Belmont- Everyone Gets a Bid?
 

On Sigma Chi's FB page yesterday, a member posted that his nephew (a Phi Kappa Tau) who attends Belmont University(TN) informed him that Belmont's administration is making the proposal that anyone who goes through rush is guaranteed a bid- similar to Tufts.

I've tried to find online sources but can't. Has anyone else heard this proposal at Belmont?

See
http://belmont.edu/organizations/greek/how_to_join.html

Belmont University's Greek Life Mission is to promote student development by providing opportunities for scholarship, community service, campus involvement and fraternal friendship by ensuring all members a high quality and safe undergraduate experience. Eligibility requirements are as follows:

A cumulative GPA that meets the chapter's minimum requirements for new membership
A disciplinary record considered in good standing with the university (no violations resulting in probation, limited or institutional)
Must list more that one chapters on their Membership Recruitment Acceptance Binding Agreement (MRABA) following preference round (NPC Organizations)
Attendance at all formal recruitment events (IFC & NPC Organizations)
(my bolding)Any Belmont student who is eligible to receie a bid from a Greek organization will receive a bid from at least one Greek lettered organization.

Interfraternity Council: Alpha Tau Omega, Phi Kappa Tau
Panhellenic Association: Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Sigma Tau, Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Mu,

For the women, it looks as if only 1 woman was not matched after bid matching and quota additions. Doesn't seem like that's a huge number.

Isn't Tufts (with their 'bids for everyone eligible' process) thinking about getting rid of its greek system? So is this Belmont's way of starting down the slope of forcing undesirable smart students into their greek homes and letting the greek system fall into its own nonexistence due to bad behaviors by those who otherwise would not have been bid?

In addition, is Belmont (and I do mean the school, panhel already said yes) EVER going to accept their chosen Gamma Phi Beta colony? It's still listed as a TBD colonization date on GPhi's HQ website and it's been four or five years since they were chosen. And what would Belmont's "absolute bids to everyone eligible" process mean for any new colony?

I've been aware of this situation for a few months now. What happened was a PNM did not receive a bid and the parents made a big stink. The problem is ATO is suspended till Fall 2017. This makes Phi Tau the only fraternity able to recruit this semester. We opted NOT to recruit this semester since every male attending our rush event(s) would have to receive a bid.

The kicker is you can release the pledges after the first 4 weeks. So, you take a PMN you do not want, take their pledge fee $$ and release him after 4 weeks...

Belmont only has formal recruitment. We wanted to have informal recruitment but the University would not allow us.

Everyone gets a trophy. Ugh!

I guess we need to determine what they consider "eligible to receive a bid." If they mean eligible as abiding by the rules they list above that, then they are adhering to NPC RFM guidelines.

Here's an open letter to the Belmont community. It's from the PKT and ATO Presidents at Belmont.

https://medium.com/@austincoleman_67...y-2943e2cada62

Also, there's a petition going around to express concerns/dislike for this new policy

My high school senior daughter is considering Belmont University and I noticed in the link above that recommendations for Panhellenic sororities are not "supported" by the university, so as to promote inclusivity.
Does this mean my daughter's recruitment would be negatively affected should recs be submitted on her behalf? Do they also somehow exclude or disguise the fact during recruitment that she is a legacy? Furthermore, don't many NPC groups require a rec in order to be initiated? How does Belmont dictate the customs and rules of the NPCs?

No Panhellenic can say that recs are required to go thru rush as each sorority has different policies (some require a rec for a woman to receive a bid and some don't). This is just a more, shall we say, "attitude-ey" way of stating that. But recs go straight to the sorority chapters anyway, so Panhel and Belmont have no idea what is being done with them.

So, for NPC sororities:

- If a woman attends only one pref party and can therefore only really list that one chapter on her MRABA, which rule takes precedence? Is the chapter she preffed required to give her a bid because "any Belmont student who can receive a bid and attends all FR events will receive a bid", or is the chapter not required to give her a bid because she listed only one chapter on her MRABA? (If she was only invited to one pref party, it isn't an ISP. If she went to two pref parties and then suicided, that's another story. I'm assuming that, with just four chapters on campus, the max number of pref parties you can attend is two.)
- Can a woman who was invited to only one pref party just write down two chapters on her MRABA just so that she's complied with the "must list more than one chapter" rule? If so, is it possible that the sorority that she writes down that didn't invite her to pref could be forced to give her a bid?
- If a woman is cut across the board before pref, she has attended all FR events to which she was invited - she just wasn't invited to pref. She could theoretically sneak in with all the other PNMs who went to pref, and complete an MRABA and just list two chapters she liked. Does that mean some chapter will be forced to give her a bid? Or not - because, while she attended all FR events to which she was invited, she did not attend all FR events because she did not participate in pref?

