Rerushing Question??
 

Hey guys! So I really want to rush with my best friend this year. However, she accepted her bid last spring recruitment but did not go with initiation due to family problems but things have significantly gotten better and now she wants to be part of greek life again. Can she rush again this fall or does she have to wait until this spring to try again?

She can rush again this fall. If she has a good relationship with her old chapter, she should discuss this with them in advance (before strict silence kicks in) to let them know why she is rushing again and that she'd like to be considered for membership, presuming she does. Ideally she'd be able to pick up where she left off, but as your friend has undoubtedly realized, that isn't how it works in real life.

Ok, thanks! Also, would she be able to join another sorority or only her old one?

If she accepted her bid in the spring, she is not eligible umtil next spring. It's a one year commitment.

Not if she actually accepted a bid, which is what it sounds like, here.

That's what I thought, Titchou and DBB.

Am I the only one thinking "the friend didn't like her sorority and wants to try for another"? Because if I'd had to "drop" or "resign" during my pledge period, and I was able to rejoin, I'd move heaven and earth to do so. *shrug*

I always thought it was "one year or until next formal recruitment".

If spring was not formal, I believe she's eligible for fall.

OP - your friend should check with the Panhellenic VP of Recruitment to confirm.

It is the MRABA that is bidding. If that was signed it is 1 year regardless of whether it was spring or fall.

Your first part is correct in that they are not strict on calendar years. If you pledge in the fall (August), but then drop out during your pledge period (September or October), you can rush the following August, even if it has only been 10 or 11 months. If, however, you sign an MRABA in the spring, you can not rush again in the fall.

I will defer. But I thought only formal recruitment counted for having to wait a year, especially since there is no guarantee that there WOULD be informal rush again the next year. I guess I'd ask the Greek Life office for clarification.

So - this is interesting, folks... Directly from the Unanimous Agreements:

4. A signed membership recruitment acceptance or a continuous open bidding (COB) acceptance is binding. If a potential member receives a bid under the preference system, she is ineligible to be pledged to any other NPC fraternity on the same campus for one calendar year.

But then we have

8. If through the primary recruitment process a potential member accepts a bid and then has her pledge broken by an NPC fraternity or breaks her pledge, then she is ineligible to be pledged to another NPC fraternity on the same campus until the beginning of the next year’s primary membership recruitment period.


So which is it, Recruitment/NPC experts? To me, the scenario described by the OP fits #8, not #4. She accepted a bid, pledged, and then broke her pledge.

UNLESS, of course, the OP is talking about locals, or non-NPC sororities (of which there are many, many, many). Then it would be a different matter entirely.

One last thing: :confused::confused::confused: Why ask the Greek Life office? It's the NPC MRABA that applies here. Greek Life has been known to make mistakes. I'd check with the NPC.

Both of these are Formal Recruitment specific. "Primary Recruitment Process" and "under the preference system" don't apply to COB.

I disagree. #8 specifies the primary recruitment process. She did not accept through the primary recruitment process. I think this is here to clarify the situation I described above: if you decline your bid on bid day which happens to be August 30, you can go through rush again the following year, even if bid day is on August 29.

Honestly, if the greek life office gets it wrong and the old chapter doesn't complain, that's what would matter, in a practical sense.

But we don't know if Spring recruitment was the primary recruitment, because the OP didn't state that. It is getting more and more confusing to me.

Looks to me like we have some saying no, you can't rush again; and some saying yes, you can. Very interesting!

And, when I look at it again: if the OP accepted a bid, then I see where it is really #4 that applies and not #8. So, I just changed my mind!

Re: the second part of your response, very good, that is your opinion, and I'm not interested in debating or arguing with anyone about anything. I'm just trying to figure out what UA would apply here.

The devil is in the details. My head is starting to spin. This is why I don't do recruitment. It's way too complicated. I'm going swimming.

