Infraction stories
 

So, I've searched, and I can't find any threads dedicated to rush/recruitment infractions alone. For what not to do during Recruitment, please see the sticky of what NOT to do.

However, if anyone would like to share infraction experiences, feel free! From a members perspective, or a PNM. Things you've seen, participated in, heard of, etc.

When I was Pi Chi, I wrote up an infraction for a sorority (lets call them ABC) that bad mouthed another sorority (lets call them XYZ) during pref round to one of my PNMs. The comment was regarding a sister of XYZ that had died the previous fall. Totally unacceptable.

During my sophomore year, we had a girl accused of one. Rush (as it was called then) was very competative, and people were turned in for looking at PNMs for too long. We had an insane silence period that year, 5 days (first and last year for that, it usually was just a 24 hour period). You could say "Hi," to a PNM, or talk to them in class about class related stuff, and that was it. She was flagged down in the cafeteria (very public, open place) by a girl on her athletic team, who happened to be sitting next to a PNM (also a member of the same athletic team). Our girl said "Hello" to the PNM, and had a quick 2 minute conversation with the non-rushee teammate about team related stuff. She was turned in for an infraction for violating the silence period. When she went in front of the Director of Greek Life, however, the whole story came out. The PNM in question, who happened to have already dropped our group, also happened to be the Directors own niece. The Director called the PNM/Niece, and straight up asked her if our girl had said anything more than "Hello." PNM/Niece said "Nope, she said hello to me, and talked to Teammate for a couple of minutes, then left." Director then decided that no infraction had occurred, and later it was decided that the 5 day silence period was a bad idea. PNM ended up not even signing her bid card and dropped out of Rush right after Pref.

There were a record number of infractions reported that year, with only 2 or 3 being legit.

Ahhh, yes, that's a big one. There were such specific things you could/could not say. For example, I believe it was that you COULD say "I hope I see you tomorrow", because technically you could hope that you run into them in class, out, etc. But you cannot speak on behalf of the chapter and say "We hope you see you tomorrow" because it sounds like they will be invited back. (Mind you I can't remember if those were the EXACT rules, but it was something like that).

So I always just said it was nice meeting you/have a great day/good luck with recruitment.

Funny story
 

I will preface this by saying we didn't get an infraction for this, but we could have.

Just before the first round of recruitment started and we were all lined up to begin our chants, the doorbell rang. A poorly timed flower delivery arrived about thirty seconds before the beginning of rush. One of our girls had to shimmy out, sign for the dang things, and hustle back in -- all while the PNMs were standing outside.

I still laugh when I think about how bewildered the guy was as we were all trying to shoo him out of the way!

These were the exact rules as I remember them, for us. You could say "I", but never "we."

I think there are some pretty crazy recruitment rules. There is one in particular I find a little silly, I've never heard of anyone actually getting an infraction for it though.

We go outside the house to pick up the PNMs, and we can go all the way to the end of the sidewalk leading to the house, but if we as much as put a toe over the line and onto the public sidewalk that lines the street, that's an infraction. Usually the PNMs will come to us, but sometimes they're a little more shy and it's just awkward waiting there.

Personally, I hate the whole infraction business. I always say if you have to cheat to get women, well, what is that saying about your Chapter? I do, however, understand the need for rules. I don't understand people breaking them by say calling up a PNM and taking her shopping or to the bar (providing even a fake id) or for ice cream. They have all happened on our campus. I think dirty rushing goes on all the time in small doses and we just don't hear about it. We have a policy that if the women feel the need to file an infraction on another Chapter I will go talk to the recruitment advisor first to see if it can be resolved before filing. So far that has worked for us. I'm sure there are some really good infraction stories out there.

I think infractions get really childish, it became very tattle-tale-y on my campus during silence. I was so frustrated one year and sat in the middle of the student center eating lunch with a friend who I knew was not rushing and was a sophomore. One of my sisters said something to me about how risky that was later. I was just fed up and didn't care. If someone did tattle it was ignored and if it had gone further it would have been easy to prove that I didn't violate the rules.

But the silliness just to avoid getting told on even for NON infractions... ugh.

The only things I remember on campus were the violations of rules against going to the local bars. Being in the city, there were other options, but members were prohibited from going to bars within a certain radius of campus. We always thought it was silly since most PNMs shouldn't have been in the bars anyway.

What exactly are silence rules? I have heard them mentioned before.

I think I posted this somewhere previously...

When I was a Rho Chi the Rho Chis had to file an infraction against 1 sorority that involved several of their members who were notorious dirty rushers. This occurred the weekend prior to recruitment starting. But sorority members and PNMs were warned that if they saw each other, they should not interact besides a basic hello. Well, all the Rho Chis went to the bar and 2 of us happened to be in the ladies room and 3 of us sitting in an obvious location- not drinking, just hanging out. We watched as sorority members took PNMs into the bathroom and gave them beers to drink. The sorority members could have cared less that we were all there. Obviously the sorority got into a lot of trouble. Not only were they dirty rushing, but they were providing alcohol to underage students.

