Recruitment vs. Rush
 

Many of you know that NPC formally changed "rush" to "recruitment" several years ago. But many, many schools and people still use the term "rush." What do you think of the change? Do you think it's time to change it back to "rush?"

Yes. Less letters to type/write;)

I vote for rush! Not only does the noun have fewer letters but there really isn't a verb to correspond unless you consider "going through recruitment", which is a mile long, to be one.

Plus "Rush" is an accurate description, at least when talking about Formal Recruitment. It's hectic and crazy.

What she said. I understand and agree with the rationale behind the terminology shift, but "Rush" truly is an accurate description of the event itself.

I agree -
"I was rushed"
"She is rushing"
"Are you going to rush?"

Just sounds more fun - I heard a reason why they went with "recruitment" (I think it was because, or the rumor was that the greek system was going down - so instead of girls "rushing" to join a sorority - it is now the sororities "recruiting" the girls) but I don't like it, sounds like the army - Also, it's not just that

Now -"perspective new members" (pnm) Then - "rushee"
Now -"released" Then - "cut" (actually I don't mind that change so much)
Now -"alpha or phi or new member" Then - pledge
Now -"6 to 8 week pledgeship" Then - "one semester"
Now - New Member Educator (or Coordinator) Then Pledge Mom

I don't know all of this seems to take the social out of "social philinthropic organization" But the times they are a-changin.

Edited to add - So, there is no misunderstanding - I will follow the leader as far as this goes and I am aware that panhellenic voted on alot of these things or that my individual sorority voted on these changes but I have always questioned authority before agreeing to jump on the bandwagon - so there it is.

What everybody's said. What bothers me the most, though, is when someone accepts a bid. I understand that the noun "pledge" has negative connotations, but one still does (verbally) "pledge" to that GLO.

What do they say instead of "Remember the night we pledged?" Do they say "Remember the night we accepted our bids and went through the New Member ceremony?"? Just sounds awkward to me!

I like the term recruitment. I remember the first time I heard the word "rush." I was in high school, and a graduate of my high school came back to talk to my English class about her first year at UF. She talked about "sorority rush" and what a great way it was to meet people. I didn't understand what the heck she was talking about. Had she said, "sorority recruitment," I think I would have understood that the process of recruitment was a good way to meet people.

We called that person the Pledge Trainer or the Pledge Educator. A pledge mom was what some sororities call a big sis.

It's rush to me because that's what it was when I went through, and change is hard for me. We adopted our third child and second daughter ten years ago and STILL out of my mouth more often than not, comes my first daughter's name! It irritates both of my girls!

Another thing, Connie, that's MUCH different from when we PLEDGED:D is that then we were on the quarter system, and you PLEDGED:D one quarter, made grades, and got initiated the next quarter-which was forever to wait! Now, wham bam, it's done in a few short months. I'm not complaining here,mind you-it's certainly a better deal for the RUSHEES!:D

I hate the term recruitment!!!:mad:

As a retired military officer, recruitment - to me - has different connotations than sorority rush does. ;) :rolleyes:

I never "got" why they felt compelled to change it.:confused:

The same with "pledge" vs "new member:" Why is "new member" better than "Pledge?":confused:

I'd be happy if they went back to the way we used to call things....:p

I actually think "new member" is misleading. You are not a member until you are initiated. Newly initiated women are new members. Pledges are pledges. I understand that "pledge" may have stirred thoughts of hazing, but I don't care for the term "new member" as a solution. I also preferred "rush" to "recruitment." Since the term rush was used just for sororities and fraternities, people knew what you were talking about when you used it.

Not necessarily-- when you accept a bid to ADPi, you are considered both a sister and a new member. I concede we are perhaps overly PC, but that's the way it has been since the early 90's.

A lady in my sorority (in another city where I was once an AA member) was not in the military, but is what she calls, "A child of the Vietnam era" and she strongly opposes any connotation to the military in relating to sorority "recruitment." This blew up when after many years of her planning the "Rush Brunch," younger alumnae members made it a point that we needed to change the name to reflect the proper terminology. She resigned in a huff... but thankfully came back to the event after a year.

