I am young (just going to be a freshman), so maybe having not been Gree yet, I am wrong, but the "dirty rush" regulations seem overbearing.

I think the movements towards no frills rush and all of that jazz almost seem to just be less fun. I know all panhel. wants all sororities to have a fair playing field to get members so they want recruitment to be as fair and level as possible where sororities can't win members simply through a fancy rush or by sweet talking. However, I feel like it gets to the point where it is stifling.

I think that having a silence during rush week makes sense, but to start it a month before is rediculous. If a PMN has friends in XYZ, it will influence their decision to some extent regardless of whether or not that friend was allowed to talk to them troughout July.

I understand also why members cannot promise invitations/ bids as - once number allotments whittles down the list - they may have lied to the PNM. However, I think it is crazy that members have to think twice about whether or not they can say something like "Hope to see you tomorrow." That is being friendly and kid to the rushee.

I guess I just think that when I am (hopefully) a sister, it will seem rediculous how fine the line is between a friendly and dirty rush

I wouldn't. Then again, I don't see a need for "enforced silence" outside of the specific (formal) recruitment week.

I think the rules seem especially harsh to discourage the idea of dirty rushing. People still talk to their friends, etc.-- they just are discreet and are sensitive about discussing their sororities.

A campus Panhellenic can not punish someone from another school or an alum. They can't fine a chapter for an offense committed by someone who is not a member of their chapter. NPC as a whole, however, says that during Recruitment Week, sorority members must refrain from contact with PNM's-- this includes all members of the sorority at all chapters, and all members from collegiate to alumnae status. That is also unrealistic-- you are going to call your legacy sister or your best friend who just so happens to be an XYZ at College Down-The-Road to talk, speak to your boss who is an alumna of ABC when you show up for work, etc. You can't have complete and total silence because you can't enforce what is not on your campus. But you can be discreet and you can do your best to follow the rules and not push a PNM toward your sorority when you know that to be dirty rushing.

I think the NPC concept of silence is as much about being ethical as it is about being realistic. I support the idea of silence and the enforcement of it on a college campus. This doesn't mean that Suzy Sigma at College-Down-The-Street or your Grandmother from ABC Sorority should dirty rush you, but they should be respectful of letting the PNM make her own choices.

But the Campus Panhellenic can put the fear of God into you. Most people will listen. Some won't. So there will be some dirty rushing, but it won't be done with the knowledge or sanction of that chapter or its recruitment committee. Most importantly, it won't be done on a wide scale.

It may seem silly to not be able to hug someone, say "See you tomorrow," etc. Ridiculous that your chapter will be fined if someone leaves the house with a paper cocktail napkin because it is construed as a "favor." But there's a larger reason and a backstory to why these seemingly idiotic standards are in place. So just accept it and move on. You know the saying that "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye?" That's exactly why you can't say, "See you tomorrow." Because someone took them literally and took action when they didn't get that invite back. So instead of "See you tomorrow," you are kind and nice and say other more innocous farewells, "Have a great day!" "It was so nice meeting you!" "Bye!"

As for no-frills rush, if you think you are missing out, think again. Recruitment week is a time for you to interview and be interviewed by prospective sisters. You're not here to be entertained with a mini-Broadway musical and to eat gourmet cheesecake. There will be plenty of time for that later. Conversation-based recruitment doesn't just level the playing field, it helps members from every chapter focus on what is important: people.

If sororities can cut out the frills, they can cut out a lot of time and money spent on things that have no bearing on the final result: people. You can dance, sing, cheer, chant and eat all the cheesecake you want on Bid Day and forevermore once your new members come running up to the chapter where they belong.

No-frills rush and silence rules are two totally different things. One really doesn't affect the other. There are campuses with ultra strict silence rules that are still spending tens of thousands of dollars on rush week.

Just so there's no confusion there :)

I think when (or if) you become a sister, you will feel differently about the situation. Having been in situations where other chapters were "dirty rushing," I know that it can be extremely disheartening when you have put a lot into recruitment. That is why the regulations are there. Not to be mean, but it is somewhat difficult to understand unless you have been a part of recruitment, on BOTH sides.

Okay, I am obviously not going to be dirty rushing anyone, but I frequently spend time in the summer talking up Greek life to girls who I think would be great members but think recruitment is only for Barbies.

And the idea that someone would have a policy that just generally defined that alums can't talk to PNM rivals the policy against certain types of drinking glasses for "referencing alcohol" for dumbest recruitment policy ever.

