LMAO, this is way more jaded than anything I thought of.

As with many other things in this country, references of any sort (or lack of same) are something that started out positive and got warped along the way into a tool for keeping people in line or putting them into a designated niche as quickly as possible.

Three points to DeltaBetaBaby!!!

The whole point seems to be to ensure that only the "right" kind of girls get bids - girls who had moms and aunts and grannies in ABC (or at least in some greek letter organization). Not Johnny-Come-Lately riffraff who might be from a family who (shudder) didn't attend college.

Having been a first generation college grad who would never have joined a sorority if recs were necessary (since I wouldn't have known to get them), I am strongly anti-rec.

The legacy issue is tougher. I was thrilled for one of my Theta girlfriends, who was able to attend her daughter's initiation into the same Theta chapter, and for an ASA sister whose daughter joined ASA at another college.

When I was at PSU, legacies weren't the issue they are now, but I still remember thinking "why would the sorority your mom was in 25 years ago have any bearing on the group that you fit in with today?"