I'm Going NUTS!!!!!! LSU
 

OK, this is driving me crazy! I know NOTHING of what's going on at LSU! Darling can't share and no GCer is posting.

Tonight is Pref! Max is 3 parties. Anyone? ANYONE?

I was just going to PM you and ask about LSU...I want to know how it's going!!! I haven't been able to talk to any of my friends!! I'll let you know what I find out when I do!

I will bow down and kiss your feet if you find something out.

:)

OK, 133 people have looked at this thread and NOBODY is talking! Soooooo,
I'll write my OWN story of LSU rush.

This year there was a record breaking number of 3,961 girls that went out for rush.
There are 10 NPC chapters and 3 secret organizations vying for the top 2,961 PNMs

It wasn't till the girls returned to Miller Dorm (the place to be for sorority) that the actives realized they had a problem on their hands. Quota would be 16 this year. However, in their wisdom, Panhellenic decided to lower total from 200 to 199!

All the members of the notorious BCP sorority decided they would cut every single legacy of NIX. Now, that put them down to 10 PNMs , so they scoured the recs one more time to find those 6 special girls who never, EVER were accused of possessing (gulp)
blond highlights! It wasn't so easy for the others.

The CIAs had been doing some investigating of their own. They decided it was MOST important to look for PNMs with some athletic prowess. With security in question on campus, they figured they could post their pledges at the doors as a bonding experience. They cut every size 8 and under.

I HEARD that the FBI followed suit, but not to be out done, upped the anti to a size 10. I THINK they cut close to 900 girls, I'm not too sure.

The worst though (and MOST superficial IMO) cuts came from the TAU TAU's. If you even THOUGHT of wearing a Tiffany heart, you were out on the curb! Everyone knows this season's top fashion accessory is the key chain mace (burgundy or black, but black looks sleeker).
The cuts were soooooooooooo drastic, someone said they are considering expansion.
This year all the skits were GREAT! Most memorable was "Louisiana Hayride with
Britney Spears". Several of the PNMs must have got wind of it because they came in costume!

Tonight is Pref. I heard everyone may get cross cut! Does anyone know anything else? Please SHARE! Now the truth----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I STILL don't know Nuttin!

JAM: hehehehehehehe


I thought you were serious!! I started making all of these "What?" "Oh no!" and "You've got to be kidding me!" noises in my office. All of my co-workers now think I'm crazy! LOL

JAM, you freaked me out for like half the post, and then I said, wait a minute...FBI? and I busted up laughing!! :D Where's that kid of yours!!!

Hey you guys, go wild and fill in what YOU"VE "heard"!

The last I spoke to her was Monday or Tues- she called in to ask for something she forgot, but I didn't ask any questions. You know how busy things are AND this is TOP Secret!

The funny thing is, there's one (or two) little "truths" in my joke post! ;) The source of which--------I'll never tell!

I bet I won't hear ANYTHING till this is over and it will most likely come from someone else. I can't call a PNMs Mom because if it's as difficult this year as last, I don't WANT to hear about it.
Lots of those young ladies I've known so long........

JAM: It seems like there are a lot of women from your town who go through recruitment every year. Were any looking into your daughter's sorority?

JAM, this may be the best post I have EVER read online. Anywhere. Period. Better than Usenet, better than stuff over at the Smoking Gun, better than the wonderful world of snark at TWoP. Have you thought about a career in comedy? I bet you could go on a national campus tour and become famous!

As for what I've "heard" well, I don't know if I should share. Okay, I will. Apparently there were two surprise colonizations this week at LSU, both Alpha Alpha Alpha Beta and Zeta Beta Kappa Omega. The amazingly wealthy and supportive alumnae built each chapter a mansion, put on a full-frills recruitment that could not be topped by Hollywood or reality television, and took in new member classes of 375 and 402 women respectively. Both the CIAs and FBIs are expected to take quota easily and snap bid to total. PNMs are eating and power-drinking triple thick chocolate shakes with a passion now, just in case CIA and FBI would reconsider them. I haven't heard about Tau Tau other than they had to consider cutting those women who wore *any* form of Tiffany jewelry for later rounds. It was sad, but important to maintain their longstanding traditions of sisterhood.


Seriously, I don't know a thing about LSU unless you catch me on a day my Wildcats are playing ya'll :D I'm betting the truths are in these: total was dropped to 199, the bit about Miller Hall being the place to be (don't laugh if I'm totally wrong) and 10 NPC chapters at LSU?




Christin

Christin, from what I have learned about LSU, I think you are right, except there would NEVER be a chapter there with three Alpha's in it. :D

Oh, I know that...why do you think I chose that particular ficticious name :D When did the last 'Alpha' chapter give up it's charter at LSU? Does anyone know?

Christin

JAM - ROTFLMAO http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/.../lachen018.gif

ROFLMAO!!! You GUYS!!! SOOOOOOO FUNNY!

