DePauw Rush Results
 

Rush results from the #1 Greek Scene in the nation, depending on whose ratings you're going by:

Men (Quota = 30, some houses had lower quotas due to violations)
Alpha Tau Omega 16
Beta Theta Pi 21
Delta Chi 5
Delta Tau Delta 25
Delta Upsilon 4
Phi Delta Theta 25
Phi Gamma Delta 27
Phi Kappa Psi 23
Sigma Alpha Epsilon 22
Sigma Chi 23
Sigma Nu 1

This was the first year that guys rush had a quota at DePauw.

Women (Quota = 36)
Alpha Chi Omega 34
Alpha Phi 33
Delta Gamma 34
Delta Zeta 3
Kappa Alpha Theta 35
Kappa Kappa Gamma 33
Pi Beta Phi 34

Some of you may notice that the Delta Zeta number for the women sticks out like a sore thumb. On bid night, Delta Zeta gave out 11 bids but only 6 women chose to accept them. Since then, 3 more ladies have quit Delta Zeta.

The following articles from DePauw's campus newspaper, The DePauw, talk about what's going on with Delta Zeta.


(The articles are in chronological order starting at the earliest)

DZ 'reorganizes', loses 29 women

Silence is deafening (Editorial)

DZ controversy sparks debates

Letter to the Editor: Delta Zeta betrays ideals of sisterhood

So, no sororities made quota? Are you sure it was 36?

That whole DZ situation seems like an unholy mess. I feel so bad for everyone involved.

Some sororities did make quota, the numbers listed just reflect that a few dropped out from one house or the other becaue it wasn't their first choice or something along those lines.

Now, keep in mind what I'm going to say isn't an indictment in any way of DZ - I've heard of practically every NPC group doing similar "membership reviews" and things like what happened at DePauw.

First off, choosing the women who want to "commit to recruitment" often means the women who want to commit to the type of member, and the number of members, the national organization wants. Not necessarily what the chapter wants or even what fits with the school. When someone comes in and basically says they want you to change from (random musical
example) Beyonce to Korn, for lack of a better analogy, you might just decide to run out the door because they have no clue what you are about.

But here's what kind of kills me about the whole deal. It seems like there were a lot of rumors going around the Greek community about the chapter because they were small and that they weren't supported as much as they could have been, but then the campus gets all up in arms that they weren't treated well by their national. Maybe if that support would have been there previously, the chapter wouldn't have gotten to the point that it had. I guess it's a case of I can say someone in my family is an asshat, but if anyone else says they're an asshat, I'll beat them up.

It does seem like a big mess. I hope something good will come out of it.

DePauw is ridiculously Greek, but even at that, it only has 2,350 students. Even if many of them are Greek (typically 80%+ of freshmen women rush, and 65%+ pledge), it is tough to support as many sororities as they have. There is another sorority there besides DZ that is significantly smaller than the others (although apparently had a good rush.) I think it hard to compete at a small school with very large chapters, 4 of them founded before 1900, 2 of them Alphas. I hope DZ works it out - that is an old chapter for them with a beautiful house.

It looks like the "starting fresh" approach DZ nationals took did not help the chapter during recruitment. Why did they decide to kick those women out just before formal recruitment? I assume DZ will be doing a massive interview/membership drive now?

"Image" keeps getting brought up. Were the decisions made on personal, physical image, or the collective image, as in reputation, of the chapter? I do think it's horrible for a GLO to kick members out of a chapter because they decide they aren't pretty enough. That's just mean, and is cruel on a very basic, human level. DZ is a strong organization, but can you really blame women for choosing not to join during rush if this is the new image DZ is presenting?

ETA: for the record, I would feel the same way if it was my org. that did this

Apparently, they were under the impression that even if they closed the chapter, they would automatically regain a spot if Panhellenic opened up again. The school told them this was not the case. I sincerely hope that "Wow, OK. What do we do now?" was not a direct quote from an international sorority's executive director. :eek: They then had to scramble for winter/spring rush.

I believe the Green Book says you have a year to be dormant/reorganize etc, but I'm guessing the time line they laid out to the school was longer than that.

