Society of Recovering Sorority Girls Reacts to “Al Roker"
 

March 10, 2005
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Society of Recovering Sorority Girls Reacts to “Al Roker Investigates: The Horrors of Hazing”

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The Society of Recovering Sorority Girls (RSG), through its founders, Kristina “Morgan” Rose and Deandra “Brooksie” Brooks, denounced the recent special “Al Roker Investigates: The Horrors of Hazing” for its biased investigation. The program aired on Court TV on March 3.

WASHINGTON, DC (PRWEB) March 10, 2005 -- The Society of Recovering Sorority Girls (RSG), through its founders, Kristina “Morgan” Rose and Deandra “Brooksie” Brooks, denounced the recent special “Al Roker Investigates: The Horrors of Hazing” for its biased investigation. The program aired on Court TV on March 3.

“I’m really disappointed that the program limited its investigation to only the problems associated with a small segment of collegiate Greek life,” said Morgan. “Many of the national sororities began officially adopting policies which prohibit hazing in the 1960’s, and the National Panhellenic Conference urges its member groups to affirm their policies denouncing hazing.”

The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), umbrella organization for 26 women's fraternities and sororities, promotes values, education, leadership, friendships, cooperation and citizenship through its members. NPC groups are on 620 university campuses and represent a total of 3.6 million sorority women, collegiate and alumnae, worldwide.

According to RSG, the Court TV program focused on the story of two female Phi Phi Phi pledges at Loyola University and the death of Benjamin Klein a member of Zeta Beta Tau at Alfred University. Norm Pollard, the Director of Alfred University’s Counseling and Student Development Center, was interviewed throughout the hour-long special as an expert on hazing. There was no attempt to represent the policies or activities dedicated to preventing hazing that are common throughout all NPC groups.

“I was particularly offended by the segment’s use of the term ‘hazing rituals’. A ritual is a sanctioned part of the life of a Greek organization, hazing is not. Hazing, when it occurs, is an incident which should be addressed by both the university law enforcement and the affected organization’s national officers,” added Brooksie.

“The program’s conclusion that most hazing goes unpunished was flat out wrong,” stated Morgan.____

Hazing incidents most often result in the loss of an organization’s charter or university recognition and individuals who commit acts of hazing are typically forced to resign their membership.

“Based on the information presented during the program about Loyola’s Tri Phi Chapter, described as an “off campus” sorority and not recognized by the university, it appears the school had already exacted this punishment,” said Morgan.

“This show did nothing but perpetuate a negative stereotype about Greek life. It presented a one-sided view of the hazing issue and failed to discuss the numerous ways Greek organizations are educating their members and working to eradicate all hazing incidents. Instead of presenting both sides of the story, the program took a cheap shot at the Greek community. Many of us find it offensive,” concluded Brooksie.

The Society of Recovering Sorority Girls is an elite organization devoted to a life less ordinary. Its founders, Kristina "Morgan" Rose and Deandra "Brooksie" Brooks firmly believe in applying many of the principles of collegiate Greek life to improve the leisure activities of young professionals everywhere.
www.recoveringsororitygirls.com

National Panhellenic Conference Resolutions
http://www.npcwomen.org/policies/p_resolutions.php
1997, 1979, 1977, 1969—Hazing
Hazing is defined as any action or situation with or without consent which recklessly, intentionally or unintentionally endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student, or creates risk of injury, or causes discomfort, embarrassment, harassment or ridicule or which willfully destroys or removes public or private property for the purpose of initiation or admission into or affiliation with, or as a condition for continued membership in a chapter or colony of an NPC member fraternity. All member groups will affirm their policies denouncing hazing and inform their membership of this NPC position denouncing hazing through mailings and through their inter/national magazines.

National Panhellenic Confernce supports National Hazing Prevention Week, September 26-30, 2005.

National Panhellenic Conference’s Something of Value, a values-based risk management program teaches sorority women to identify risky behaviors and work together to develop strategies to change these behaviors. Something of Value was presented on 24 college campuses and at one regional conference during the 2003-2004 academic year.