Oh, you're right, I have a "formal recruitment is in the fall" mindset, so I was thinking spring is formal, but it could have been the other way around. Even so, #8 would mean she couldn't rush again until next spring. I don't see any way around this: if she had a bid in the spring and signed an MRABA, she can not rush again until next spring.

It doesn't matter when formal rush is. An MRABA is an MRABA. She cannot accept a bid from another group until spring. PERIOD. It has been this way ever since I was in school with T. Rex and Phyllis Diller.

The only ways that an MRABA does not last for the spirit of a calendar year are if the "pledge is broken." A pledge can ONLY be broken one of two ways:

1) The chapter closes before the pledge is initiated.
2) The pledge transfers to another school.

Dropping out =/= a broken pledge.

There are schools out there who don't hold formal rush so there's no way that the NPC would put up with all the women at those campuses being able to drop out from semester to semester.

Well, this is interesting and something I did not know. From the MOI, the official COB MRABA:

EMBERSHIP ACCEPTANCE BINDING AGREEMENT
Name __________________________________________________ ___________________________
Campus address __________________________________________________ __________________
Campus phone number _________________________ E-mail ________________________________
I have participated in the COB recruitment at ___________________________________
[name of college or university]
By signing the acceptance agreement, I understand and agree to the following terms: Please read and initial each of the following.
_____ I accept the invitation of __________________________ to pledge its chapter at ________________. Name of NPC Member Organization Name of School
_____ Once I sign this acceptance agreement, I am ineligible to be pledged to another NPC fraternity on this campus until the beginning of the next primary membership recruitment period.
_____ I understand that my invitation to membership is pending and contingent upon verification of grade point average, enrollment status, and confirmation of invitation eligibility from the Panhellenic and institution. I also understand that my invitation to membership may be revoked if I do not meet the requirements set forth by the Panhellenic and this institution.

It looks like she's free this fall to join another group.

But my question is....is there a definition of "primary membership period"?

If PMP = formal rush, someone awfully shortsighted wrote that.

If PMP = the campus only having a small window of time each year when women can accept bids, that makes more sense, although it flies directly in the face of everything I've ever been told for years (i.e. that an eligible woman can accept a bid at any time, unless the school has rules against it).

Titchou, is there a "revised as of" date on the bottom of that form?

Am I the only one saying What The French?

Uh, no you're not.

I was always told that if you sign your bid, you're bound to it for a year.. and I come from one of those campuses which, while I was active, only had informal recruitment.

Like I said, I've understood it that you are bound until the next formal rush. So if she pledged in the spring during formal rush she would not be eligible until spring, but if she pledged informal in the spring, then she should be a go.

If that's the case, that's a really awful message for NPC to be sending...especially for the chapters out there who have to do a good bit of informal rushing in the semester when the big formal rush isn't happening. It's like if you just pledge during informal or COB, it doesn't "count" as much and it's A-OK for your pledges to dump you, as they'll get a "pass" that those who drop during formal would not.

This concept seriously has me quite upset.

To be honest, I wonder how much it even comes up, though. When my chapter did informal, women pretty much had no deadline for accepting a bid, so if they signed, they were certain.

I TOLD you guys this is crazy-making. I told you so.

It is not for me. It is bad science.

My chapter was one that had to do COB year round and yes it happens. Winter or Spring pledge drops and rushes in the Fall.

This gives all women a shot at pledging and all chapters an equal shot at her in formal recruitment.

This. I put this in the same category as quota/bid lists/rfm/etc. It's all magic.

I have many thoughts...but I will try keep it brief. I realize that may not happen. This recent change was to help women that may have had to wait more than a year to join an NPC sorority if her pledge was broken or if she broke her pledge.

This change was not intended to suggest that COB would not be seen as important. Rather if was to help the woman who doesn't go through the primary recruitment period, lets just say it is in the fall. Or she isn't matched...whatever...she ends up accepting a bid via COB spring. If the pledge is broken she can now participate in the next formal recruitment period, next fall, just like a woman who declined her bid on bid day. Instead of having to wait for next year's spring COB which may never happen since we are evaluating total annually now and any COBing should really happen soon after the primary recruitment.