You know what happens when the bottom chapter folds? Someone else becomes the bottom chapter. However, it seems a little strange that on a campus with only 7, there would be two weaklings.

It happened at my undergrad. We had two chapters in the 30-40s, two chapters in the 60s and three at total at 85.

DZ situation
 

It says a great deal about the DePauw Greek system that they are sympathetic and trying to help the displaced DZ girls find options. Not all systems pull together like that. The two editorials indicate that there is a great deal of understanding on that campus--from both fraternity and sorority members. This should be our norm, not the "I got mine" atmosphere that sometimes prevails.

It happened at my campus, too (with 6 sororities). And after the two low chapters folded, the chapter with 50-60, that spent a lot of time bad mouthing the other two for being low, is now the lowest one and struggling to survive.

Only the pretty, perfect girls got to stay.
 

Physical image was one of the main reasons most of the women of Delta Chapter were forced into alumnae status by DZ nationals. They weren't pretty enough to fit into their steriotypical image of what a "sorority girl" should be. They kept the pretty girls and the girls who partied and drank a lot. Suddenly, girls that were right for DZ last year were kicked to the curb.
Unfortunately, DZ at DePauw had the rep of being the "fat house" with the girls that did nothing but study and nobody wanted to join a house with a rep like that. So nationals took it upon themselves to kick out all of the girls who weren't perfect in hopes of reviving the chapter. Well, Nats, you got 3 girls. Seems like that was a stellar decision to make - make DZ the laughingstock of campus where no girl in their right mind would join a house that might kick them out for not being perfect some day instead of gracefuly sliding into the history books. So much for sisterhood being forever.

How big are the houses at DePauw? Were there enough girls in DZ before the membership review to fill the house? Oh, and what's being done w/ it now?

My sympathy to you and your sisters. I, too, know how it feels to be dicked over by your HQ.

The fact that officials have kept mum about the situation is sketchy, and I really don't blame you for being so upset.

Tri-Delta closed in 1991 and AOII closed in 2000. Nobody replaced those groups, so I think there has always been a clear separation of the stronger chapters and the weaker ones at DePauw (like anywhere). It is just that DZ and the other smaller chapter stuck it out longer. My best friend was an AOII there when DDD closed, and like you said, immediately AOII suffered as the new low group. Now it is DZ and there is an heir apparent already, unfortunately.

33Girl - going into recruitment, most chapters have around 100 members, but one usually is more like 70 or 80 and then DZ was more like 40 or 50. (Unofficial source though. The OP would probably have more exact numbers.)

I was wondering how many people it takes to fill the actual physical plant/house. (Remember, calling a chapter a house is my pet peeve, LOL.)

That really is sad, and I hope some DZs who are upset by the situation let HQ know about it. It sounds like HQ drastically underestimated the women at DePauw, who observed what was going on and decided they wanted no part of it.

Unfortunately, Nationals really doesn't care what anyone thinks. They've done everything in their power to keep this totaly under the table and it wasn't until the recent articles in The DePauw newspaper came out that people really knew the truth.
I know almost all of the Delta alumnae have been kept completely in the dark about this. When questions were posed to the alum group president - who is very active in the chapter - about the status of the house, she told everyone that the house was perfectly fine and nothing was going to happen or change. Only those alums who have connections to actives (well, former actives now) knew what was really going on. Letters have been written, phone calls have been made, but everything has been ignored. Nats was going to get their perfect house or nothing. Looks like it's nothing.

Does anyone think that perhaps DZ Headquarters just wanted to keep that chapter alive because it's an older chapter for them? Also, Delta Chapter is not listed on the national website which I thought was interesting.

Look, I'm of the mind that if you want to scrap a chapter and start all over again, you REALLY start all over again. You don't pick-and-choose sisters to keep. If DZ had simply "reorganized" or closed the chapter, sadly, for numbers, and made everyone an alumna, they would not be in this situation. But because they decided to pass judgement on EACH member of the chapter individually, acting as if those women had done something wrong to deserve the treatment they got, they are in this bad PR mess.

Interestingly, the chapter Web site is still up, and it certainly doesn't look like a "fat girl" house at all. And there are numerous academic/professional accomplishments listed in one of the sections. You'd think HQ would be impressed with having smart girls as members.

agreed....and it's just strange that they are about to celebrate the chapter's 100th anniversary...