National Panhellenic Conference is a co-sponsor for the National Hazing Research Initiative.


CONTACT INFORMATION
Lauren Mason
THE SOCIETY OF RECOVERING SORORITY GIRLS
Visit Our Site
210-731-6646

I love those RSG gals. I want them to come on here and post with us.

:)

They are Phi Mu sisters!!! And they keep up with what is here on GC. :) cause I email with them everyday :)

Sign of a decently written article (and a good copy staff/editor)- they used the correct word- "alumnae"

Yay for them!

good for them!

Pam, could you please let them know that the PC term is now "recruitment".;)

As in off their website.....

done.

Their response to me :) was essentially the following (this is not a quote)

They know that NPC passed the resolution changing a lot of the lingo back in '93 or '94 (potential new member or PNM is a lot harder to work into songs compared to rushee!). They chose the term "rush" over recruitment to make it clear that we are marketing to alumna-aged women. Most alumnae look at you kind of funny when you say "sorority recruitment". All of the parties in the book have cocktail recipes, and they are concerned about overtly marketing to women under the legal age to consume those recipes:).

They read GC often but don't post here because they are so busy ;). These women are CLASSY and energetic :), and work in the DC area in government :) for their regular jobs (until they become the next Martha's) I admire them greatly.

Do they have nice gams?

-Rudey

Look at their website and judge for yourself :)

Since I've never heard of them, who are they?

I personally find the use of "recovering" in their title offensive. Sounds like being a sorority girl was a bad thing.......

Good point. Or recovering from alcoholism

That would be what I was thinking......

My dad's a recovered alcoholic and to him being an alcoholic was a bad thing.

or like a drug addicition. I never thought about it that way... but it definitely makes sense

Have to say that their website reaffirmed my negative opinion of them.

How did you think of it then (and I do really want to know) because recovering from an addiction was an immediate thought for me.

before i thought of their use of "recovering" as in a they are sad they're not in a collegiate sorority world anymore so they are trying to cope with it.

or something like that :p

but i definitely see the whole "recovering" in a bad way too... and if they are responding to articles on hazing for example, that might give a bad impression to "outsiders" ... (even though their response was a positive one)

People recover from diseases! Not sorority life!

they kinda seem to be reinforcing some of the stereotypes of sorority women. At least it looks so from their website. Sorority girls are only good at entertaining and throwing parties? There's a lot more to being in a sorority than that, which we all know. But calling your business a sorority then catering to that part that goes with entertaining, etc. just reinforces the stereotype. It's not a sorority, it's a business. Sororities don't just party plan, we do a hell of a lot more. And not everyone understands that.

Good for them for being proud of being sorority women. Good for them for speaking up. But I can't say good for them for how they market themselves... i.e. the "recovering" part and reinforcing stereotypes.

Goodo for You!

Maybe it is time for GLOs to stand up and Say Hey, I am a Member of a Greek Society. I am damn proud of it!

So big Al R, who the hell is he? Some fat dude who stapled his big gut to lose weight? So, He is Important?

The trouble is, People see this crap and beleive it!:rolleyes:

All ya'll quit your damn bitching. Its marketing folx.

At least these gals are doing something positive. They arent promoting the idea that sorority women are slutty alcoholics, which most newspaper articles seem to do. And some of ya'll go off on them for standing up for ya'll on the Al Roker thing? Damned if they do and Damned if they dont. Its like a bunch of petty gals in here after a rush that everyone was pissed off about and the infractions are flying. Get over yourselves, learn to laugh at yourselves, and fight the battles you can win. Seriously, with everything going against greek life, these gals arent your enemies. LEts focus on the real problems facing sororities. If ya dont know what they are, mosey on over to the Risk Managemnt Forum and I am sure hoosier will point them out for us all.

Um, I think we're entitled to have opinions. And we're entitled to express them.

I don't really know if it's even their position to respond to something like Al Roker's show. They don't represent any of us, in fact, they're a business. However, the general public doesn't know that, all they see is "recovering sorority girls". It seems like the response is a way to grab PR for their business.

