MTV Sorority Show
 

Before the show airs tonight, I would like to take a moment and thank the Sigmas that have come onto Greekchat to discuss the show.

They have showed a great deal of decorum and good reasoning in the face of a lot of overt hostility.

I respect and admire the fact that you have made a decision that you know will invite criticism and have done so without apology.

I further respect the fact that you didn't hide from your critics, but rather chose to confront them directly in this forum.

The fact that you have mostly done so in a civilized and rational manner, when many of your detractors have not, speaks very well of you as mature human beings.

Certainly you have showed more patience than I would have. There were times when I was shaking my head at the lack of intellegence as well as hysteria displayed in some of the attacks against you.

Speaking for some of the less reactionary members of Greek Chat I say cheers to you gals. :)

Good luck, girls - hope the show is extremely well-received, you've made a very tough choice and stuck by your guns up and down this forum.

Godspeed, and congratulations and best wishes for the show turning out the best.

ditto, nice to see some support :cool:

I'm watching it now and so far so good:)

GOOD JOB SIGMAS! I know I had a lot of concern, but I watched the show with one of my sisters and a friend... we all loved it, and I thought it presented you very well! There were parts that were a bit shakey, but I really liked it and hopefully they will keep the good work up and give greeks a more positive image!

*the shakey parts didnt really involve sorority business :)

LOVE IN GREEK UNITY
Alison

so...i just finished watching and was wondering...NOW what does everyone think?

First episode: so far, so good! It managed to be entertaining without exploiting stereotypes of sorority girls.

Does anyone else have pledge houses? That seems so bizarre.

And how come that 6th girl is moving in late? Didn't they know they would have 6 in the house?

Some thoughts:

Why didn't they just call it "The Jordan and Candace Show" and be done with it?

I liked that they showed women concerned about being too exclusive, rather than just cutting girls mercilessly...

Someone at Davis needs to explain the quarter system to me. What quarters can you pledge? Do you go to school 3 out of 4 of them or what? Aggh, I need assistance!

I know some people will have fits over the drinking, but from what I have read they are all 21.

That dude in the dreadlocks at the rush party was hella hot. If you see him running around with his shirt off, please take a picture and post it here. :D

cupla questions....
 

primo: a pretty good start. too many davis visuals but that's mtv. the pledge house is lovely.
dos: how many pledges did they actually take? it looked like more than six.
thirdo: their web site indicates it it not predominatly a jewish sorority, more of a cultural thing. why the question of the rushees?
just curious??
mmcat
:p :D
lol
no frowny faces here

The Sigmas have so far presented themselves as classy ladies. Especially Leah, the President. Good news for greeks!

And this is really superficial, but I think the Pledge Mistress has fantastic hair :)

Nice job, Sigmas!

It was okay -- right up until the part when the pledges started moving into the house... The total lack of respect for the sorority pledge house rules -- and the sisters who created them -- is pretty bad. I feel sorry for Mara. Seems like she is the only one who understands that the rules are in place for a reason. And it does seems like some of the girls rushed strictly because of the cameras.

I hope that the troublemakers don't stick with the chapter for long. I think that the pledge group will be more close knit without them. I agree with the sisters who were wanting to be a little more exclusive in the bid process, because I think some of the problems with rule-breaking could have been avoided by being more selective with membership. HOWEVER, I also realize that the sorority doesn't want to be known as a selective, exclusive group... so I can see both sides of the coin.

The rush shots were pretty good. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that the sisters were talking about the rushees while they were holding the rush parties. Also, the guys being at the Rush parties seemed a little odd to me. It's hard to get to know girls when guys are monopolizing their time.

On another note: I thought that the members of the executive board did a really good job. They seem to be level-headed and want the best for their organization. :)

Episode #1
 

Well, the first five minutes were good...talking about school and community service and sisterhood...then I thought it was like a roller coaster. Most parts were okay but some I just wanted to cringe.

So far, I like Becca and Leslie the most. Pauli rubs me the wrong way already. Did anyone catch why Candace's roommate changed her mind about pledging? I heard her say something about religious reasons but I missed the rest I guess. Was I the only one who thought the games at the "rush" parties were inappropriate/potentially uncomfortable?

I was really confused as to why the girls that they brought up as "questionable" were the majority of the girls that moved into the pledge house. I wonder if MTV picked who got to live in the house. And why didn't they explain the rules before the girls moved in? Seems like they were just asking for trouble on that one. I didn't like the scenes for next week when Candace (I think) made the remark about Jessica moving in to spy on them.