I agree with you on this one. I've even heard that on some campuses chapters are penalized if PNMs mention speaking to Greek family members and family friends! For instance, if Suzie's mom's best friend is an XYZ and she is overheard by her Pi Chi while telling another PNM that she talked to that XYZ alum about her party schedule, the Pi Chi would then be bound by the strict rule to turn in XYZ for a recruitment violation.

That's just insane.

I don't think that parents and adults should micro-manage a PMNs recruitment or anything, but if it's PNM initiated contact with someone that she knew before who is not a student at the university at the time, I think it's really unlikely to be dirty rushing and it's foolish of the college to try to regulate it.

I think it's great that recruitment is a scheduled and limited series of events and contacts between active sorority women and PNM during the rush process. But get into regulating contacts beyond that seems goofy.

On our campus we recently changed the rules because it basically consisted of almost three months of "let's avoid all rho gammas and pi chis".

Now we have something called Positive Panhellenic Contact. We talk, we laugh, in and out of our letters on campus, but we do not discuss recruitment/PNMs/anything negative or rude, etc.

We don't go out (off campus) together with letters or whatever but we can go out until the Rho Gammas receive their list of women and after that point it's strict silence. You still can't say "See you tomorrow!" to a PNM after a party or ask where she's attending that night.

I pretty much hated the rules and did my own version of Positive Pan. Contact because PNMs were getting creeped out. We looked like a bunch of frigid bitches that hated each other all summer before. You'd see people running past their Rho Gammas with eyes averted because they were afraid to even look at each other. (Can you make it more obvious? :rolleyes:). I have no problem walking, hugging/kissing/greeting any sorority woman I know because not only are they my constituents, they are my friends. And if some PNM decides that she's certain I'm an XYZ or whatever because she saw me talking to one and then that's what she wants to be, then so be it~hope she has fun on bid day!

Every Recruitment rule was put in place for valid reasons. 1) To protect a pnm from unfairly and insincerely getting her hopes up only to be disappointed if a bid from ABC doesn't come. 2) To insure that the recruitment process is fair to all Chapters participating. The problem is that it seems like some campuses have gone overboard in enforcing a few of these. I'm sure we've all heard stories of rule enforcement gone amok, getting fined for things that are in reality insignificant and practically uncontrolable.

My personal pet peeve is the Recruitment Rule where you get fined if a pnm leaves the house with a "favor" which has now been interpreted to include a napkin or cup or even a kleenex. I have to wonder if some pnm would seriously keep or cut a house because she left with a used kleenex in her hand? Heck, I doubt even a napkin embossed with the Chapter's name would hold that much sway over a pnm. :rolleyes:

Oops, sorry. /tangent

I'm with you ... somethings are just taken to the extreem of un-common sense.

and then there's the story of the chapter that got fined because PNMs left the house with glitter stuck to their shoes. :)

Slightly OT, I was dirty rushed and had absolutely no idea that going to a party a week before recruitment was not allowed.

Back to what you were saying, we're very mindful of the girls leaving the rush room. We did a question/answer round with different questions relating to what color Starburst the PNMs had. We made sure to collect all of the wrappers as we talked to them and placed girls at the door to make sure no one was walking out with anything.

Another sorority on campus gave out information packets; they claimed they had permission, staged an uproar at Panhel that they were being treated unfairly and that they got permission, and the Greek director said they absolutely did not. Their punishment? Picking rooms last for recruitment events (we don't have houses). Whoopdidoo.

Yes, on most campuses, the CPH has zero teeth, so there is really no incentive not to dirty rush.

I have mixed feelings about most of the rules.
I don't want to see girls be promised bid that they don't receive and I don't want to see groups undermine other groups by suggesting that PNMs not rush them.

But on the other hand, the IFC groups seem to get by with a pretty much free for all, and it seems like there'd be a happy medium.

I think every group should give out an information package for the PNM to take with them. Maybe they could submit them to CPC and CPC could even make the copies to make sure people didn't change them. The info could have the usual trivia about the orgs, and a breakdown of very realistic financial information that the girls could look at really carefully later and tell their parents about without having to be worried about what the group would think.

It's hard to think of info. packets as being a bad thing if everyone did them.

To me the only thing wrong with favors was that the groups competed and got excessive. There's no reason to ban girls taking a napkins or even plastic cups out of parties.

A campus culture that involves reporting groups for PNM taking napkins, talking to family friend during rush, or using the wrong shaped beverage glass, isn't healthy or productive, and if that's what recruitment rules with even the best of intentions yield, we need re-think it all.

recruitment at my school is super relaxed and with a defered recruitment and there are only 3 sororities with about 45 girls in the fall in 60-65 after recruitment and on each sororities informal party we give out an info packet for all pnm's.

it contains all the basic info on us and then i loved this part (each sorority does it differently though) info about each sister, my sorority did each sister had a half page with a few photos and some funny questions along with the basic ones. it was great to look through and see all the girls you've seen around campus and didn't know and find out more about them and who they are.

