Bashed by the school newspaper
 

So, my school newspaper published this today in response to the end of our formal recruitment.

http://thedartmouth.com/2009/10/16/opinion/verbum/

I am an alumna, so I shouldn't be as upset by it, but I am.

How does one respond? The idea of doing an unstructured recruitment "like the fraternities" is unreasonable for so many reasons. All the women would go for the top two sororities, and then an even smaller percentage would end up with bids.

I'm going to bow out and let the current Panhellenic deal with it, but I am still so upset.

While Panhell blames those women for not completing the process “in good faith” — whatever that means — we believe that a system that only works for 67 percent of interested women needs to be fixed.

Bitches need to maximize their options, even I know that.

Senusret I, this just made my morning. I laughed out loud because some days this is what I wish I could say!

REP!

(Another message board I frequent also uses vBulletin and they have the option of repping a post you like. Sometimes I think we need that here.)

I notice they don't have a comment section... hmmm.

I wonder who wrote that and what their experience with the NPC is.

Also, question: Does Dartmouth not COB? Or does the paper just not know about it? I can't imagine with a brand new chapter that ALL chapters are at total... but I could be wrong.

I'm tired of the misleading stat of how many PNMs got Bids out of how many started Recruitment. Why is it the system's fault that some PNM had an "XYZ or nothing" mindset, then quit when they dropped her?

Also, if folks are going to use that stat as an argument in favor of changing to fraternity style Recruitment, then please provide some fraternity placement stats for an accurate comparison. How many guys actually get bids compared to the number who sign up for/attend Recruitment events? These critics seem to think fraternities go around slapping pins on everyone who was invited to/showed up for a Recruitment event.

It's also not just about Recruitment either. To be fair one needs to look at comparison stats on the number of pledges sororities and fraternities initiate out of the number of bids that were accepted. (Lane swerving, I'm no expert on fraternities so please correct me if I'm wrong.) Fraternities tend to view accepting a bid as only the beginning of the process for a new member to prove himself worthy of initiation. For sororities on the other hand, it is far less common for a pledge to have her pin pulled.

Neither system is better or worse than the other. Each has its own pro's and con's.

The news story in the same paper makes clear that the lower numbers were the result of dropouts, not cuts.

http://thedartmouth.com/2009/10/14/news/rush
________

You're right Zillini. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the phrase, "It's just a vote to bid, we don't have to initiate him." Its not uncommon on my campus for chapters to initiate only seventy-five or even fifty percent of their original pledge class.

Grrr.... dear author of the news story. It is Kappa Delta - with an "a" NOT "Kappa Delt". Not sure if that's what they've begun to be referred to on that campus (not really a common nickname overall), but even if it were, it's not really appropriate to use throughout a news article.

So, if you take the 98 women who CHOSE to drop out from the numbers, you have 227 of the remaining 242 women receiving votes, about 94%. I notice they didn't use THAT stat anywhere though....

Most awesome comment ever!

Exactly what I was going to say.

So nice she told us twice! :D

Because I am Senusret I!

HOLLLAAAA!!!!

I think there's something buggy going on today - I've been noticing a lot of double posts.

Thank you! You've finally said what many of us are thinking! This made me laugh out loud too (even though it was embarassing when the person next to me gave me a funny look when I did it).

I (obviously) agree with all of you. And, the 94% would be even more impressive if we looked at the percentage of girls who received bids after they went to pref night and maximized their options. Than number would be 100%

I guess it just bugs me because it seems like all of campus gets an board. No one ever asks about fraternity bid percentages. I know at least 1 house where over 100 guys come, 70 "Shake out" saying frat X is their first choice, and the brotherhood only gives like 30 bids. At least in the Panhellenic system, those other 70 guys would be given a chance for a bid at another fraternity.

The sad thing is that there are sorority women on the opinion staff who would have contributed to that article. It seems we've become a scapegoat.

It does worry me that our acceptance rate has decline over the years. Part of the reason we went through expansion was to ameliorate this problem, but instead the numbers continued to fall.

DGTITY???? :D

It kills me how at the big southern schools, you can hear things like "3000 girls started rush and only 750 got bids!!" bandied about like it's a badge of honor, and here the exact opposite - every single girl who thought about rush didn't get a bid, so Panhel and its system should be burned on a pyre.

Not to mention that they should have figured that numbers would go down, as many of the women who would go through rush already are in the colony. Doesn't that usually happen everywhere?

DP - is the Dartmouth Review still in existence? Aren't they a little more intelligent about this sort of thing?

Do the locals try to hit quota/total as well or do they not really give a shit if they don't hit it?

I was wondering where she was. She'll be all over this one.

DGTess would be my guess.

Hahahahaha...Oh wow....I love reading your posts (aside from the bright color that hurts my eyes but at least it distinguishes what posts are yours) because you always say what you are thinking. I didn't realize tha DGTess felt that way but I guess that shows how little I really pay attention to that stuff.

I think quota and formal recruitment is important because if we didn't have it-it would take away the whole "selectivity" of the system. I don't believe in a caste system where we should feel superior to other orgs because I believe in Greek unity but I think it is good to be selective. Think about it-we are selective about who we choose to spend our time with (friends) so why do people have an issue when we choose to be the same way in regards to Greek life?

