Unfortunately I think it is a lot easier to fall.....this seems to be the case in much of life in general.

We didn't have a final vote, but there were those who did not get initiated. We had what we called "Diamond pledges" who had a second semester of pledgeship and after that if they did not get initiated they were pretty much buh-bye. We also had the option of revoking pledgeship but it had to follow the normal channels that any member would.

It is amazing how things change. Fortunately my chapter is still extremely strong. But without naming names I have seen girls walking around wearing letters that they would not have had a PRAYER of wearing when I was an active. On the flip side, I have seen girls walking around wearing letters that they would never have accepted at that time. And so it goes....

Nowadays with Greek life not having the popularity it used to, a lot more seem to be falling down than coming up, but I have seen it go both ways.

We could vote for someone to go through pledging again, but we could NEVER revote on someone - that was considered "blackballing" and hazing. Pretty much once we had bid her we were stuck with her unless she quit (of course, allowing repledging is supposed to do that - tick someone off and get them to quit). I think this might have changed now though, I'm not sure that repledging is even allowed anymore.

letters yet, justamom?
 

so did your daughter bring her new letters home for thanksgiving?
:p you should be so proud.
mmcat
:D

They will be initiated (she thinks) in Feb. All is clear for those remaining with the exception of grades. I don't think that will be a problem for any of the girls.

My "second son" brought my daughter home and stopped in for a
while. Lawdy, lawdy, did I get an earfull! He is a fraternity pledge this year, and his house is very active. If you ever want to know what's going on, ask someone of the opposite sex! I really think guys talk (gossip) more than girls. Suffice it to say
I'm REALLY happy where she is at in all aspects of her life. I would like to add, GIRLS-GIRLS-GIRLS, word DOES get around. There is a confidence between us, he knows he can talk freely but others might not be so noble or discriminating about who they tell what.

mmcat-what's going on in YOUR life these days? Anything new or exciting?

Carnation-that's pretty funny! So, we have the walk of shame- would that episode be called Chicken Run?

So, most seem to think it's easier to fall. I think that may be true.
When one falls, another must rise. Greek Life at LSU appears to be strengthening and most of the sororities made a general upward move in terms of numbers and "great girls" pledging.
Here's hoping it continues.

hi just a
 

not much new and exciting. mine is actually pretty dull.
i teach high school in socorro. we are on year round which means we are coming off a three week downtime. we started in july, will get two weeks at christmas and then three in march and then out in june and back in july.
sounds like it's all good for your daughter. that's neat.
cheers
mmcat
:p

I think that's great that your chapters are so strong.....I think a fundamental difference, though, at least from my day, is that the seniors were the lifebood of our greek system. They were the ones with the most invested, the deepest relationships, and it seemed like everyone was trying to suck as much out of it as they could before it was too late. It's a shame that a lot of seniors now don't stay involved.....it's over so quickly and then you have your whole life to devote to work and everything else. My biggest regret is that I didn't get more involved my freshman year. I was doing a lot of other things and it took me awhile to find my niche in the chapter, figure out who my girls were going to be. I missed almost a whole year of quality Chi O time!!!

"Burnout" may relate to the chapter's and individuals level of involvement. For an example, here is my daughter's schedule.
Sun-chapter study hours, church. Mon-an org. meeting, sports practice,chapter meeting, study hours, Tues- mentorship, org meeting, study hours, Wed- sports, Greek night at the clubs-she would go but not stay too long. Thurs-mentorship-mixer. Fri-Mixer Sat-SLEEP LATE-game/date. There were other study hours throughout the week and the girls are expected to eat at the house at least once a week. All of the outside organizations as well as the sorority have retreats. This is a lot of scheduling! Add to that, trying to keep your grades high and all the other little chores that go along with "independance" and you can see how some would be overwhelmed. Now, what if the girl had to have a JOB!

I've talked to some parents of Sophomores who say their daughters pulled back from their Freshman level of involvement.
Reasons range from losing touch with their "other" frends, grades slipping, not getting the "warm fuzzies" from their sisters, work, on and on.

The saving grace in my daughter's case was when their pledge trainer said "Delta Gamma will NOT be your whole life." They made them get out and keep in touch with life outside the chapter. It did mean an additon of an activity or two to an already busy schedule, but it keeps it from being repetitive.