I tend to agree that it's a marketing ploy and we all shouldn't take it too seriously.
Also, I really didn't even think about the "recovering" thing that you all were talking about until somebody said it. Even then, I think it's pretty easy to see what they really mean. And they have a valid point, it's an adjustment, going from a set social calendar with lots of great parties to work life. Now that I'm in my 20's, my friends think that throwing a party means you bought some wine and put out some crackers. I think a lot of sorority women miss the days of well organized and fun get togethers.

I agree. I really don't really find anything offensive about their site or their book at all.

Haha...you need to find yourself some new friends. And I thought my buddies were super laidback, lol.

Preach on, Brother Lifesaver.

FOR REAL.

Sometimes the judgmental-ness on these threads is effing RIDICULOUS.

One of them went to one of the law schools I want to go to!

Lucky jerk. :p

I am an alumna member, so I am in the target market. I also work in marketing.

However, when I first read their name my impression was that sorority life was a bad thing for them, and I was inclined to not read more. Not the reaction they were hoping to elicit from their target market.

That aside, I am impressed with their entrepreneurial spirit, and hope that their book is so successful that they develop a cult following like The Sweet Potato Queens.* Goodness knows, that would be great PR for the Greek system! :)

*www.sweetpotatoqueens.com

I wonder what Katie Couric had to say about Al Rokers documentary... isn't she a TriDelt?

Yes, she's a Delta Delta Delta from UVA

Dont get me started on Katie Couric. I believe shes the debil's spawn.

If she did respond, it was probably in the trite Katie Couric fake-ass concern, with the brow furrowed and the trademark, "its just such a tragedy" comment. The only thing KC cares about is perpetuating her place in the spotlight as 'america's sweetheart.'

Not my america. Not my sweetheart. But thats a different thread.

Have to agree here.

Starting a business, yes that's positive. But that's where it ends. I don't find what their doing to be at all positive toward sorority women.

And yes, I'm entitled to whatever effing (as was said) opinion I want.

And since I also fall into their "target market" they should be concerned that I immediately thought about recovering from an addiction when I saw their name.

That's exactly what I was thinking, and I too am their target market.

Of course ya'll are entitled to your opinions. No one said ya'll werent. What was said was for everyone to relax, cause its not that big of a deal. Again, were talking about a company's name. Not Al-Queda. Not the KKK. Not Child Molestation.

Nowdays, everyone in our society is just looking for some damned excuse to be offended about something. :rolleyes:

Only speaking for myself...
 

I wasn't offended, I just had a negative reaction to a name that was intended to have a clever, "warm and friendly" feel. (And I have a close family member who is active in AA, so I might be more prone to being offended than most would be.)

It's only marketing, true, and it seems like the discussion was an analysis of how they might have missed the mark in their choice of name. One of my job responsibilities is naming new products, so this is my area of expertise. :D No harm, no foul. It's just not the best choice of name, which our mini focus group of members of the target market here seemed to indicate.

I like the concept, and wish these ladies the greatest success.

Re: Only speaking for myself...
 

Re: Re: Only speaking for myself...
 

I can understand "sticking up" for them b/c they're your Phi Mu sisters, but seriously, chill. No one has said anything nasty, it's all been pretty objective. Everything that's been stated has been constructive criticism, and coming from their target market, if they were smart business people the criticism would be worth it's weight in gold. We have a right to discuss them, they are representing themselves as members of the greek community, and representing their business as their own greek community.

As I said above, I think their response was pretty good, but I also do not believe at all that it was their place to make a response. And if they were making a response, then they should've made it as sorority women, not sorority women plugging their business.

In looking at their website a little more, I can find nothing negative about them or their business.

Maybe the choice of name is a little unfortunate---OH WELL.

Maybe their choice to respond to what they may have perceived as a wrong offended some of your oh-so-delicate sensibilities--OH WELL.

If you don't like them or what they're doing, don't visit their website and don't buy their book. I'm sure they'll do just fine.