observation at recruitment parties
 

do any of you have any first hand knowledge of panhellenic officers or recruitment counselors observing the festivities during a recruitment party?

At NCSU, Panhellenic officers will sit in on skits during skit night. That's the only real time they are inside...they do sometimes come in before parties though...just to walk through to see things...

Yes, at Illinois, they walk around to ensure that no rules are being violated.

whitedaisy,so they are in the room only during the skit?


deltabetababy, are they there during the entire party? are they at every party?

I believe they are in the room ONLY for the skit...they just let us know they are coming so we set out however many extra chairs...I do not think they are actually inside...unless it's raining or something and they wait in the lobby of the house.

back in the day, we only went around with our recruitment groups the first two days of recruitment, and we entered the house after the pnms did. we were escorted to the housemothers apartment, where we were offered food and drink . we were not in the part of the house where the actual party was taking place.

I think ours were there for most of the party, but I was always so busy actually doing recruitment that I didn't really notice. They sat through the skit and pref, though. I don't know what they did open house or philanthropy night.

At UGA there are two recruitment counselors at every party. They walk around making sure no rules are being violated. Panhellenic exec walks around in pairs or groups of three and visits every house every day. We keep a close eye on things. :)

At State, there was a pair of us at every party to cut down on dirty rushing. Worst moment: when I opened the partially cracked door to a dark bathroom and there were several members hotboxing a PNM, who was sitting on a closed toilet. We all screamed.:eek:

At UCF, there are (or at least when I was there...), there were random check-ins during parties when Pan/Recruitment Exec would do walk throughs to observe. They didn't interfere.

Anybody else think that it's a lot of fun to be Carnation?

Carnation, your stories are the best!

I wonder how that conversation got started. "We REALLY want to talk to you somewhere quiet...oh, here's a bathroom that no one is using!"

The only time I remember seeing PH members going around is before the parties actually start on the first day (Open House). They only come to see that the decoration is the way it is supposed to be. That day the house has to look the way it usally does all year. We can have decorations but not many.

daaaaaaaaaaang

There are about 4 or 5 Rho Chis at each party. They walk in every bedroom to make sure we have pictures covered of alcohol or anything Panhellenic considers inappropriate. We rush our girls in the formal room, and they stand in the entranceway to make sure we aren't breaking any rules, like hotboxing, but they don't enter the room. A lot of the time, especially towards the end of the week, they just sit around on the couches until the party is over.

What's hotboxing?

What is hotboxing? I've never heard that term before...

Our Panhel folks would stop by just before parties started and would check things out. The RC stayed on the porch outside the party, and if a Panhel person was there, they were outside too. The RC only came in once when I was the Recruitment chair Sr. year, and that was b/c someone got faint and had to be escorted to the bathroom! :) She ended up becoming a Theta, haha!

We used to check inside the party rooms before the day's parties started to make sure they were all decorated according to rules. Other than that, we sat outside during the parties, and would duck our heads in to tell them when there was only five minutes left.

Usually "hotboxing" includes intentionally separating a PNM and engaging in intimidating conversation or being in a situation where there are more than two active members with one potential member.

Someone feel free to correct me if I"m wrong. That's how I've always understood it.

This is the only usage I've ever heard for hotboxing, but I really hope they weren't doing it at a party: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hotbox (The first two definitions here)

LOL, and it was the really elegant sorority too! OTW has the definition right.

And thanks Alphagamuga, I suppose I do have a fun life!

There will be about 4 or 5 at each party. Then Panhellenic Execs will come around as well. They usually just hang out in corners of the room where the party is and watch. The head of Greek Life will also stop in to probably at least one party at each house.

In year's past there have also been members of other sororities (like people from their headquarters) who have watched parties. This has only been done twice that I can remember and those headquarters officials have to get permission of the chapters and from what I've understand the chatpers can say no to having them. However, I don't think anyone told them no!

At mine, Rho Chi's are present at open house (usually put in a corner and given a cup of hot chocolate) and at a novelty party of a house they're not a member of. They *are* permitted to attend their own final party if the chapter allows them to. We're not an NPC campus so ours is a bit different.