In NPC-land, once a PNM gets a bid, that's it - unless she chooses to depledge, she's getting initiated. Chapters can't release new members.

1) Even if she listed another she won't be on their bid list so they can't "match" her to them.
2) See above. Typically,unless something really bizarre comes up at pref, pref invitees are on the bid list - somewhere. Maybe at the bottom but on it.. All this is going to do is skew quota but Belmont's recruitment isn't that big anyway.
3) Now this is stupid. She won't be on anyone's bid list nor invite list. Don't you think PH could figure that out????

I think this question came up because, if I recall, the groups at Tufts were forced to take women into their pref parties that they had previously released (and ergo put them on their bid list).

As you said above we need to know for sure what they truly mean by "eligible." If they're taking existing NPC rules and twisting them around to "look at us! We are so awesome and welcoming and not like those other snobby schools" then that is pretty much the definition of lame. The ones really getting the short end of the stick are the guys.

Wouldn't "guaranteed" bids lead to more hazing to eliminate NMs the chapter never wanted?

Belmont's recruitment isn't that big relative to, say, big SEC schools, but I believe quota has been in the high 70s for them the past couple years. Which is also part of the issue with administration-Gamma Phi Beta was selected to colonize but hasn't been allowed to come on because administration doesn't want Greek life to get any bigger...but also is requiring that everyone who wants to join gets a bid?

I remember someone with experience at Tufts saying that if a woman was cut from all the chapters there, the advisors would meet and essentially play hot potato with the least desirable PNMs until they all fell somewhere on someone's bid list.

We talked about that many years ago--how the sororities would sit down and say, "We'll take the ho if you'll take the girl with the 1.5." Etc. And you know it would come down to that.

I don't see how a college, private or not, can force an NPC sorority to take someone whom they don't want to.

If they want that sort of system, they probably should never have allowed national groups to come back on in the first place. Was there any sort of Greek life or club system in the 80-odd years between when national groups left and when they returned?

Ehhhhh. It may be rare but if there's cause to do so....

Unless you're just talking about for no reason?

I'm trying to think of ways a PNM might try to game the system. "I was cut before pref, I filled out an MRABA and listed two chapters, I followed the rules, I'm guaranteed a bid, and I want my bid, dammit!"

Well, the girl with the 1.5 would be cut, or wouldn't be allowed to register for recruitment in the first place. The rules do state that the PNMs must meet GPA requirements in order to be considered for that "guaranteed bid".

I'm talking about for no reason or for a minor reason. If a chapter finds out one of their NMs is an ax murderer, I'm sure they could have a chat with nationals about making her depledge.

I meant so there would not be that many women to whom this even could apply.

But seriously,folks, how many PNMs do you know of this year who maximized their options and got NO bid? Precious few, if any. So these rules are not awful. Just saying what I've always told my chapters - do not invite her to pref if you aren't willing to give her a bid.

Ok, so that's the thing. Girls would be released from the chapter but show back up on the invite list the next day. It's not a matter of don't invite her - it's a matter of not inviting her and it not mattering.

I think there were PLENTY of women who were dropped from recruitment prior to pref on many, many campi. This rule at Belmont is saying that PNMs cannot be dropped from recruitment, if I am reading this correctly.

This past year I have heard many girls declare that they were dropped from recruitment. Upon further investigation they admit they actually did have invitations and could have continued, but didn't like their choices and withdrew from recruitment. They considered themselves dropped because their top choices had not invited them back. Playing the victim card instead of owning their decisions.

Since RFM was implemented most PNMs who see the process through to bid signing receive a bid.

No, that is not what it says. It says you have to attend all formal recruitment events and then you will get a bid. If you don't attend them all,you are not eligible. Note it actually says "to be eligible" you have to have all the listed requirements. I don't see what people are getting in an uproar over.

Because a PNM could be a skank ho, drama queen, or terminal weirdo (see "Weird Rush Stories" and walk right into your chapter!

Well, that happens anyway in spite of our best efforts!

Sure but can you imagine one of them getting pushed into your chapter, although you cut her because you knew what she was?

Shorter had forced bidding one year. I can't begin to tell you what all happened as a result.

The key clause under the eligibility requirements appears to be that for the MRABA. Yes, a PNM could be dropped by all chapters but, absent a MRABA (properly completed), the PNM lacks eligibility for a bid.

So everyone gets a bid. Doesn't mean they won't get cut before initiation.