DePauw DZ situation
 

I have read several recent articles on this, but I believe the DZ headquarters was surprised to learn that closing the house for awhile and going back with an empty slate was not an option. From what I understood, the Greek advisors at DePauw informed them that there were other groups ahead of them to come back onto campus, and they would not be able to just "come back on" whenever they chose.
That would change the approach of the hdqtrs., so maybe that explains part of what they did--not the method they chose, but certainly not closing altogether.
Can anyone from DePauw clarify this?

And as is evidenced from threads that have popped up in GC, even doing that can be a giant cluster$%@k. The only time an immediate recolonization seems to work is when 1) the school is super large and there are enough women to choose from who weren't in the "orbit" of what was happening previously 2) the women who are being made alumnae truly are OK with the decision and are treated with the respect due alumnae by the national organization. And even when that happens, sometimes the more the new alums think about it, the more upset they get. It festers.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the last two recolonizations my sorority did were at chapters that hadn't been open since (respectively) Nixon and Wilson were in office.

But I don't think closing down was the only option. They could have just reorganized...made all the current actives alumnae and brought in their own exec. team to interview a whole new chapter of women.

if that really is the case, I can't think of a better time for this quote...

When we assume, we make an ass out of u and me.

LOL I had never heard that before!

People are usually just doing the best they can, and they sometimes make mistakes. I suspect everyone would do this differently in hindsight.

It's a sad situation for the individual women and for Delta Zeta. I think it's going to be even harder to recruit, and they may have essentually just destroyed this chapter.

It also got me thinking: when a chapter just kind of "dies" off on it's own, as in a gradual decline in membership until a decision is made to close the chapter, it seems that the international or national organization has done all they can to help it, and it doesn't usually seem disrespectful to the women or men who were last active in the chapter.

But when a chapter has sustained itself at a certain size level, and the organization "reorganizes" by having people go alum early, it seems disrespectful to those last active members. How would you feel as a member of the most recent pledge class to be told that your active experience was over? It seems unjust somehow.

Is there anyway to get the kind of "recolonization" energy going without shutting the last actives out?

How was quota set? And how was IFC rush structured?

Quota was set by taking 15% of the number of guys who entered rush.

For IFC rush, on Monday and Wednesday the guys visited all 11 houses first round.

For second round on Firday night guys could go up to five houses, some guys suicided a house at this point and only went to one.

3rd round was Saturday night where guys could go to 1 or 2 houses.

After 1st and 2nd round, houses would have a time frame to make their cuts and then guys would pick from lists reflecting whether or not they had been cut from anywhere.

After 3rd round, guys would pref their top house before houses made any decision about who they a-listed or b-listed. Houses made their decisions at the same time the guys were making their decisions, there was time after decisions were over that lists were compared and it was determined what house each guy would be in.

For the record, no guys were cross-cut after 3rd round - everybody that showed up to 3rd round got into a house.

You can say that again; it happened to my sister in law. She was an AXiD at Purdue and the last class to be initiated before they closed and recolonized. She had no active experience at all.

Thanks for the info. This is one of the few, and rare, campuses where I have heard of a quota used along with a somewhat structured IFC rush. So please bare with me as I have a few follow up questions.

First off. Since some chapters had lower quotas due to violations, how was quota set for those chapters? And was this quota made known prior to rush to both the chapters and the rushees?

If I'm following this, the 15% represents the percentage a chapter could pledge from the original number of guys. So as an example, if there were 100 guys who entered rush, then any one chapter could only bid up to 15 men. Is this correct?

Also if you were to add the percentage for each chapter, did they total (equal) 100%? Granted I don't know what the lower percentage are for those chapters with violations, but the numbers don't add up. 15% times 11 chapters equals 165%. In other words, if there was 100 men in rush, it seems like six chapters could get their 15% (15 members) which would be a total of 90 out of 100 men rushing. Then a seventh chapter could get the remaining ten members to equal the full 100 men rushing. This would leave the remaining four chapters with zero pledges.

As for the second and third rounds, did each chapter have a series of set parties, or just "open house" type parties? For example, if the rushee received and was interested in ABC, was his invite for a specific time only? Or could the rushee come by "whenever" and/or stay for as long as he wanted?