Can we please have a thread where Carnation just reminisces endlessly about SEC rush back in the day? Please?

That would be heaven to read...come on C, it really would be a blast to read your memories!

Our rho chis would do "pop-ins" during parties, to make announcements to the PNMs. Basically this boiled down to logistical announcements like "Remember to pick up your invitations tomorrow at <time> at <location>" and the oft-repeated "Keep your options open, and call your parents!" That was pretty much it... we were there to keep the PNMs informed, not look for rush violations.

We had a visit from one of DG's NPC reps this fall and she told our Panhel that they were not allowed to have recruitment counselors or Panhel execs in our house during our parties. Parties are private events and only those women who have been invited may be in attendance. They are still allowed to come before the parties and check the decorations or skit.

I can't tell you how happy I was to hear that! A couple years ago we put a recruitment counselor in the office during our pref party and found her taking detailed notes on our party a few minutes later when we came to offer her refreshments!

Ditto on this for UF. The only time the Pi Chis were allowed to 'attend' a party was during the video round, and that was by invitation only (although I can't think of a single chapter that didn't invite them to watch). They stood in the very back corner of the room. If there was a Panhel Exec member there, she usually timed the video with her stopwatch to make sure it wasn't over time, but we'd already submitted the videos for review before recruitment began, so it was more of a double-check than anything else.

I am in favor of this! We could provide topics to prompt some memories, like maybe in the form of awards: for example, this thread's story might be Most Creative Use of a Toilet During a Rush Party.

Or for the arm punching PNM in orange and purple: Most Original Costume.

I suggest Best Corrupted Rush Chant as the next topic.

Carnation, this would be a good project while you're iced/snowed in today!

Y'all are making fun of me! :(

I was thinking the other day how awful it was that quota was often set after second parties...way to keep the big groups big and the small ones small.

This is true for the University of Kentucky and generally only if its not a nice day outside. If the weather is nice the Rho Chi's might sit out in Sorority Circle in the shade.

We'd usually invite them to come in & watch the skit and/or song portion of the recruitment process.

Making fun of you??

Nope, just totally fascinated by women's history. And you know a lot of it that can't be found in any book.

Seriously, we aren't making fun of you. I get tired of hearing about no-frills recruitment and PNMs deciding which pair of jeans to wear to icewaters. I want to hear about rush - not recruitment, but rush. You have the best rush stories of anyone on Greek Chat. :)

I have to agree....even though our kids seem overly dramatic now, there's no drama like old rush stories with real dirty rushing, hotboxing, etc!;)

And everybody did it, too!

Carnation, I'm not making fun at all. The little stories that you tell are always insightful and frequently really funny, as I think you intend them to be. I love them. The topics I suggested were intended to be funny but certainly not at your expense. I'm sorry if it came across wrong.

We allow Panhellenic officers and RCs to enter parties (no further than a foot or two from the door) to pull PNMs who are on shortened schedules during recruitment. They only interact with the President and/or Recruitment Chair however.

Our recruitment/chapter advisors have an agreement that seems to work for us. During parties, the advisors from each chapter are escorted by the Panhellenic Advisor (me) into each chapter's party on days 1 and 2 (never for Pref). We only enter to view the rooms and we enter at the same time, all together, and only during conversation time (not during skits/slideshows). There is no conversing with any member or PNM and we do our best to be "unnoticed" by the PNMs. The visits never last more than 1-2 minutes per chapter. This works well for us and lets the advisors know that all the chapters are on the same level in terms of budget.

Rho chis and/or panhell execs are not allowed in the recruitment rooms at all at my school. We don't have houses so all our recruiting is done in the student center where there are private rooms throughout. The Rho Chis usually only just peek their heads in to say five minutes left or whatever. While the PNMs are in the rooms, the Rho Chis just wait in the cafeteria. :p

It will differ based on what school you're at. Our rush is set up so that two recruitment counselors are at all of the parties pretty much the entire time. I believe the only time they left is during the second half of the preference party.