You are New Member but you are wearing a Pledge Pin.

We now have a New Member Coordinator instead of a Pledge Trainer and Fraternity Education Advisor.

The Fraternity Education team is now the Membership Development team. Okay, I do like that one better.

It's a toss of COB over "wildcatting".

Not thrilled with "single preference" rather than "suiciding" although I do understand why it is better, lol.

From what I understand, "pledge" is still used as a verb; i.e., "She went through recruitment and pledged ABC."
I'm all for shorter terms, as in "rushee" vs. "potential new member." My favorite new NPC term: old - "bid card;" new - "Membership Recruitment Acceptance."
You don't suicide, you "intentional single preference." (probably an improvement there). Wish I could find the list of terms. There's a REALLY long name for something like a COB bid card.

One thing I do find a little irritating. In my sorority we have gone from

Informal recruitment to COB to COR to CR.

Yet everyone else is calling it COB.

It would be nice to streamline the terminology across all the NPC sororities with regard to the membership intake process.

Actually, it is prospective.

I said it at the time, I'll say it again. Recruitment reminds me of either the military or a cult. If I'd been asked to go through something called "recruitment" I would have been quite turned off.

All the old terms are better, easier to remember and still used at many schools - even the most "PC."

And while "single intentional preference" doesn't sound as hardcore as "suicide", I think that was the whole POINT of the term "suicide" - to impress the seriousness of what you are doing when you do that.

OOOOoooo I know I was at the "meeting" (at DLC) a few years ago when they told us to start calling it CR - (I am the recruitment advisor) and I thought ok fine - but then I just got the new recruitment book and it still said COB

it was easy for me to try to change because lets face it I am still calling it open rush so COB to CR is fine - whatever - but I started calling it cr and nobody knew what I was talking about:confused:

AND WHAT ABOUT PNM :eek: we were told that it was changing to PM - from perspective new member to just perspective member - WELL apparently I was the only one to get that little message - because everyone keeps thinking I am talking about the time . .

sorry I got a little bit frusturated :p

I am bringing over a topic from the carnation rush thread -

The topic is why (or if) a chapter would over release on purpose knowing that it will drastically hurt their chances of getting quota

I personnally don't think that any chapter would CHOOSE not to get quota - I know I know quality over quantity but come on - in ADPi you have to get quota to even be eligable to get anykind of awards for anything nationally. - So, for a chapter to shoot theirselves in the foot by over releasing is IMHO "chapter suicide." It is one thing to get 5 shy of quota - but 1/2 of quota is hard to pick up with COR's.

However, we all know of a chapter in our sororities (I assume) that have pulled theirselves by the bootstraps and overcome the "numbers game"- It usually takes about 3 or 4 years and ALOT OF HARD WORK and good PR program - but If a chapter has ever been in "new member hard times" then they know that they don't want to be in that position again.

So, that is my 2 cents.

I completely agree with the above. That's why it doesn't make sense for them to say they did it on purpose. Maybe the "we did it on purpose" attitude is their PR spin on a low numbers year for formal recruitment?

When I went to the recruitment meeting at NCSU a few weeks back all the paperwork they gave out said Rush, when someone asked about it we were told "they" had decided to go back to using Rush. Fine with me since it never left my vocabulary!

My chapter always over releases, and we've made quota every year we've been in existance and we've never had to do CR. I think it's counterproductive to keep around girls you don't like just because the numbers dictate it. I do come from a chapter with good return rates, though. I'll have to go read the Carnation thread...

We do that too, and we never over release by much. I agree that it would be illogical for a weaker-rushing chapter to over release.

Since I am currently going through the formal recruitment process as a potential new member (what we call it on campus) and we are learning about all of the new PC terms (there was actually a slide on our powerpoint the first night with a slide intitled "PC Recruitment terms") I know that we all just use the good ol' un PC terms that are user friendly.

Actually honey - I think after 4 years of being homecoming chair when I was in college I think I could make all of the pyrmids of egypt out of toilet tissue and chicken wire - actually we had to resort to McDonalds (or was it Taco Bell):p napkins one year - (We ran out of white in the middle of the night) Spray the heck out of it with that spray glue and there you go.

