And that's student population, not Greek population, right? So this is one set of numbers to use when comparing placement outcomes. But what I'm interested in is the percentage of instate/out of state sorority rush placement. I think it's a lot more diverse than people think, and the childhood connections are helpful but not as critical as some think. Based on the numbers we've run, I'm right, but that is for only 2 schools which is not helpful in the big picture.

For the sorority members/alums who don't want to share lists due to security concerns, please feel free to share the lists minus the names (and high schools for that matter). I personally don't care one bit who the girls ARE. I wasn't even looking at that column except for alphabetizing purposes. I just want to know who pledged from what state, and to a lesser extent what city.

As a market researcher who deals with statistics on a daily basis I see this all the time. That's why when I write reports, I often add "results may add to more than 100% due to rounding". :D

I know I am in the minority here, but I like that they are respecting the privacy of these women/students. Wasn't it just last year new members in the South were targeted via facebook by a person pretending to be an alumna and being super inappropriate? FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) is probably what is in play here, as what sorority a woman joins is personally identifying information. I sure as hell hope there is some sort of written consent on hand for the schools that publish name, sorority, and home town. The sororities individually sharing that information isn't illegal as they don't fall under FERPA, which is why ads are put in the newspaper no problem.

My school handles FERPA down to whether your name can be released as a scholarship winner, if you're on the Dean's list, published in the newspaper, even in the graduation program when one graduates. In light of recent events on my campus I'm happy we do that as it allows students to make their own choices and protect people on different levels.


I'm a huge fan of +/- error, or your "due to rounding" but it just made me laugh since it is on the page of a higher education institution.

TCU ZTA list, with photo (page 5).

http://www.tcu360.com/sites/default/...2011-08-30.pdf

I understand the school not releasing it - but sororities are now under the impression that FERPA means they cannot tell alumnae where a particular girl pledged. I get that it's a sick, sad, dangerous world out there, but really - if I wrote a rec, or am president of an alumnae panhellenic, odds are I don't want the information to stalk a girl (unless sending a note of congratulations is stalking.) Next year I plan to ask pnms to PLEASE e-mail me or whoever is president or vice-president with their results, although given that they are starting school and doing exciting sorority bid-day and early pledgeship events, that might be asking too much.

This is probably a dumb/obvious question, but can't you email them? I ask for an email address (and usually it's automatically on their resume) from each of my rec girls. Not for my purposes, but if for some reason the chapter needed it at a later point.

I really don't think the average collegiate chapter is aware of FERPA (heaven knows their parents aren't when they call professors and the university about their kids), but they are aware of their own RM policies which some groups stress to not put names, photos, email addresses, etc. on web pages, advertise when and where closed events are, and it sucks for you but it is the reality of the world we live in. You might think it is "sad sad" but I think college students and younger aren't taught enough about protecting their safety and privacy. There's a whole thread about a continual alumna perp in the Greek Life forum, who is operating in the region you want information about. I'm not surprised if between that and the facebook creeper last year information is harder to obtain than in previous years.

If you're writing recs you have the information for PNMs, so why don't you just contact them directly or their family? You answered the situation yourself, the successful PNMs are busy being college freshmen, and the collegians are recovering from recruitment. I get that it is important to you, but it isn't a priority for the chapters and I doubt that will change with super busy over programmed college students. In a perfect world alumnae receive thank you cards for submitting recs and updates about their chapters, but we don't.

I do encourage pnms to write; I am not going to contact them personally in case they did NOT have a successful recruitment and the last thing they need is a reminder. I would like to see the CHAPTERS be pro-active. Usually there is an alumna who is responsible for handling recs - she would seem to be the perfect person to do it. After recruitment she should have a little time to express the appreciation each chapter should have to those alumnae who write recs.

Some Gamma Phi chapter advisors are pro-active - I send a self-addressed stamped envelope with a sheet listing all the young women for whom I have written recs. Some return it, and some don't, so I think it fair to say that IHQ doesn't have a policy on it. Claiming privacy issues makes no sense. Sending me the results of those for whom I have written recs is in no way, shape or form a privacy risk for the girls - I already have their information, don't I? And it's not just idle curiosity. Our alumnae panhellenic has actives come and speak to pnm high school seniors in the spring, and we try to get a mix of chapters and campuses. Knowing where local girls are enables us to provide the best possible information to our high school seniors.

eta - and the "sic, sad" was a "Daria" reference. Yes, I am old.

This (particularly in bold). I know in the business world, it's becoming more important than ever to protect the privacy of clients and employees. People are just more instinctive this way...

Jinx!

I get that, and my chapter (way back in the day) did all this. I just think people are more wary and more busy these days. Maybe if you emailed your rec girls right before recruitment started to wish them well and "keep you posted" you might have a better response rate?

Poor KK Krenek - those initials! :eek:

I agree!

This I like and will do next recruitment season.

Do you mean Sick Sad World the news program that played on Daria?

So why not contact their family if they are local if you don't want to ask the young woman in the event she wasn't successful? Ask one of those local actives invited by your alumnae panhellenic for the information? Use all of your resources instead of counting on collegians to mail back your sheet or contact you? Find out who the alumna is who handles the recs and contact her (totally foreign to me, and not specifically for Alpha Gam, must be a thing where you live for bigger recruitment's) instead of the current situation.

The information is obviously very important to you, but the way we think our collegiate sisters should act, behave, and respond is not going to realistically change or happen so to get the information you're going to need to get creative while realizing we're not their priority and privacy is a factor, whether you believe it or like it. I'll own that I am currently a bit more sensitive to privacy and safety as a former professor murdered an alumna of my chapter last week, but frankly between that and the alumna perp thread it is obvious people aren't always what they seem.

Thank you - "Sick, Sad World" is what I meant.

If you will read my responses, you will see that it is not the collegians who I think should be doing this, but the alumna in charge of recommendations. I will take the suggestions to write BEFORE recruitment to encourage the pnms to contact me after recruitment. I wouldn't contact the families for the same reason I wouldn't contact the young women after recruitment. Also, I clearly stated why I was interested. I understand that you are sensitive to privacy concerns, but those don't factor in to my request that alumnae advisors let those sisters who send recs know the result of recruitment. Some Gamma Phi chapters even have pre-made cards they send. It doesn't take a great deal of time to check ___ did not pledge __ pledged Gamma Phi ___ pledged _____. That's it - you can do it under a minute. Those chapters who have crazy-go-nuts pledge classes also tend to be the chapters who have alumnae committees dealing with recs, so it isn't even a case of one woman being overwhelmed.

Idea...maybe a bad one, but...why don't you have those printed up and sent along with your rec to the GPhi chapter? Filled out with the PNM's name, a stamp and your address to return to? Then just send a sticky note on it to have the chapter please check the appropriate box and send to you once they know her status? Then all the "work" is done for them & they just have to check the box?