But would you have a problem pledging a sorority that wanted to pledge you, but was not allowed to due to some alumnae throwing their weight around to prevent it?

(I am speaking from the perspective of a BGLO member and our GLOs tend to have rich traditions of alumnae/alumni who either never go away or take years to go away. LOL.)

As an aspirant I wanted to know who I was expected to impress and whose opinion mattered. It was clear there were graduates who had power. Yet and still, I respected the fact that the current chapter members were able to tell the graduated members "what's what." That impressed me and made me respect the chapter and sorority at large. I didn't want to be a member of a chapter full of punks who got run over by graduates, advisors, local collegiate and alumnae chapters, and the school.

The analysis isn't always that deep. These Alabama PNMs have close friends in the chapters and they want to eat meals and go to social events with those friends. So they joined. Some NPC members, of course, have a much richer connection to the organization and its history, or may gain that feeling over the course of decades, but for new members, it may be just that simple.

I think the vast majority of NPC members start out with only the surface stuff in mind. That connection builds over time, and even then for most of them it ends with graduation. This is one area the NPHC has it all over the NPC and I think working together on some joint initiatives would be really valuable. Or eye opening at the least.

But there is a deep and pervasive attitude about "winning" at rush. If you get the top chapter on campus you've won, even if they're a bunch of hos who you have nothing in common with. It seems to me this is NOT the way NPHC aspirants perceive the process at all, partly because it is not her expectation to pledge at 18 and also because she knows going in she's going to be an active part of this group for the entire rest of her life. Most NPC pledges (except the ones who frequent here or have mothers who have stayed active, which is a teensy fraction of all pledges), don't even realize there IS sorority life after college.

This is romanticizing NPHC groups/members/aspirants to a ridiculous degree...and dissing NPC groups/members/aspirants to the same level of ridiculousness.

I agree.

I only used the BGLO disclaimer to discuss the culture of graduates who influence chapters and to spare people from saying "but you're NPHC...."

In other words, even in GLOs with traditions of influential graduates, SOME chapters know when and how to tell the graduates to go to hell and they don't need national news and school intervention. They handle it within the chapter and within the GLO if it goes beyond the chapter.

The chapters in this news story need to learn how to handle business (probably before seeking new members) and I still am not convinced (not like my opinion matters) that this 100% the alumnae. Some of it but I wouldn't be shocked if they were used as a scapegoat.

Yes to all of this.

This saddens me but I'm sure there's some truth to this. I hope there are ways this can be changed

We do this in our Alumnae PanHellenic Association here in Georgia!

Looking at [REDACTED]'s facebook page, it appears she has been hanging with Theta's for several years at Bama...

I think you should edit this and take the woman's name out of your post. She didn't ask anyone to facebook stalk her and post her info here.

I second this. I would be disturbed to find my name floating around on a message board because someone was creeping on my Facebook.

Anyway, I hope these women are happy in their sororities and that the sororities and alumna at Alabama continue to pledge amazing women in the future, regardless of their race.

Rough year for Greeks at Bama, according to ESPN Saban has taken away the student organization block for football games.

"Alabama suspended the block seating privileges of 20 student organizations on Friday, a day after coach Nick Saban criticized fans for leaving early during games."


http://espn.go.com/college-football/...-leaving-early

I believe it's only for one game (for now). I agree that if these organizations are always the ones leaving early, then they shouldn't have priority seating. However, you can't keep every student from leaving the game early. If you're winning 56-3 and there are 10 minutes left in the game, I would expect that not everyone is going to stay until the end, regardless of whether or not they're in a student organization.

ETA: And how can you ban organizations from sitting together? (the third offense listed in the article)

Coach did not take that away from them. The SGA President, in accordance with the rules of the student handbook, suspended block seating for ONE GAME for 20 of the 36 organizations who applied for and were assigned said seating. They will get their seating back for the next game (LSU). If they do not abide by the rules for a second time, their seating will be suspended for the remainder of the year (which would be one more game).