Overall, not the train wreck I was expecting...I hope it doesn't "de-rail" too badly along the way.

How does living in a house work?? Our chapter does not have one or we can't but I am curious. Also the rules seem a little too much....don't you think???

Ronnie :D

hmmmm. . . .i think the jury's still out on this show. i watched it with 2 of my sisters. there are some positive things about the show, and the sisters. however, i feel that MTV is going to choose to show the "conflicts" and other stereotypical sorority behaviors in order to gain ratings. this can either help the greek system or hinder it. . .we'll just have to see what the producers of MTV have up there sleeves.

I think they were doing this to see who was "really interested," since they are a historically Jewish sorority, rather than these being girls that just showed up to their rush events just to get onto MTV.


I didn't like that either. There is a time and place for that, and it definitely is not within a few feet of the PNM's while the rush party is being held. :rolleyes: But then again, I understand that this is probably something they don't always do, since the reason they were doing this was b/c of the whole "I wonder why she really wants to join."




But anywho,

I liked the first show. For a while I kept getting Jordan and Candace mixed up b/c they do look alike and their hair is pretty much the same. Looks good so far. :) I can't wait to see the entire season!

Question: Do they have to be home by 11:00pm? I never heard that mentioned, but at the end of the show some of the Sigmas had gone by and left a message on the dry-erase board about it being 1:00am and the girls not being there. When the pledges got there they were bothered by the message and made comments about the rules. Just curious.

I was pretty happy with the show overall. I was pretty worried, particularly given the promos. However, I didn't see any of the complete soundbites that they excerpted for the promotions. I hope that's not a foreshadowing of things to come.

What interested me was the heavy emphasis on the "Jewish Sorority" issue.

Does anyone think that the last fifteen minutes -- when it got into alcohol, partying, etc. -- is setting up an ongoing storyline pitting "the pledges vs. the actives?"

Overall, if the rest of the episodes are as positive -- or at least not more negative than this one, I'll feel pretty good that the treatment is not a damaging as I expected.

I can't help but wonder, given the "teases" for the next show whether the negative aspects are going to built throughout the series.

All in all, though, not nearly the stereotyping and sensationalism that I expected.

The chapter came off looking too conservative, if anything. Pretty interesting.

I will still say that I don't trust MTV, but hope I'm wrong. I know that sounds like a broken record. If the series doesn't get any worse than the first show, though, I can live with it.

Amazing.

One more thought...
 

As we go along this merry season, please remember 3 words so sacred to the MTV reality canon:

EDITING FOR DRAMA.

Just because the house rules meeting was shown after they "supposedly" had people over to the house, that is not necessarily how it happened. Same as the girls they said were "questionable" - just because that is who the camera panned to doesn't mean it's who they were talking about.

Keep an eye out for things like clothing and hairstyle changes - they give away out of sequence editing every time.

Well, I did breathe a small sigh of relief. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I will say that. A few things did bother me though, like how they talked about rushees while at the parties-I thought that was inappropriate.

I kept getting Jordan and Candace mixed up-they look so much alike! :)

And why, if there are 13 new members, are only 6 living in the pledge house? That was confusing. And that pledge house!! What the hell was that?? Does anyone else have that? We sure didn't. You could tell by the way it was decorated that this is definately an MTV show.

Ok
So at first I was getting a little disturbed about girls not being Jewish, and them setting that as criteria,
but I must say the girls came through by giving all the girls the benefit of the doubt and giving them a chance.
Ok, and I know the pledges may be a little taken back by pledging(like a lot of people are at first) But I think they are being disrespectful to their new sisterhood, and they REALLY need to realize that they are pledging. They also need to open their eyes and realize the importance of portraying a positive image in front of the camera for the sisters.
I feel like MTV is trying to play on the drama a lot, but I guess it got me to watch:rolleyes:
Overall they seem like a really nice sorority, but need to lay down the law with the pledges.

I think this was kinda low key for MTV and like PSU Sig Kap says, I think the jury is still out on this one. For me that is. In all honestly I actually got kind of bored with it and some of it made me feel weird and confused. Probably from all the hype it caused here, but it was definately better than I thought it would be. Im just hoping it says on the lame saide ya know. Cuz I can also see the Jordan and Candace show coming :).
I really like Mara, Becca and I forget her name, but the one who was so wanting her org to not become the exclusive org she thought it might become. Those are girls who I would definately want in my org. Pauli just seems to negative to me, but maybe that will change.