It really isn't over releasing -- it is a new release method that almost all campuses have gone to and it is based upon past recruitment results of all the chapters on the campus as well as the overall campus results too. This system REQUIRES each group to release to certain numbers each day - and it differs by chapter. What is quite different from the past system is that this one has a VERY large release right at the very beginning. The stronger the chapter, the larger the release -- right from the start. The theory is that a really strong group does not have to keep massive numbers all week to make quote so release these women so they are actually attending parties at chapters that will be able to pledge them. It has been highly successful in the two years that it has been being phased in -- both from a chapter and pnm standpoint.

Yes. The new release figures are to make sure larger chapters don't have tons of girls attending parties that they cannot (or have no intention to) pledge.

But we were talking about a chapter that released lots of girls, didn't have the best return rate and didn't make quota. The thread's called rush at Auburn I think. :)

yea, I am not saying that sororities "over release" when they release the number they are told to release by panhellenic . . I am saying that a sorority who releases MORE girls then they are told to release early on is "over releasing."

Seems to me there are only a few reasons a chapter doesn't make quota with these new release figures. (I am not saying - off of quota by 5 I am saying a chapter that only gets 20 if quota is 60 or whatever)

1) tent talk - "don't go to that chapter it's not any good"
2) numbers - could be a great strong chapter but not have noticably close to as many sister as the other sororities on campus. (due to seniors or 1 bad year of recruiting a few years ago or whatever)
3) poor formal recruiting skills
4) or lets face it - it could be bad chapter - I mean we all know that there is a chapter out there that isn't what it should be - (not to say that it can't ever become a good chapter but right now this year it isn't good)

I am not talking about any one university or any one sorority - I am saying that universally the above reasons would be the reasons that a chapter doesn't get quota or close to quota. IMHO

This is our 2nd year with the new Release Figure system. As a general statement, we are trying to give it a solid chance and not release more than we're allowed. But the problem we encountered last year, especially after 1st round, was we were told to invite back X number of women and that cut off fell in the middle of a group of PNMs with identical scores.

In this case, how do you fairly decide who to invite back and who not to? So last year we released the entire group. The NPC Release Figure Specialist wasn't happy. I am not sure how we'll handle it this year because every Chapter is being strongly encouraged (meaning practically required) to invite back the full number.

It's even harder when the numbers say "don't release anyone"

Clearly, you don't want EVERYONE, so you release more than recommended.

I think that no matter that numbers and the specialist etc. You have to be willing to say "this is who we want to be our sisters"

AMEN.

If Debbie Downer comes to your party and you can tell she's infecting the other rushees, you should be able to give her the heave ho, even if you only have a fraction of the people needed to make quota.

That was my chapter's issue with the new release figures as well. We always erred on the side of releasing more girls - why keep them if we know we don't really want them?

OF course there are the girls that have issues that you might not want in your chapter, that might be over and beyond your release figures, but it seems like if they are "that bad" they would be released 1st then you are talking about releasing maybe someone that is in the middle of your list or whatever - it just seems to me that if you are told to release 100 out of 300 pnm's then just release the 100 why go with 150 when it could hurt you later?

man its late what am i doing up

We mainly did this after the first rounds of recruitment. Like, say we're recommended to release 300 girls and we decide instead to release 350. Those last 50 girls would have had the lowest scores after second round and would get released eventually anyway, if that makes sense. Cutting more than recommended also worked in our favor because the PNMs see more girls getting cut by us and figure "Oh, they must be good because they are cutting a lot of girls..." It also allieviates the problem of girls cutting us because they don't like the wacko in their rush group who also came back to us.

It's tricky and wouldn't probably be a good idea if your chapter doesn't always make quota.

which is fine if you are talking about being only 5 or so away from quota but less then half - that might be too high a price to pay - but don't get me wrong i do understand that the pnm's that return to the parties are a recruitment tool in and of themselves but I guess that decision must be made by a pnm to pnm basis or a recruitment to recruitment basis or a chapter by chapter basis -

this has been a good discussion sister - I am looking forward to recruitment - with topics like this, the actual act of recruitment might be easier ha ha