or hurt depending where you are.

BTW, we define a legacy as a daughter, or sister, or mother of a member. We added mother a few years ago because of alumnae intake. But again, they do not get automatic admission. So it is more of a designation for the benefit of the family.

I think a lot of Panhellenics do this, too, though, so the legacies don't receive negative bias from their non-legacy chapters.

When I was at UCF, Panhellenic would make copies of the recruitment apps for each chapter. On the recruitment app, there is a section where PNM's fill out any Greek affiliations through family members. Panhellenic blacks out all those except the ones relevant to your sorority, so you may see a PNM is your legacy, but other than the obvious opaque black marker through the other legacy line items, you don't know to which other chapters she is a legacy.

I think it was a good system, but one that was prone to human error. IE: What happened if ABC got XYZ's application copies and could see all XYZ's legacies? It did happen here and there!

I think women also know if a PNM is a legacy to a different org by word-of-mouth, especially if PNMs went to the same high school, etc... as women in the chapter. In-house legacies are fairly obvious as well. Or the PNM could be super naive like me and just tell all the other chapters which org they're a legacy to during recruitment parties.

Girls write legacy info on their rush cards (girls fill these out themselves, not Panhel, so they get to choose whether or not to include legacy information), so we see it after the first round of rush -- but sometimes it comes up before then. If you ask a girl why she decided to go through rush, often the answer is, "Well, my sister joined AXO here a couple years ago," or "My mom was a Tri Delt at Northwestern and she wanted me to rush."

Like I said, "stealing" other group's legacies isn't a big thing here, so having the info on rush cards usually isn't a problem.

and if she goes XYZ, we're disowning her!
 

I think everyone has to 'fess up that while we are all publicly panhellenic, secretly we have that rival house we would HATE
our children/sisters/relatives to join - just because.

I come from a family where I am the only Greek member, so when I married my husband I bonded with his grandmamma because she was a founding member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter of Georgia, but neither of her daughters (who went to school in the 60s) went Greek. We always have little kappa - pi phi jokes with one another, but for the most part we just enjoy having someone else in the family who understands how much our sororities mean to us.

Anyway, one day we were talking about legacies with my husband's cousin (Who is a high school Junior). We told her if she joined Kappa she could wear my key, and if she joined Pi Phi she could wear grandmammas arrow - and at the same time we both said "...but if you join (XYZ) we are disowning you!"

We were kidding (well, mostly) but we all got a good laugh at it..

Probably the worst part of Recruitment for me is having to deal with some very unhappy mothers, sisters, grandmothers, or aunts (which we do not consider legacies) when a legacy gets dropped. That sucks royally! Sometimes they don't even understand when it's for grades because their legacy should be given special treatment.

Even though I hate it, I've made it clear to our Recruitment chair, President and everyone else in the Chapter to direct all those phone calls to me. I won't allow my girls to be raked over the coals by an unhappy alum. I'll take the heat...that's my job.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Zillini
[B]Probably the worst part of Recruitment for me is having to deal with some very unhappy mothers, sisters, grandmothers, or aunts (which we do not consider legacies) when a legacy gets dropped. That sucks royally! Sometimes they don't even understand when it's for grades because their legacy should be given special treatment.

I so agree with you. At my chapter we had issues with one guys because he wanted his brother in, and i was one of the only people to try to drop him. The active brother was pissed at me, but i told him that the best interests is with the chapter and letting in someone who does have the grades and is kinda a prick in is not health for the house

My younger sister was cut by all of the other houses on Pref day. She came home after picking up her invitations completely devastated. She had decided by that time that she wanted to be a Phi Mu--but she still wanted it to be her choice and not the only chapter left. We have great pictures from the two of us on Bid Day and formals. We had a year with both of us in the chapter.

I had told her that I just wanted her to be happy though. I am happier of course that she ended up a Phi Mu but I would have still been happy if she hadn't been.

Re: and if she goes XYZ, we're disowning her!
 

There were a couple of sororities my parents said "Join and you are disowned." This was, of course, going by campus repuations of chapters at a different school in the late 70s. I actually cut both of them, not because of what my parents said, but because I just really didn't click with them.

I can answer this question from experience on several levels:

1. I was a legacy, and experienced many of the pressures previously discussed, and from all sides. From my family, though they wanted me to do what was best for me, I still KNEW what they would LIKE to be the ultimate outcome, thus making me, the rushee, suffer from the proverbial "if a tree falls in the forest and there's no one there to hear it," scenario. From other sororities who knew I was a legacy, both from word of mouth, and because it was listed on the forms. And at that time, it was the way it was done. When my daughter was considering attending my alma mater, with several sororities, I was already questioning whether she should put on the rush forms that she was a legacy. Would it help her? Hurt her?

2. As a parent, we have experienced our oldest son attending a university that did have his father's fraternity, Kappa Sigma, but who chose not to be a part of the Greek system.

3. As a parent, our oldest daughter has chosen to attend a university that does not have my sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, and has not yet decided on whether to go through rush. So, I am already feeling a sadness that she will most likely not experience ADPi with me. (Unless she doesn't pledge a sorority as a freshman and transfers to another school with an ADPi chapter and gets a bid. Possible, but not likely.) However, I do VERY much hope that she will end up being Greek with one of the other sororities there, and that we can have the common experiences of sisterhood, candlelights, rush songs, rush skits, big and littles, etc.

And, as Carnation stated earlier in this thread, I didn't really think much about all of this until we began to approach the college years, and, like her, I was surprised at the intensity of my feelings. While it is obviously not the end of the world, as our children are bright and have made important life choices, there is a finality and sadness that they will not capture the part of college life that we so treasure. We do have a nine year old daughter that has seen how much it means to me and assures me that when she is in college "she'll be a part of my club!" Booya!

My legacy story
 

My sister was the president of her sorority at the time that I went through recruitment (she was on another campus). My campus had her chapter and there was honestly no doubt in my mind that I would go that chapter. I liked other chapters, but I also really like my sisters chapter. After the third round of recruitment, they released me, and as far as I am concerned, for no good reason. When they called my sister to tell her, they gave the excuse of "oh, there were just so many girls going through rush this year." My sister was upset and I was devastated. Needless to say, they didn't even make quota that year, which made the sting even worse, because had I been offered a bid, I would have taken it.

Fast forward 4 years, I love my chapter and thrived in it and wouldn't trade if for the world (i was even Greek Woman of the Year), but still I wish I could have shared that with my sister.

My little sister is going through in a couple years and she is set on joining my sorority. Im trying to get her to check out all the chapters but secretly im excited that she likes the girls that are here now enough to want to join in 2 years.

Yes--assuming the chapter was made up of nice guys he got along with. In any case, I'd encourage my kids to go Greek.

Re: My legacy story
 

While we're not required to take every legacy, we do need a good reason for dropping them. So if we dropped the sister of an active President at another campus and then didn't make quota, we'd probably have some explaining to do.

When I was a first-year alum, the Arkansas Pi Phi chapter dropped the daughter of our alum club president.:eek: I got the feeling it was by unanimous vote of the actives. I have no idea how they explained it to the alum club president, who was very active with the chapter.

If I had a son, I'd want my son to go Greek....as long as it's Lambda Chi Alpha! If the chapter is not up to par where he goes..well..he'll learn how to improve it.

Well, what can I say, That is MY BROTHER!:cool:

Got to know The Bond That He and I have!:D