Actually all the 6 pledges are Juniors and all are 21 except for Dede. She is 19, so it will be interesting to see what thye will do about the alcohol issue with her.

As far as chapter houses go. All the rules that the girls had are ones that all the sororities had at UM. Except there was never a certain time we had to be home. The girls have what are called "Man-Hours". Which means generally that guys can go beyond the first floor during the day time, but after a certain time, for us it was after 9pm on the weekdays and 11pm on the weekends, they can only be on the first floor of the house. Not even in the stairwell. Also, my house has a buzzer system and the girls all get buzzed for dinner at a certain time and have to wait outside the dining room before entering. These rules can seem strict, but usually you can see why they are in place. I know a couple of houses that get around Man-Hours though.

No offense to the women of Sigma, but is it just me or did their bid/selection process seem kind of random and unorganized?

It might be just me...In my sorority it's 100%...every sister's vote counts. If one sister votes no, then the rushee does not get a bid.

http://www.hillelhouse.org/sigma/html/history.html

Looks like they are pretty new-- maybe it will take a while to really organize things.

Not a bad first show!!! I'm curious as to how the 6 girls got picked to live in the house. And exactly how many pledges did they take? I heard the number 13 at the induction, but I'm not sure. (I hope the sister house has a pool too!!! Otherwise, I wouldn't want to move out of the pledge house!!:p )

My husband was just rolling around laughing and yelling at the whole thing, though. Not at Sigma, but at the whole sorority rush thing. He couldn't believe how we did rush!! He pledged Sigma Chi in the 80's (I think), so the rules were more lax then. They would have rush parties with girls, beer, etc. in several different cities where incoming freshman live, and then give out bids at the beginning of the semester when everyone got to school. It was interesting to listen to his thoughts on the whole thing. Made for a good discussion.

BTW, will someone from Sigma be on the boards to help answer our questions? That would be nice. . .

It wasnt the train wreck I expected it to be, but I wasnt all around happy with it.
When they discussed the PNM's at recruitment parties---that bothered me! Even simply a group of actives at a party would be a no no in my book...it makes the PNM's uncomfortable...they could think you were talking about them (which they were in this case).
The argument on how to give bids/who to give them to seemed silly. First they want to make it extremely exclusive, then they gave bids to everyone? Not sure.
My $0.02 for now.

Well, I have to agree with what a lot of you are saying. When I first heard about this show I was concerned as to how the stereotype would be portrayed. So far it hasn't been too bad, and I'm really impressed by how the members handled rush. I'm glad they paid extra special attention to the fact that some girls may come out for rush for the MTV reason. However, part of me felt bad for the girls who weren't Jewish. They must have felt put on the spot and ackward when asked what religion they were asked! I'm also concerned for some of their pledges. You can definitely tell by watching the girls who truly belongs there and who doesn't. I really like Mara, Leslie, and Becca.

I know the majority of girls living in the pledge house are over 21, but I don't think that should matter. I don't know how everyone else's houses work, but at our house NO alcohol is allowed in...period. These rules just remind me a lot of how our rules work. We can't have boys in our rooms overnight, and they have to stay out in the formal areas past visitation hours.

All in all I say good job Sigma's!

Talk about weirdness...The whole beginning of the show, Mara looked really familiar to me. When she mentioned she came from my hometown, I just about fainted! A friend of mine who also watched said she thinks we went to elementary school with her.

I think the pledge house thing must be an MTV addition, and I don't know how I feel about that. I can understand how MTV would want to get the girls "in captivity" but that would have driven me nuts if I had to move in with my pledge class upon joining.


How did they pick who lives in the house?

Overall, I liked the show, and I thought the girls represented themselves very well.

One last thought: Dede is a very, very lucky girl to have made it 19 years without ever having to share a bathroom. :)

Talking about the Rushees and EDITING
 

I just want to point out that possibly the girls weren't talking about the rushees during the actual event. . .it could have been after they had left. . .MTV is in the editing BUSINESS guys, let's not forget that. Things are never as they seem.

But during the bid conversation didnt someone say that "so and so would drop if jordan and someone else joined?"

I'm glad I watched, and I plan to continue watching, if only to be prepared to answer questions from PNM's during rush... All together now: "Each organization has a different method of selecting new members, and it's a process of mutual selection!" :) Those scenes of them talking about people during the rush parties made me a little uneasy...