I remember reading about the glitter! That has to be one of the craziest Rule interpretations I've ever heard.

Here's another one. Actives must stay in their houses while greeting or saying goodbye to the pnm's. That's pretty logical in theory, right? Well it's been interpreted that "outisde" means the plane of the door frame. So if a hand waving good-bye crosses the door frame you get a fine.

Hearing all of that kind of stuff makes me want to get involved in NPC in some way. So, if a PNM can't have any contact with an alumna all summer, how do they get recs????

Well said, although a lot of campuses do info booklets that get handed out at registration or over the summer or something.

Baylor's get handed out at registration, I think. Either then or in the fall informational session, but I know it's early. There's pages about each sorority, costs for each, recruitment regulations, and a little bit of everything. I really like the one big book because there's a lot of emphasis on why going Panhellenic as a whole is a good idea in there as well.

go with your gut
 

Okay, so the thing is if it is during formal, there should be no contact with pnms at all outside of recruitment events. However, many organizations do it if they can keep it under the radar. You are not responsible for this decision, the chapter is. So I wouldn't worry about it too much because it's the chapter who will get in trouble if caught. However, if it bothers you that they are being unfair then go with your gut. On another note though... if it is not during formal, taking girls to dinner or having lunch together may be considered a COR for that chapter and there is nothing wrong with that as long as they aren't bid promising or buying your dinner. I mean if it is dinner in the dining hall, that is way different than to a 5 star restaurant.

at my school, we have all local sororities and deferred rush. Therefore, there are no rules on contacting pnms and the term "dirty rush" doesn't even exist because it's pretty much required.

Check with your sorority's exec board or Panhel representative. Some schools have passed really strict rules regarding myspace & facebook and it's better to be safe than sorry.

So.. our school calls the restrictions placed on actives before FR "normal social contact." Am I the ONLY one who finds this title ridiculous?? I'm sorry, but not being allowed to study with 'potentials' is NOT normal social contact. Having to refuse a Facebook request (which, for those of you who haven't hopped on that bandwagon, is akin to slapping someone in the face almost) is not normal social contact.

I wish they would just be honest and call it "acting like a stereotypical stuck up sorority girl that won't talk to you" conduct.

I honestly think not adding a pnm as a facebook is stupid. I understand that the rule is there to try to stop dirty rushing, but the truth is it really doesn't. People who are going to dirty rush are going to do it anyway. There are too many ways on facebook to talk to someone with out being there friend that there really isn't a need for the friend on facebook rule. I doubt someone who is bold enough to dirty rush is going to be bold(stupid) enough to do it out in the open and get caught.

This is why deferred rush gets a bad rap.

I would tell the Panhel that denying these things goes against one of the major tenets of deferred (i.e. PNMs get to know sorority members outside of the structured rush environment) and try to get them changed.

We don't have deferred. We do, however, have recruitment during the middle of first semester. So there's still several weeks where you cannot even ride in a car with a PNM...even if that 'potential' is graduating that same semester.

I find all of this very interesting coming from a chapter that has 3 sororities and COB all year long. There are definitely positives and negatives to all of these rules.

In some respects, we had similar rules. PNMs are not allowed to leave a recruitment event with "gifts", and we actually can't give gifts on bid day either, because PNMs still have the option at that point of not signing it, and to give them a gift would be convincing them to do so. We also can't bid promise or anything of that nature. But we can talk to/go out with any PNM at any time... as long as we're not paying for them.

It's interesting to see that even at larger campuses with chapters at 50+ members, equality for each chapter is still maintained. On my campus, the closest thing we ever had to "unity" among chapters during recruitment is what we call a "kick-off" recruitment party at the beginning of each semester, which I actually helped to create when I was Panhel President. Basically, it's like a formal recruitment night where PNMs are required to visit all 3 chapters for 30 to 45 minutes at a time in order for the PNMs to experience each chapter. In some instances, it helps girls to figure out where they really want to be. In other cases, girls already know where they want to be, and they go to the kick-off party because a certain chapter encourages them to go.

But it's competitive for us because while one chapter might get 10 girls in one semester, another chapter will get 3.

And to be honest, my chapter is the only one that has always followed the rules and not bid promised or things like that. One of the chapters actually got caught doing this a couple years ago and was penalized for it.

We're usually the chapter to get the 3 girls while the other chapter gets 10. But I'd much rather have 3 quality girls that we struggled to get than not follow rules and bid everyone we meet.

It's fascinating to see how many similarities and differences there are between campuses.