The ALPHA syndrom
Mosquito spray
Mansions TOO, TOO FUNNY!
AOII Alum NOTED-
. I haven't heard about Tau Tau other than they had to consider cutting those women who wore *any* form of Tiffany jewelry for later rounds. It was sad, but important to maintain their longstanding traditions of sisterhood. Too true, (sigh) too true!

MoxieGrrl, We only have 3 HS in our area that tend to feed into recruitment. Two in particular are comprised of kids from the Catholic school and one public Junior High. My kids were really active in sports, leadership and artsy activities, so you get to know the whole spectrum. Plus, they are so close in age friendships overlap. Next year will be my last though...

I don't know where the local girls stand. For the most part, they are nice girls. As usual, many are legacies and went in thinking it was a done deal. I do know mine has her eye on two lovelies in particular. ;)

JAM, you crack me up! Tau Taus???? LOL

Can you all explain, please? I don't get the jokes and I SO want to!

Maybe if we pool information, we can figure it out. Beta Iota chapter of Alpha Xi Delta went dormant in 1988. Anyone later?

AGD
 

Theta Alpha Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta was chartered in 1979. I think it was only in existence a few years, but I don't recall it it went inactive. :(

We were earlier than that :(

Our AOII chapter at LSU, Alpha Omicron, has had their charter held in trust since 1980.

Christin

NPCs Closed at LSU
 

The last NPC Alpha to close was A Xi D in 1988. The last NPC to close was Sigma Kappa in 1993.

Here's the list with Alphas first:

AXO - [Beta Gamma] 1926 -1972
ADII - [Omega] 1914 - 1985
A E Phi - [Alpha Theta] 1938 - 1984
AGD - [Theta Alpha] 1979 – 1985 *First AGD chapter to charter with over 100 members.
AOII - [Alpha Omicron] 1938 - 1980
A Phi - [Delta Tau] 1965 - 1980
A Xi D - [Beta Iota] 1938 - 1988

Gamma Phi Beta - [Gamma Lambda] 1964 -1977
Phi Sigma Sigma - [Omicron] 1927 - 1933
Sigma Delta Tau – [Zeta] 1924 -1969
Sigma Kappa - [Zeta Omega] 1984 - 1993

Side note: Former NPC member Beta Sigma Omicron had also operated at LSU. That chapter closed two years before BSO merged with ZTA.

JAM and company, you guys crack me up!

Roses for aopirose!
 

12 chapters which opened and are now closed, how sad is that (I"m assuming ZTA is not at LSU since they merged with BSO?) That's amazing for AGD, but so sad they didn't last too long there.

Who is currently at LSU and who had the most recent colonization, anyone know?

Christin
(off to check the LSU website for the info, but if anyone knows please post and TIA!)

Inside jokes-
 

First, the truths-Yes, Miller is THE dorm, everyone IS carrying mace, the trend this year in attire was (how can I say this?) less "classic" in the initial rounds... and, many, MANY legacies went through, but that's nothing new.

Sororitygirl2, LSU recritment is like any competative system. SOME of the remarks made refer to-
So many wonderful girls but not enough spots to go around.
Quota being around 70 for the number of girls going through( it was either 985 or 895. DUH can't remember past a couple of days...) and 10 houses leaves many homeless. Crosscut-no one gets bid.

This year they were not going to "promise" a placement EVEN if you went to the max of 3 parties. (They may have changed their mind on this, I don't know)

Mace-We have a serial killer and the women are carrying mace and guns. (National News)

Mosquito Spray-We have been making National News for the number of West Nile cases.

Expansion, Mansions etc...This is gaining momentum due to the number of bidless girls. See our quota.

The Alphas-see above explanation.

The rest is a collage of observations from recruiments across the board.

EVERY campus has a Tau Tau chapter, or at least girls who would be a perfect "fit" for TTs. Greek life wouldn't be the same without them!!!:D

ZTA at LSU
 

Actually ZTA still maintains an active chapter at LSU.

EtaPhiZTA -Actually ZTA still maintains an active chapter at LSU.

Indeed they do, and filled with lovely ladies as well!

Just a Mom
 

Thanks, JAM! You are truly one classy lady.

Okay, so what's up with the Alpha chapters??? That's so weird.

Why have all these groups closed when there are obviously not enough houses for all the women going through recruitment? It seems like more groups should colonize or recolonize, but I get the impression that it would be *very* hard to start up a new group at LSU. If that's true, why? There must be many amazing women who don't find a home in any group, so couldn't they get together and try to get a colonization started? Or, is it pretty much that many PNMs want to get into a "top" house, and if they don't, they don't want to be part of the system at all?

Sorry for all the questions, but being from the midwest, this southern rush stuff fascinates me! :)

Gee thanks EtaPhi ZTA! My daughter knows many ZTAs she considers friends!

There are people FAR more qualified to talk about the whys and why nots of adding more options. Money is ALWAYS a factor as is
housing and being certain our recruitment numbers stay high.
AOPiRose knows way more than I do about this.