Juniors are expected to live in the house, so that would help keep the older ones involved. Parents' Day, we didn't stay for the game and had dinner here in town. I ran into a Senior of XYZ and asked why she wasn't at Homecoming. Basically, she said she'd been to so many games, so may parties, it was no big deal to miss it. She was looking forward to getting out and starting her life.

oh if she only knew that someday she will miss it and the starting the life part could have been put off for just a bit longer, but I can understand this girl's burnout

Burnout is inevitable with all of the overprogramming. We had a real problem with it. Everyone wanted to have these philanthropy weeks....ie Sigma Chi Derby Days, DG Anchor Splash, etc. There were events every day and night that you were expected to attend so your chapter could win. It was tough enough at our school, with only 7 sororities and 13 fraternities. I can't even imagine some of these schools. Plus there is Homeless Awareness Week, which was big at Kent because it was part of the Triple Crown (H.A. Week, Greek Week, Songfest.) Plus there were date parties, formals, mixers, casual parties, greek nites, study tables, committee meetings, etc etc etc. In Chi Omega we were required to participate in at least two outside activities. It didn't have to be campus related, but we had to be able to prove it was a real activity (for example one of mine was participating in my community theatre.)

I know Kent has been combatting the overprogramming for years. I think now the "weeks" are down to a day or two. It was a lot of fun, like when we only really had Derby Days, Paddy Murphy Week, and Anchor Splash, but then everyone started trying to have a "weel" and it got out of hand.

JAM, that is SO TRUE! I can well remember being on both sides of that. Spring of my freshman year, the bars around Pitt sponsored something called "Greek Bar Night" (we weren't politically correct back then, remember) during Greek Week, where Greeks could buy a T-Shirt for 5 dollars and wear it to the participating bars and get in and drink free (we had lots of fun finding "creative" ways to wear those ugly-ass shirts :)) We were all up in the suite getting ready to go out and I remember asking the President why she wasn't going and she said, "I've been to three of these things already, I'm just sick of them." I remember thinking "How could ANYBODY be sick of this; it's so fun!" Sure enough, three years later I WAS sick of it! But it was great while it lasted and I'm glad I was so active my first three years.

I wonder how much of the "burnout" has to do with chapter size. Like, maybe with smaller chapters, if two or three people stop doing stuff, things get really jacked up.

We had three seniors last year, and they were the most involved in the chapter, because they had seen the chapter through bad times, great times, and shaky times. Our current seniors are all either relatively new, or spent time abroad, so most of it's new to them or they're really excited about being back. We offer a lot of incentives to seniors who remain active, too.

What kind of incentives? We have senior burnout too and it would be great to do something to help.

I am sure chapter size can be a factor, but participation rates are a major issue too even in a larg chapter. We had well over 100 girls even my senior year, and there were at least 15-20 girls in each class. But for whatever reason, it seemed that the same people were out there participating in things time after time. You had your core group who were the heart and soul of the chapter and carried everything. Having been a part of that group, I know how much of a toll it can take. We finally started making things mandatory, which is pretty sad because people should want to go to things...there would be a $50 fine for an unexcused absence.

I have never, ever understood why people pay dues and then never go to things. Why are you wasting your money? if you don't want to be there, get the hell out.

I don't mean the seniors who are graduating or the people with lots of other activities who WANT to be there...I mean the people who show up for mandatory meetings and ritual and never anything else...mixers, enrichment events, even hanging out at the house. I don't know about y'all but I certainly didn't love sister meetings enough to have my dues be solely for the privelege of attending them. :p

I love the way his thread has evolved. I would really like it to be just random conversation as it seams to be heading. Maybe we could change the name of the thread.

On burnout-The Sigs had an event in Houston, The Wild Game Dinner. The Alums who were hunters donated a portion of each season's bag to this night. The Little Sister (though a subserviant role) served the courses that the actives, along with alums, roasted. It was cocktail attire and LOTS of future contacts were made that night. There were NO drunken displays and it was quite "grown up". The turnout was spectacular. Maybe we need some age approptiate activities for the upper classmen. Give them a reason to attend. It wouldn't hurt the younger crowd to gain experience in a more mature situation either.

This is the time when you will be embarking on your independant life and looking at Jr. League or other "Societies". Contacts are so important, so why not create a situation that would attract those who are interested.

Wouldn't this be an arguement for letting more upperclassman-specifically juniors-join. In my pledge class I was a junior and there were several others and we were so excited to be there that we were the most active-not burned out at all by the time we were seniors. The freshman were also active but they were trying to still figure college out, sophomores were also active but knew they had 3-4 more years of being in the sorority. Being juniors we knew our time was limited and knew that we had missed out by not joining as freshman/sophomores so we really made an effort and were involved in everything. I guess if you have strict 4 year programs at your school then having more juniors join might be hurtful down the road b/c of losing them to graduation but most universities are not like that and it can take 5-6 years to get a degree. Any thoughts on this?