There's silence and there's strict silence. At least on my campus.

They loosened up our silence rules my senior year so we were allowed to say hello but no IM/Facebook/email/ or other face to face interactions. Strict silence was from the end of pref to when bids were given out. No communication allowed at all. Best if you just go home and go straight to setting up bid day in the morning. Saves a lot of trouble.

For us, it varied year to year. The one year out of my 4 was the funky 5 day silence period, aside from saying "hello." (Seriously, it was just "Hello," not "hi," "what's up?" "how's it going?" etc.). but we always had a STRICT no contact silence period between the end of preference and when the new members ran to their new chapters during bid day activities. Once the PNM stepped foot out the door at the end of preference, there was no more communication allowed (so as not to sway the PNM on who to decide to put as #1 on their bid card).

Similarly, a sorority tried to file an infraction against my group because one of our members happened to be in a group picture of honors society she belonged to that also included a PNM. The picture had approximately 20 people in it - including 3 other sorority members from other organizations. The Greek Life director's response was "your kidding me, right?"

We have one group on campus who lovvveess to run to greek life and tattle tale.

last question and I will return to my lane lol. For the silence rules I assume there would be exceptions for things like siblings and room/suitemates right?

In my experience - no, exceptions are not made. You wouldn't talk to your sister going through rush, and if you lived with a pnm you would have to move out for recruitment.

I had an infraction last year. I posted something about it a while ago if any of you remember.

I was at my parents house and it was too hot to go outside. I had 1000 pictures from the last 6 years of us being a chapter so I decided to make a video because i was bored with our pictures and the purpose. I posted it on FB because it had a lot of the alumnae in it, especially our founding sisters who I am friends with. It never said anything like "Go Tri Delta!" or "Tri Delta is the BEST" or anything along those lines, but they cited me as "advertising". Even though I wasn't friends with any PNMs and my FB is completely private, they still filed it. It was a load of bull to be honest, but it lead me to get involved with Fat Talk Free Week so thats a positive.

Our panhellenic is getting a little crazy with the rules to be honest. I am friends with a girl who is a Chi Omega and as a joke we started saying we were "Chi Delta" to each other saying that it was our Student Government sorority. I posted something about i on her wall and the Assistant membership director called me and asked me to take it down. Mind you, this was before disaffiliation started.

We also got an email saying not to join the freshmen group that some incoming freshmen started. What if I'm in another club and want to promote it there? My FB is private, you can't see my friends or anything. Its getting a little out of hand.

The chapter I help out with, on their campus, the Greek students aren't really allowed to be friends with any freshman until second semester. Its assumed that all freshman women are PNMs - even if they have zero interest in greek life and have no intention of going through recruitment for whatever reason.

Jeez, I now realize how lax Maryland's silence rules are compared to a lot of other schools!

Yep, few exceptions to the rule. Only in the event of a major family tragedy could you talk to your biological sister at my school. A few exceptions were also made for those on a fall sports team with games and stuff going on (volleyball, soccer, etc). We also assumed that all freshman were PNMs, so in the summer and those few weeks before formal rush started, the infraction rules still applied.

If your roommate was just non-greek and not a PNM then you were fine. We primarily had freshmen at recruitment and so I never saw what happened if you were in a sorority and your roommate was going through recruitment. But, for example, the Pi Chis would have to move out of the greek floor or essentially hide in their rooms if it was an apartment before school even started.

If you had a sibling you did not talk in public, at all. You were expected to watch what you said in private as well. However the only time I recall the older sister was a Pi Chi so it was a whole other set of rules and frustrations.

I'm sure I've told this before on GC but when I was asst Panhellenic director at MS State, several RCs and I were policing (felt like it anyway) the pref parties, which were held at alums' homes. I walked down the hall to to the restroom...the light was out and the door was cracked. When I opened the door and flipped on the light, there was a rushee sitting on the closed toilet--surrounded by members. It scared me, I screamed, they screamed, and no, I don't remember how we dealt with it anymore!

If you're going to hotbox a PNM, don't do it in the bathroom.:rolleyes::eek:

Our rush signups happened way after room signups/assignments/lease signings, so you really couldn't be forced to move out. How could you make someone paying for an off campus apartment do anything?? You could talk to them about things like "where is my shampoo?" but not about rush. For the silence btwn the end of pref and bid day, though, the sorority roomie usually went and stayed somewhere else.

I also just want to state for the umpteenth time that any school who has deferred rush and is preventing sorority members from interacting with freshmen or any non-sorority women is missing the whole damn point.

I have two lovely "infraction accusation" stories from my days as an active. Neither involved my chapter.