Also, did everybody that showed up to third rounds get a bid because of some sort of guaranteed placement or did it just happened to work out that way?

And finally, do the IFCs continue to rush the rest of the year?

Thanks.

I know I harp on this in every thread, but a lot of it has to do with the housing situation. You can't keep a house open at Purdue if you don't have members to live in it and pay rent.

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First off. Since some chapters had lower quotas due to violations, how was quota set for those chapters? And was this quota made known prior to rush to both the chapters and the rushees?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Quota was set arbitrarily by the Director of Greek Affairs and the Greek Affairs Office; houses could appeal if they wanted to. Houses found out what quota was right before rush started as guys had up until the day before to sign up for rush. Rushees were not explicitly told what quota was; some probably found out from Greek members anyway.

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If I'm following this, the 15% represents the percentage a chapter could pledge from the original number of guys. So as an example, if there were 100 guys who entered rush, then any one chapter could only bid up to 15 men. Is this correct?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes. Men's rush worked out this year so that EXACTLY 200 men registered for rush; that's why quota was 30.

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Also if you were to add the percentage for each chapter, did they total (equal) 100%? Granted I don't know what the lower percentage are for those chapters with violations, but the numbers don't add up. 15% times 11 chapters equals 165%. In other words, if there was 100 men in rush, it seems like six chapters could get their 15% (15 members) which would be a total of 90 out of 100 men rushing. Then a seventh chapter could get the remaining ten members to equal the full 100 men rushing. This would leave the remaining four chapters with zero pledges.
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This year's quota percentage was figured with the previous knowledge that some houses had racked up violations that prevented them from reaching quota and also that some houses make/made it known that they aren't necessarily willing to take in that many guys, since some of the fraternities at DePauw cut more heavily than others.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As for the second and third rounds, did each chapter have a series of set parties, or just "open house" type parties? For example, if the rushee received and was interested in ABC, was his invite for a specific time only? Or could the rushee come by "whenever" and/or stay for as long as he wanted?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Rushees were given a specific schedule of house what they were to be at and what time they were to be there, DePauw's rush is ran through the ICS system which has had its bugs at DePauw. So, yes, the invite was for a specific time only as houses had a say in how large their 2nd and 3rd rounds could be. Example: if a house had 60 guys coming back for 2nd round, they could decide if they wanted to have 5 rounds of 12 or 3 rounds of 20; most fraternities choose to have near 20 for 2nd and 3rd rounds at DePauw. There was an enforced time limit of 45 minutes for 2nd round and an hour for 3rd round; a group of guys would all enter the house at the same time and then leave the house at the same time after the round was over. Houses could rack up fines depending on how much over the regulated time they kept rushees on property.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Also, did everybody that showed up to third rounds get a bid because of some sort of guaranteed placement or did it just happened to work out that way?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This was purely luck; in past years there have been guys who went to houses third round that did not get a bid from any house at all. My freshman year there was 2, and last year there was 1 (I'm a junior now.) Most times, if houses really don't want somebody in their house they will have cut them by 2nd round.

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And finally, do the IFCs continue to rush the rest of the year?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In the Spring, houses have a few days after the end of formal rush in which they can extend open bids, but after that there's no more joining through the end of the school year. In the Fall semester a few houses usually give out open bids to guys who for some reason or another couldn't/didn't join their house during the Spring; freshmen are not allowed to receive open bids in the fall.

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Thanks.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You're welcome. At times it's really easy to think that every school does rush the same but this is obviously not the case.

Thank you for your reply and I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this. If you would be so kind as to continue to indulge me, a few more questions popped into my head about y'all's IFC rush.

1.) Is quota the number of bids a chapter may extend, or the number of men they may accept? For example, could ABC only extend 30 bids (15%) and that's it? Or could ABC extend 30 bids, and if five men declined their bid, the chapter then bid (or in NPC terms "snap bid") five more - up to the 30? Is this what you meant by "open bids" extended after formal?

2.) May a rushee received more than one bid?