I don't think the pledge house rules are anything too harsh, I think those are pretty standard for anyone living in a sorority house (those are basically the rules at my house, anyhow) but I think they should have gone over the rules with all the pledges BEFORE moving them into the pledge house. That way, girls that are going to break the rules (um, Candace) wouldn't be put into a living situation where they are uncomfortable.

That "Life's a b..." commercial really upsets me - I would cry if something like that was being said about my sisters, and there it is on NATIONAL TV?!?! Eeeek! What a nightmare!

I look forward to seeing what happens the rest of the season!

The commercials made this show seem far worse than it actually was. I didn't like that the sisters talked about the rushees during the party if that is what happened. Were there guys at one of their rush parties? We definitely weren't allowed to do that. Overall I thought that it was pretty good. The sisters represented themselves well.

Even though I did like the first show, it is the first show of many. We can only watch to see what's to come. :) We can only hope that they portray the girls in a not-so-positive light just to create drama that wasn't even present.

not developing the bond
 

Well the first show wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. For the most part I enjoyed it.

Coming from a commuter campus that has a lot of transfers it is hard for me to understand why they were so upset that 3rd years were trying to pledge. We have a lot of 3rd year and even grad students in my chapter (I'm a grad student). I feel they may be missing out on some wonderful potential sisters by possibly excluding them.

If you get a chance read the mtv website about sorority life and read the profiles of each of the pledges they are following. I do think the sisters who were concerned about people pledging just to be on mtv may have been correct in their worries. As much as it irks me to say that. The only one I think that has grown to truly understand the bond that develops among sisters is Jessica. I may be wrong but I am curious what anyone else thinks once you read the 2nd pages of each profile. I almost get the feeling that many of the pledges may not initiate once this is all over and had no intention of going through with it.

I was wondering about the pledge house. From what I can gather reading between the lines is that it is an mtv house. That to me changes the pledge process completely. It's adding a dimension that isn't normally in the process so I don't think they are getting as much a greek experience as they may have wanted to show. what about the women who weren't profiled. they pledged 13 women - how were these 6 chosen to move into the house.

I agree with you on that one. I did not expect them to give out as many bids as they had done since most of the scenes showed the sisters saying they did not feel comfortable with many of the rushees.

Also, I was a bit surprised by the selection process as well. I was thinking, "Where's their advisor?" But then again, Sigma is a local sorority, so it doesn't have to deal with any rules set by Nationals regarding member selection, and rush for that matter--since there were guys at a rush party, which would certainly be prohibited at any of my chapter's rush parties.

In terms of having the pledges stay in that house, I'm guessing that was MTV's brilliant idea. I have never heard of that one before so I'm assuming they were behind that.

Other than those points, I thought the show was OK. I liked Leslie, the Vice President, for holding her ground and staying true to her feelings even when everyone else disagreed with her.

sisters not interacting with pledges
 

my other post was getting long so here's another post.

From reading the mtv profiles about the pledges I think that the active sisters didn't spend much time with the pledges. I don't know how it is with other Sororities but with Phi Sigma Sigma this just doesn't happen. With each new member that comes in the whole chapter is responsible for their new member orientation. We study right along with the new members and don't separate them out. The Membership Orientation Chair does work with them as a group but usually there are a lot of actives right there in the group helping the new members learn about Phi Sig and what sisterhood means. SAEPi seemed to keep them separated out, from what the pledges are saying in their profiles. No wonder they don't seem to be feeling the bond that I felt from the beginning with all the sisters who helped found my chapter.

How is it with other sororities regarding academics. I'm assuming most of your organizations are like Phi Sig and academics are priority. That is what we're in college for right? All the women except Dede state in their profile that they aren't doing as well as they could in class because of all the pledge activities they have to do. If we know a new member has class we encourage her to go to class. School is always our first priority and is emphasized from the very beginning.

As for the pledges being upset about house rules. Why wasn't that explained before they moved in? We don't have a house but it was explained from the very beginning no alcohol when wearing letters or any Phi Sig paraphenalia or at any Phi Sig events. It's disrespectful to Phi Sig and the sisters. We were told from the beginning that what we do reflects back on the sorority not just on us personally, whatever I do isn't seen as look at what Carolyn is doing but look at what that Phi Sig is doing. None of my sisters would even think of disrespecting the letters we wear proudly. I don't get that feeling from the pledges being shown on mtv. Guess only time will tell as the show goes on.