I think h2oot said it best last year. With such a strong Greek System, there are NO BAD HOUSES. You could put any of these girls in any house on any campus and they would blend right in. But, yes it IS the South. Between the LEGACY of certain groups (and I'm NOT talking JUST birthright) and what the girls are exposed to growing up, many just can't accept that out of say 1000 girls, they aren't one of 70-140 to be invited to ONE or TWO PARTICULAR HOUSES. Take all the other factors of in- house legacies or a chapter's hard line position on legacies, the spots REALLY become limited. These girls, I have no empathy for. The ones that break my heart, and there are soooooooo many, are those that are intiidated by the system or perhaps didn't "shine" those first few minutes.

Only 10 Active NPCs at LSU - Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Mu, Pi Beta Phi, and Zeta Tau Alpha. All are incredibly strong with outstanding women!

The other groups closed for a variety of reasons but mainly low membership and alumnae burnout.

The issue of colonization at LSU is very tricky. Although there are many aspects to deciding whether or not to colonize, the major issue is housing – 1) the cost and 2) the availability. There is an understood rule (among NPCs) that a colonizing group MUST provide what is equal on the campus. (University administration also expects it.) The theory is good because it puts the colony on equal footing with the established groups. In reality, the investment is well over $1,000,000 and there is no guarantee on its return. (This is where the less talked about business side of national/international organizations comes in to play.) Sorority housing, although on University land, is located on prime lake real estate and is the responsibility of the organization. The majority of the houses are appraised at over $1,500,000. Add the cost of housing and furnishing to the average cost of colonization, you are looking at a pretty penny.

Besides the cost of housing, you have a physical location problem. The best way to describe Sorority row is that it is located on a sort of peninsula. When the university saw that no more fraternity/sorority construction was going on, the land was reallocated for other use. The LSU Recreation Center, the Lod Cook Alumni Center and a new hotel were constructed on land initially intended for fraternity/sorority housing. There are three lots left but they are among the fraternities and are not desirable for a sorority IMHO. The other option is a former sorority house now used by the Printing Office. This house will need MAJOR renovations and the university expects the group to buy it.

LSU opened for expansion in 1994 and Tri Sigma was selected to colonize. After months of deliberation by the Executive Board, Tri Sigma respectfully declined. Alpha Sigma Tau tried in the late 90’s and it was a rather unique situation. In the spring of this year, LSU opened for expansion again and only two groups had responded favorably by the deadline. There may have been others after the deadline but I am not sure. The presentations should begin soon and I wish them all the best.

Sketchy results, but it's the best I can do-I will CORRECT any misinformation that may be given.

Everybody's met quota. Everybody has wonderful girls. Everybody got their top picks! :D
Not good enough? OK, Sorry, no names to be used. Except #1 will be designated DG! ;) LOL!
There was a "midnight hour" change in quota. It was originally set at 70, but they upped it to 74.
She didn't have a solid number, and I've heard SEVERAL, but to keep it flowing, say 200 did not. :( Many of these were grades and recs. She didn't know how many dropped out.

1 I referred to two girls she had her eye on and one went DG. The other had a cousin in another chapter.
2 &3 sororities did not get any locals.
4 She has no idea how many went to one of our traditionally strong legacy chapters. She just didn't see any, not to say there WEREN'T any because she is certain there are. This sorority had more legacies than quota last year.
5.The other chapter that has a lot of legacies and a local chapter in town made up for last year when they had none and took 5 that she rattled off the top of her head.
6,7,8,9,10 got one each. PLEASE remember, these are the girls she spotted. (7 may have had 2)

There was a strong overlap on girls attending pref for 1, 5, 6 and 7. There were some # 8s in there too. Almost every one of DG's new pledges had 2 or 3 pref invites. (max is 3)
The sororities must have been looking for different qualities because she said they got the majority of their #1 list. They did not keep every legacy.

The local girls I know well ended up in 1, 5 and 6. Don't know who went with 4, haven't heard a word.

DG Highlight! They have a girl who was a model for 17 Magazine! Yes, they got GORGEOUS girls, but when you consider that old "Southern Charm", I'm sure EVERYBODY did! What's important though is to be "pretty" on the INSIDE!
Baby Girls says they have REAL beauties!

OK,I've edited once. There will be more I'm SURE!

Yay for the sororities at LSU for making quota (and a definite "yay" for DG! :D ). Thanks for the update, Justamom!

Aopirose was right on when she talked about the lack of room on sorority row and about the money issues. The fraternity guys that lived next door to us moved out and onto fraternity row. This leaves an abandoned house that LSU owns. As stated before, there have been rumors of a new sorority moving into this house (after MAJOR renovation) or into the Press Building which is just down the road, also on sorority row. The old Delta Chi house was once a sorority house. I believe it was Alpha Chi Omega- but I am not sure.