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.