I'm agreeing with pretty much everyone that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. When I saw the commercials for it I really thought that it was going to bring a very negative light to the greek community. But I do have a few thoughts on it.

First, I understand it's local, but from what I understand most locals still follow the non hazing rules that everyone else does. I think that AGD might be slightly more strict, making it anything that's not an everyday activity as hazing, but making them live in a pledge house? That doesn't really sit well with me.

Also I'm not to sure if I like all the rush and pledge talk that's going on. But again it's been drilled into me that those are the "wrongs" of recruitment. I didn't like how they had the selection process and voting on there either. We don't talk about the voting with outside parties let alone put it on TV for everyone to see. Anyone else not like that?

I know that many of you have mentioned this too, but the whole party and drinking in the pledge house was getting to me. Especially when Jordan (I think it was her) came right out saying that the house rules were going to be broken. I guess I just feel that more of the rules should have been set down in the beginning and not just thrown at them.

My last thing is the fact that they aren't telling the audience that they sorority local. People who know nothing about Greek Life will be watching this and thinking that all sororities are like this. I know that being a member of a panhellenic sorority and having an international body over us puts a lot of rules and regulations on what can and cannot be done. I just wish that would have been said.

Hopefully the rest of the episodes won't start going in a downward spiral, but then again, looking at the rest of the shows on MTV, I think that they're looking for drama and with what they have right now they're not going to get enough.

Seems there seems to be a little controversy over this, MTV bought the pledge house. The pledge house is entirly there doing, my guess being so they can show more of the pledges. Because MTV bought the house, I have the feeling that out of the pledges MTV picked who would live in the house.

Overall I do have to say the show wasnt half bad. There were some things that I didnt think highly of, but they didnt make the sorority itself look like they were partaking in the activities.

I am looking forward to seeing next weeks episode.

Katie

I just saw the first episode (West Coast). Very good, just like I hoped. :)

A few possible questions answered:

fall quarter = 10 weeks and finals, from September to winter break (fall rush)
winter quarter = 10 weeks and finals, from Jan to Spring Break in late March
spring quarter = 10 weeks and finals, April to June (Spring Rush [Sigma's taped rush quarter])

Well from what I understand, all of the girls weren't exactly jumping to be taped 24/7 and share a bathroom with 5 other girls. Also, no music or TV allowed because of the recording. Sounds more like a fish bowl in a rubber room to me. In addition, all of the girls had a place to stay for the quarter. Coincidentally, the few girls in question were the first to agree to stay in the pledge house. They could only get 5 girls to do it at first. Jessica agreed after the first move-in and she became the 6th member of the "MTV pledge house".
The pledge house was not a typical feature of their sorority, nor had it ever been an occurence to vote on denying someone a bid. It was MTV's addition and the girls layed down the law, I believe, only a few days after they moved in.

• I think Sigma had every right to be suspicious and tentative to let the girls bid. The antics only get worse from here, trust me on that. Sigma faced quite a conundrum. Let in everyone to not be exclusive and save the pledging process to weed out any ringers; or say no to a few and most-likely have a better representation of their values to millions of viewers, but while crossing the line and being exclusive.
• Don't knock Pauli, she's a good girl. She came off kinda negative, but that was mostly MTV spin, except for the "f@#$ them" comment. None of her good, funny side was shown, which, like the Simpsons character would say, "makes my feet sad" :(
• I really liked Mara, the sister, not the pledge. Watch out for some good speeches from her in upcoming episodes.;)

yeah, I really liked Mara the sister too. She rocks! As do all the other girls!

Actually, I was really proud of all of them!

So its not right for me to discuss specifics of the show (1. I wasnt there, 2. I dont think I could do justice to it), I would be more than willing to answer some of the more Jewish oriented questions, like background...

oh yeah one more:
I believe there were 5 set questions to ask the rushees and that was only one of them. It was simply a way to get to know the girls and find out their interest in Sigma. They are a "Jewist-interest" sorority that does not discriminate against religions. Some of the members are not at all Jewish, some are Jewish but not practicing, some are practicing but moderates, some are very religious Jews, and many fit inbetween those categories. There is a whole spectrum of diversity.


Also, I have been informed that we shouldn't expect to see show-related postings from current Sigma members, due to their contractual obligations.

I thought the 1st show came off pretty well. I'm sure all the previews were just to get people hyped up so they would watch it. But knowing MTV I'm sure they'll piss us off some where down the line.