3.) "This year's quota percentage was figured with the previous knowledge that some houses had racked up violations that prevented them from reaching quota and also that some houses make/made it known that they aren't necessarily willing to take in that many guys, since some of the fraternities at DePauw cut more heavily than others."

I am still fuzzy how the chapters with violations determine quota. Is it any of the following scenarios?

Scenario A: Every chapter has the same quota set at 15%.

As I understand this, with only 200 men going through rush, if every chapter (11) had a quota set at 15%, then it was statistically impossible for every chapter to make quota. So basically, those chapters with violations didn't take 15% due to the violations. (i.e. reputation) For example, say ABC is on social probation for a year. In theory, they could still make quota of 15%, yet, few rushees were willing to pledge ABC because of the probation.

Scenario B: There are at least two separate quotas. The "max" is set at 15% for some chapters with a lower percentage for other chapters.

Say six chapters were allowed to take the "max" of 15% (30 pledges) while five chapters (the ones with the violations) could only take 2% (4 pledges).

6 chapters at 30 pledges = 180
5 chapters at 4 pledges = 20
Total = 200

So in theory, every chapter could make quota because the actual percentage (quota) was different for the chapters.

Scenario C: Neither.

Thank you for your reply and I really appreciate you taking the time to explain this. If you would be so kind as to continue to indulge me, a few more questions popped into my head about y'all's IFC rush.

1.) Is quota the number of bids a chapter may extend, or the number of men they may accept? For example, could ABC only extend 30 bids (15%) and that's it? Or could ABC extend 30 bids, and if five men declined their bid, the chapter then bid (or in NPC terms "snap bid") five more - up to the 30? Is this what you meant by "open bids" extended after formal?

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What I called "open bids" is the same as "snap bids", and houses could do what the hypothetical ABC did in your question.
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2.) May a rushee received more than one bid?

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Through formal rush, No.
Snap Bids, Yes. It's not uncommon for some guys to receive 2 or 3 different snap bids if they are that popular but didn't go through formal rush.
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3.) "This year's quota percentage was figured with the previous knowledge that some houses had racked up violations that prevented them from reaching quota and also that some houses make/made it known that they aren't necessarily willing to take in that many guys, since some of the fraternities at DePauw cut more heavily than others."

I am still fuzzy how the chapters with violations determine quota. Is it any of the following scenarios?

Scenario A: Every chapter has the same quota set at 15%.

As I understand this, with only 200 men going through rush, if every chapter (11) had a quota set at 15%, then it was statistically impossible for every chapter to make quota. So basically, those chapters with violations didn't take 15% due to the violations. (i.e. reputation) For example, say ABC is on social probation for a year. In theory, they could still make quota of 15%, yet, few rushees were willing to pledge ABC because of the probation.

Scenario B: There are at least two separate quotas. The "max" is set at 15% for some chapters with a lower percentage for other chapters.

Say six chapters were allowed to take the "max" of 15% (30 pledges) while five chapters (the ones with the violations) could only take 2% (4 pledges).

6 chapters at 30 pledges = 180
5 chapters at 4 pledges = 20
Total = 200

So in theory, every chapter could make quota because the actual percentage (quota) was different for the chapters.

Scenario C: Neither.

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Scenario B.
One specific example, I'll refer to them as XYZ. Befor rush was ever started and anybody had an idea what quota would be, the Greek Affairs Office had determined that XYZ's quota would be the normal quota minus a percentage due to a hazing incident plus an incident at a social event.....quota was set at 15% taking into account that there would be reductions in some houses quotas that would result in not every house being able to take 30 guys and preventing the 165% problem mentioned earlier.

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Again, no problem. If you have anymore questions or something I've said is unclear, I can give you the email address of DePauw's Director of Greek Life, he'd be better to explain it all than me.

Thanks. I believe all my questions have been answered.

On a side note, Alpha Gamma Delta's Eta Chapter was installed in 1908 but I can't remember when it closed. When I was in school, our Province Director Collegians was initiated there. I think she's the only one I've ever met. She was wonderful!

Panhel Recruitment
 

I just wanted to clarify depauwgreek's post of the women's recruitment. Quota for women this year at DePauw was set at 33, with the possibility of an add two if you filled quota. Therefore, all houses except for Delta Zeta fiilled quota.