There was a particular chapter that would use glitter sprinkled on the floor as part of their decorations during the first round of recruitment (which was held in the student center). During that round, PNMs sat on the floor and watched a skit. Inevitably, glitter would cling to the PNMs' shorts, legs, and the soles of their shoes, and would get tracked out into the student center halls. Invariably, some other chapter tried to stick them with a violation for allowing their PNMs to take objects (i.e. said glitter) out of the rush room. Panhel had to hear the charge every year, but it was always found in favor of the "glitter chapter" - it's just glitter, for crying out loud. :rolleyes: (The sisters did vacuum the room and the immediate surroundings thoroughly after the parties were over for the day.)

We also had a work week, before the start of recruitment, during which wearing or displaying letters was strictly verboten. One year, during that week, a sister of ABC from my school saw someone out jogging in an XYZ shirt. So ABC brought XYZ up on charges. Of course, there are a LOT of colleges and universities in the Boston/Cambridge area, and many of them have greek systems, and old recruitment/party/event shirts make great workout clothes... you see where this is going - the XYZ in question was from a different school. The charges were dropped.

I'm confused. If Bid Day is Saturday, silence ended Sunday at midnight? How did that work?

Glitter is the herpes of craft supplies-demitri martin.

There used to be a chapter at my school who was non-pledging that actually used to try and initiate guys during their FRESHMAN ORIENTATION.

The first year they did it they ended up having about 10 guys at Freshman Camp trying to initiate other Freshman.

They were very open about the fact that they didn't care who they initiated. Their removal process was also very swift. They would often brag about how many guys they would initiate, collect dues from, and then remove afterwards (keeping their dues). They got HUGE, and always won intramurals, always got their brothers elected to SG, and always had giant events on campus.

If you're wondering...Yes, they did get what was coming to them eventually. All of the other Fraternities started working together in the IFC to create a few basic rules. Things like requiring Greek Life orientation before initiation, no bids for freshman/transfer students until bid day, and a full report to the National Office of an organization who violated ANY recruitment rule.

After a suspension from their National Office they were removed completely. Good riddance.

The only recruitment infraction I really knew of (infractions aren't really an issue at my school) was when I was a PNM...
Went through the whole recruitment week, got to Bid Day, the Rho Chis were revealing their affiliations, and I noticed my Rho Chi wasn't there...I asked around and found out that she spoke to her Little the night before (after pref was done and decisions were made) on the phone, just to say she couldn't wait to see her at Bid Day...my PX's roommate/sister wrote her a check, handed it to her, and said "I reported you for talking to your little but then I felt bad so here's the money to pay the fine" :eek:
I felt bad for her because she had been such a good Rho Chi (although I did guess her chapter on Day 2) but all she had to do was wait a few more hours...

I guess that makes more sense. :p I was like, but... they have new members... that would be a very awkward party...

Thanks for helping me understand it better.

My chapter had a crazy rivalry with another chapter on campus. There were so many recruitment infractions filed on both of us it was insane. The only time I was really taken seriously was if a Rho Gamma or another chapter filed one for the same thing.

We have never had an PNM related infractions, but during the actual recruitment we have so many little rules that it's hard to go through the week without getting an infraction. If the party lasts say 45 minutes, all PNM's must be out and our front door shut within exactly 45 minutes...a few extra seconds and we get a violation. And if a sister puts a foot or even a toe past the threshold of the door while another sister has yet to get her PNM and turn around towards the house, we get a "face" violation for too many faces out of the house at once. It's so finicky. Girls definitely violate the no talking to PNM during recruitment rule, but they do it in private and its usually only best friends or biological sisters that they talk to, and they never try to convince them to join or tell them any private info or anything, its just casual conversation.

Our chapter was reported for an infraction for dirty rushing. Our campus was pretty stringent about only being able to say hello to PNMs. One sister had a PNM sit down next to her in an intro Engineering class the day of first rounds. The PNM just started talking up a storm to my sister, who politely said something along the lines of "I can't answer your question, as recruitment has started". An XYZ girl was also in the class and reported her for "extended conversation with a 'special interest' PNM"

Wow NPC rush seems so cut throat, What happened to being panhellenic?

Well, I think the goal of having infractions is to ensure that chapters ARE being Panhellenic. The problem is, some chapters/members of chapters use the infraction system of tattletailing and filling up GL offices and chapter officers of other chapters will needless paperwork/mediation/bullshit.

When it's all about you making your quota/total and wanting the "best" girls for yourself it becomes a big huge tattle-fest. I think a lot of it is that you're pissed you can't talk to friends/go out to bars/spending all of your days at rush or rush prep, etc. Everyone's tired and bitchy so even the hint that someone else might be "cheating" is enough to go for it.
And this is true at rather friendly campuses where outside of recruitment the chapters get along well and support each others' philanthropies.