I realize it isn't perfect and some young women may try to game the system. However, I have to believe that the other young Panhellenic women are smart and would try to not let their community be gamed.

Primary recruitment period as a term is used because not all campuses have formal recruitment. For some, a two day open house IS the primary recruitment period. Panhellenic needs to know this applies for all, not just those with a traditional formal style recruitment period. Also, the section about repledging the group you left was also updated. Having the most up to date MOI is critical - toss the binders - all dues paying college Panhellenics have online instant access.

When we did informal (again, year-round), we were given 24 hours to sign our bid. And again, we were told that we couldn't join another group for a year if we signed it.

I'm not saying that this is what the rule says, but it's not exactly clear... which is obvious from reading this thread.

Rather than tossing the one year rule, I think it would be better to make one that says ALL women need to go through formal rush - or at least an informal "meet the Greeks" type of thing - before accepting a bid.

(Ducking into my bunker before DGTess comes to put the smack down on me)

I guess I do understand what they're trying to do, and at someplace like Bama maybe it has its good points, but I also think it would be better to impress more upon the sororities that COB =/= regular rush. In other words, you should know the woman a little better before you offer her the bid and make sure she wants YOUR sorority, not just A sorority.

And at a place like Bama, if they lost say 15 pledges from this fall's class...if they want to fill those spots in spring, won't they pick girls that they already know quite well, that they don't have to worry about dropping? In other words, the places where the new rule seems like it is trying to help seem like the places where it would be a completely moot point.

The schools that I see getting screwed are places where Greek life isn't huge and where (even though it's supposed to be happening) total isn't getting changed every year. At those schools, no matter how much times change, you are going to have a good amount of women who just don't want to join through formal rush. Everything can't be shoved into an SEC mold and I feel like that's where it's heading with rules like this.

My chapter was very good at COB and I would say we did just that, getting to know the girls better informally than through formal. I think this is a rule without much consequence. Although I can understand your concern, I don't think it happens enough to worry about, that a girl pledges informally in the spring and drops out so she can formal rush in the fall. I'm sure it has and will continue to happen, but not enough to worry about.

I remember 1 girl de-pledging our chapter (formal rush pledge) so she could join a colony the next fall. It wasn't a successful colony so the joke was on her. But our retention rates for informal pushed 100% except for girls who didn't make grades (which was a problem in the old days of semester long pledge periods).

And I don't think girls should have to visit all chapters before pledging through informal. At large campuses it's just not realistic and formal rush at a campus of 15+ chapters is so insanely stressful that if you made a girl go through it, you'd probably lose her forever, instead of giving her an opportunity with a chapter who may not do well during formal. Making her visit 13 or 14 chapter who she has no chance with so that she can be greeted warmly and personally by 1 or 2 a few weeks later seems like torture for some girls.

Thanks for all the input guys! I'm still really confused about this because even the greek officials are saying that she can rush but I, myself, think that she cannot.

If she pledged as a COB and then signed the paperwork to drop out of that group, she can go thru formal recruitment this fall OR COB after it. See my copy and paste from the NPC MOI (Manual of Information, aka Green Book) which is the Bible for NPC. The form she signed - or should have signed - states that clearly. And it is from the 17th edition of the MOI which was released this past January, 2012. If anyone would like a copy, please PM me your email address and I will be glad to send it to you.

Titchou - send the 17th Ed updated March 2012. Typicality there is only one new version of the MOI released each year...of course last academic year was atypical.

PM me your email address. And it says on the cover January 2012.....not March.

Why would you be confused? It's so black and white. HA! But I'd go with what your Greek Life office said. Since it's pretty grey, it would be down to their decision to interpret, unless a particular sorority wanted to contest it to their headquarters or NPC. And my guess is NPC leaves some things grey on purpose.