But because I've only been in a sorority for a year and a half, I can't help but be curious - why was rush changed to recruitment and pledge to new member? Why were those words decided to be inappropriate? It just seems silly to me how much trouble people get in these days for accidentally uttering rush.

Believe it or not, this did cause major drama at a collegiate-alumnae event. An alumna who had been in charge of an open house event just before recruitment continued to refer to it as the Rush Open House, and would not change the marketing materials. There were actual tears, and accusations about socalism and communism. I believe Vietnam was invoked. It was dramatic and ridiculous.

Recruitment = actively seeking people who will meet specific criteria you are looking for (whether they had any interest in your organization at all) and persuading them to join your organization. NOT inviting everyone who pays a fee to Panhellenic and meets a GPA requirement to check you out.

Um, wow, no, that would be even more offensive than "baby" since it assumes you only pledge as a freshman. (Freshmen are referred to as "first years" at many schools) And since you already said you were a sophomore when you joined...

When we truly have "recruitment" and "new members" (i.e. women are initiated right away) I'll start using those terms...until then, as I said, they don't make any sense. I'm sure that there are people out there who are psycho about not calling someone a "pledge" (kind of what DGTess is talking about) but I tend to love to pull those kind of people's chains anyway.

Delta Delta Delta Pearls
 

The pansy, pearl and pine are all symbols in Delta Delta Delta. The explanation of these is public and included on many chapter websites.

New members are sometimes called pearls. The pearl in Tri Delta symbolizes the new member. The pearl grows and becomes a cherished jewel of great value and beauty.

I attended school after the new terms were adopted. However, on my campus, it seems there was always a mix of terms - in "formal" settings, it was recruitment and new members.. but "informal" settings it was sometimes rush and pledges.

Events were advertised as "recruitment," but girls would say they were "rushing". I even had a couple t-shirts that said "Rush AST" on them.

My nickname actually contains the word "pledge". And I just want to point out that I've never told someone that I'm "new membering a sorority".. it's pledging. I've always considered it such, and I wouldn't bat an eye if someone said that to me today.

I don't mind the word "recruitment" as much as I do "new member". Recruitment makes sense. New member doesn't.

And don't even get me started on the whole "baby" thing...

I love the therm "aspirant" (most used by NHPC if I'm correctly informed).

My group uses this term as well but in a different way.
Candidates for those signing up for "recruitment", aspirants for those going though their "new member/pledging period" and members for those who initiate.

"Baby Violet": A Plant, not a Person.

http://trisigmablog.org/?p=709

What excites me most about this is that AST's national president just posted this on Facebook :)

Do you call your NMs "violets"? I think that it is a nice term; no reason to add "baby".

Interesting...
I remember when I pledged KD (and we were still called pledges), Tri Sigma *(on my campus) had just started using the term 'New Member,' saying, "A pledge is a promise, not a person." How fitting that, *mumble, cough, mumble* years later, they've revamped the phrase.

Hey folks, you may want to get out your blood pressure meds. Apparently “recruitment” isn't a prefect term. Lafayette has a new vocabulary word:

What was once called rush has become Membership Exploration Week (MEW)

http://www.thelaf.com/news/sorority-...9#.UEkn7MjNnpM

The article ^^ has these tidbits, too:

“. . . This fall, 158 prospective sorority women showed up for MEW’s first day. About 138 women were matched with specific sororities on the final day of MEW. Only three could not be matched. The rest withdrew over the course of the week. . . “

Nah, won't work. They'll start calling the actives 'cats' and the PNMs/NMs 'kittens', and it'll be the whole baby animal debate all over again. There would be some comedic value in the chapters being referred to as 'cathouses', though.

Membership Exploration Week? It sounds like a porno movie.

Not only that, it completely negates the view that many groups hold that rush is 365 days a year and that formal rush is not the be-all and end-all of recruiting members.

It amuses me that the more politically correct schools try to be, the more they get the whole thing wrong.

So nice of President Umberger to reinvent recruitment and fraternity nomenclature for us. Maybe he'll rewrite our rituals for us next. :rolleyes:

Membership Exploration Week? It sounds like an event held at a children's museum.

No thanks.

Yes! "Recruitment Crush" just does not have the same ring to it.

Speaking of pledges, do they even wear pledge pins anymore?