One thing sororities say is they have a higher 4 year graduation percentage along with higher GPA's. (Most parents say it's now 5 years) Add to that all the explanations about dues, I can see both sides. Your example is universal. When I was in Jr. League, all of us complained about the amount of time we had to spend. It really was like going through pledgeship again. I remember being pregnant, as were others, at the time and we had to be very careful selecting the meetings we might miss. Some of the girls were as young as 22. I was 29. All of us felt the League should have looked more to older women. By the time you had the freedom to go to all the meetings, you hit alum status.

We lost so many-I was one-because we felt if we were going to give our time as volunteers, we would do it for projects our kids were in, like helping their teachers,school carnivals or the team sports. I think priorities are different for many young people and the cost of college is increaing every year. Time really is a commodity.

This is a bit off the subject but, I've heard, and this could all just be a rumor, That one, possibly two sororities are coming back to LSU. I'm a bit skeptical about all this, but Justamom, I was wondering if you heard anything. If this is true, I'm all for it. Maybe it will allow less girls to be cut from the whole Greek experience.

hi jam
 

been awhile...
how's your daughter doing?
mmcat
:D

ThetaLove---Yes, there are "rumblings" of bringing another sorority back on campus. It sure would help, but they have a real problem with housing and now, there is something about PARKING for the students being such a huge problem that it could have an influence (DON'T ASK ME HOW) Maybe h2oot knows. If they can't be in the vicinity of the other houses, it would be really rough-to say the least. Almost all the sororities support the concept of bringing a new chapter to campus. My own opinion is get the show on the road, but it may be prudent to wait and see if the recruitment numbers hold up.

mmcat-how nice of you to ask! Things are great! Went to the luncheon they had and met a ton of her sisters. I can't tell you how impressed I was. Talk about FUNNY! I laughed the entire time! When I left, I didn't cry- first time) I have NEVER seen her so HAPPY! She has grown so much and she loves her sisters you can just FEEL it (Something I never experienced to that degree). They are in Florida and so is every other LSU sorority and fraternity. This coming week is Greek Week and Song Fest. You kow that will be a blast! The following week is her formal. NO DATE YET AND NO DRESS!!! She said it's no biggie (date that is) she will grab a friend so she can have a good time.

She is getting an apt. with three others and there are tons of DGs in the complex. Now what am I NOT talking about----OH -------GRADES!!! Well, they aren't as pretty as I had hoped, but they are better than MINE were my first year! Better than Hubby's grades as well! They are better than last semesters.

Her friends...well, that's all kind of sad. Some have left and come home or changed to smaller colleges. One is really unhappy---didn't get initiated due to grades, and the BSU or is it L circle still thinks she's going to hell. Those that are happy in their GLOs have cut themselves off from others. She didn't because she has so many outside activities that put her in contact with GDI's. She said that is DG's strong point at LSU-they are active in every aspect of Campus life and their HANDS ON visibility is high. For the most part, students recognize DG and have a very good opinion of them. I'll quote her, "Unless you just go to class and straight home or to work, you know a DG" This suits her to a "T"!

JAM, I'm glad everything is going well for your daughter. I remember when you posted her recruitment story. It's great that everything worked out for the best! :)

What is the L circle?

Leslie-Thank so much............What a blessing!!!

Billy-At LSU, the Baptist Student Union (This is what I'm not sure about, the last letter) BS Life-, BS Club, is REALY a strong organization with equally strong beliefs. This is indeed wonderful and honorable. It has been her experience that a large percentage of the membeship SHE IS IN CONTACT WITH look down upon Greek Life. The funny thing is, two guys she is consideing asking to her formal are active in this club. They know she can take or leave drinking and like her for who she is...have even defended her when she (and Greeks) were verbally attacked by some girls during lunch. This is the group some of her HS friends have become vey active with.

just thought I'd bring this up to refresh us all about LSU...

When I was in Baton Rouge K drove me around to see all the Greek houses. I was in AWE. They're all simply just beautiful.

I also got to meet a bunch of Greeks that one time when we went bar hopping in TigerLand.

I can't wait to go back!

Sandy, that is what I hear and see in checking Chapter Web Sites of LSU.


I miss justamom!:(

When My PC went down, I lost Her email and have not heard from Her!:(

For us peons who dont have nice homes to set our Chapters in we love to hear about those that do!:)


Glad You got to take such a huge road trip.

Here's the sequel to the 2001 thread.:)

Oh, I miss justamom. She was great! :(

justadaughter should be an alumna now! How time flies...

Good time for a bump!
And aren't you an "anciana?" :p

Yo? Una anciana? En ninguna manera! ;)

Has anyone heard from JAM? I would like to get in touch and see how she is doing.

Justamom disappeared from the face of the earth. Several of us know her name and city but not even the AXOs have been able to reach her.

Guys, this is a great sequel to her "having a blast" thread.