[QUOTE=DartmouthPanhel;1858216] . . . .
I guess it just bugs me because it seems like all of campus gets an board. No one ever asks about fraternity bid percentages. I know at least 1 house where over 100 guys come, 70 "Shake out" saying frat X is their first choice, and the brotherhood only gives like 30 bids. At least in the Panhellenic system, those other 70 guys would be given a chance for a bid at another fraternity.
. . . QUOTE]

A few days ago the campus paper did publish semi-complete numbers for fraternity rush / recruitment:

http://thedartmouth.com/2009/10/13/news/rush

But what DartmouthPanhel said seems to ring true -- the paper complains like crazy about Panhellenic recrutiment, but not fraternity recruitment.

And the article you linked just says how many each house took. It doesn't say "200 men dropped out of the recruitment process because it was so horrible" or "only 65% of men went through rush got bids".

The Dartmouth Review does exist, but it's hard to tell what their point of view will be. They are pro-Greek, but also pro -"times of the good old boys". So they might jump on the "sorority rush should be just like fraternity rush" bandwagon.

Wasn't she the one that supported that chick who blogged about Sorority Recruitment (or something about sorority recruitment) like a year or so ago? Like she was the only one who actually left comments on the blog and added more to the already inane posts that person made?

Or am I thinking of someone else?

AMEN!

haha. It's the SAME lame people who don't know anything about the system who write these stupid opinion articles every year. They evidently also need to take a course in proper math because they didn't even subtract out the women who left the process on their own.

It cracks me up how pissed off this person is that they didn't 'fix the system' like it's something they could just do on their own as if they didn't belong to an umbrella organization that made all the rules.

There are several parts of that article that are, IMO, just bad writing! The part that says "“in good faith” — whatever that means —" was just stupid. Terribly rude and opinionated.

Quality journalism. Other than sounding unprofessional, if you don't know what it means, you need to ask so you can put it in the article. It's obviously written by someone who didn't get what she wanted during recruitment. Boo hoo.

I'm the mother of a Dartmouth student who went through Rush last week to disappointing results. After exploring what happened, I believe the issue as this: So long as only 2-4 sororities on campus are perceived as "desirable", then most of the 200 or so women who don't pledge these chapters will feel slighted. (And don't start claiming ALL the sororities are good. It's a fact this is the perception on campus.)

That's why it's a problem with the system. It's not the PNMs' fault it's been ingrained in their heads over and over that certain sororities are not good. (For instance, Ivy Gate Blog described one sorority's members as "Deferred KDE's", another's as "weird and slutty" and said about another, "If you end up a sister here, you'd have been better off not rushing in the first place.") Can you blame someone for not wanting to be part of a sorority which, even for invalid and obviously provocative reasons, has that reputation?

Dartmouth desperately needs a public relations campaign to raise the desirability of the less-selective sororities. (Some other changes, such as rushing before fall term so athletes can participate more fully and more "informal" rush opportunities during freshmen spring would also be helpful, i.e. a structured system for sisters to meet PNM's for lunch at Collis, have a picnic on the Green etc.)

DartmouthPanHel- I can tell you're doing all you can to give a good rush experience to as many girls as possible. No wonder you're feeling frustrated by The D editorial! Is there any discussion among Panhellenic members about raising awareness of some of the less-selective sororities? This may be a sensitive subject to bring up in a group setting, but surely would help the overall situation.

Dartmouth has such a strong, cohesive student body and alumni network. Surely the school can work that same magic to improve the perception of certain sororities on campus.

Someone please tell me that I misread the article about IFC rush. There is a Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity at Dartmouth? KKK? I'm sure it's older than God and dates before the second group, but still.....

First, let me say my daughter, after an initially disappointing round of rush, did get a bid and pledged a sorority she's excited and happy to be a part of, so this is not a "sour grapes" post on my part. (Now that I reread my message above, I see it was misleading.)

I agree that it's not the responsibility of Dartmouth to make PNM's interested in a chapter that they choose not to be interested in. That situation happens on every campus.

My point is that Dartmouth has an institutional problem where only 2-4 sororities are considered "desirable" There's a huge discrepancy between the two tiers, leading many girls to withdraw from Rush rather than pledge one of the others. And I'm making this observation as someone who participated in a sorority on two different campuses and is active in my alumnae group. I really believe the situation is different at Dartmouth than at most other campuses.

You're right that Dartmouth really has no formal responsibility to improve sorority reputations (and, who knows, maybe they've already tried to do this), but with so much time and effort spent on other fronts, including a new computer program, I hope they consider this one, as well.

Until the school -or more accurately Panhel- addresses this underlying issue of perception, a large portion of rushees will continue to be dissatisfied. Dartmouth does community-building so well (DartmouthPanHel will attest to that!), some help from them might be all that's needed to improve the situation.

This was a general discussion about an editorial in the Dartmouth newspaper regarding sorority rush. I was trying to give a perspective about WHY the editorial was written and constructive criticism about what could be done. My daughter did exactly what Panhel recommended she do and isn't complaining about the situation. In fact, she's excited and happy about her choice, as am I.

To debase this discussion to a personal attack is disappointing, to say the least.

I'm outta here.

You didn't misread.

Kappa Kappa Kappa Fraternity, also known as Tri-Kap, was founded in 1842. The Wiki claims that it is the second-oldest local in the country.

Please don't that post throw you. It's by a poster who has been banned so many times we've all lost count, but he keeps coming back under new usernames, thinking we won't recognize him. Ignore him.

Not the PNM's fault????

Is this not an Ivy League college?

All of a sudden, the day they get their acceptance letters, they have no more discernment?

Fwap.
Fwap.
Fwap.

Thanks, Mystic and Theta! I'm new on this board and thought maybe chopper's post was typical!

Minus the smilies.

For a student body made of the best and the brightest you think they'd have the ability to think for themselves and make an educated decision about a group instead of listening to gossip.