Resident Assistants (RAs!) in recruitment
 

I'm going to be a Resident Assistant (RA) in a sophomore dorm next year, and Panhellenic at my school voted not to allow RAs--even those in dorms where the residents know her affiliation--to participate in recruitment because it could be dirty rushing.

I already know all about PPC and encouraging Greek Life instead of my organization, but my suitemates are in my sorority and will be attending MS each night. To what extent should I talk to them, and how should I act toward my residents if they decide to go through recruitment?

I'm going to offer my own suggestions/opinions here, with the caveat that I'd also touch base with your Panhellenic to see if they have any rules/recommendations regarding the situation too. Most likely, if you have questions about it, other Greek RAs do too, so they may appreciate having any potential questions/concerns brought to light.

As far as talking to your suitemates about MS...that's a fine line for you to walk (IMO). Being that you are a member, the secrecy factor isn't necessarily an issue...but the fact that you'd be having your conversations in the dorm would be a potential issue. (It would be horrible if PNMs or even members of other sororities overheard your conversations in the dorm.) I don't typically believe that MS stuff should be discussed outside of the house - even if the conversations are between members only.

It doesn't sound like there's anything prohibiting you from talking with your suitemates during recruitment about how recruitment is going in general, but I'd avoid getting into any detailed MS conversations in the dorm setting!

As far as how to act towards your residents - the best thing you can do is to be a positive example of Greek Life in general. If your residents press you with detailed questions about recruitment, I'd suggest that you politely direct them to their Rho Chi (or Rho Gamma, or whatever rush counselors are called on your campus). You can wish them good luck and express enthusiasm about the Greek system in general. But I'd avoid answering any sticky questions ("So, should I suicide my favorite house?" "I don't like some of the houses I'm supposed to go to, can I skip those parties?" etc.) and direct them to their Rho Chi...you'd hate to have any of your advice backfire (even if well intentioned), and then create an awkward situation on your floor for the rest of the year!

(And again, anything that your local Panhellenic has established should be followed, even if it contradicts some of my suggestions above. :) )

This was really difficult for me this year; I'm an RA in a freshman building. Basically, I was told to do what was part of my job description...and if someone needed to talk about a rush situation, I sent them to my co-RA, who is unaffiliated. It's interesting though, many girls on my floor are now sisters of mine too, but I would hate to think it's because I may have talked to them in an RA role during silence period, or something like that.

Ditto, ditto, DITTO. I want to second this whole post. It would probably be in your best interest to pretend you're an assistant "Rho Chi" -- in that you're in a position to counsel these young women through the recruitment experience -- by remaining as neutral as possible during recruitment. Susan314 said to redirect any tough questions toward these girls' Rho Chis and I couldn't agree more. It's not your job to advise your residents on the nitty gritty of formal recruitment. That's for the Greek Life office (+ recruitment counselors) to handle. However, if one of your residents is upset following FR, you need to be prepared to counsel her... but that's where your responsibilities end. You should be a sympathetic ear in the event of a disappointment and a cheerleader for your residents' happy endings.

For the whole FR period, it would probably be in your best interest to refrain from advertising your affiliation (despite what your suitemates are going to do) even if you're not required to be neutral like the RXs are.

Having been an RA myself, I know how difficult it's going to be, especially when you're dealing with disappointed young women... I'm not going to lie. But remaining a neutral presence is the best way to go.

I would also recommend discussing with your Greek Advisor/Panhellenic Advisor and/or the recruitment chairs regarding NPC formal recruitment rules in regards to this - not being able to participate in recruitment because you are an RA is unfair to your chapter let alone the Greek community - we promote involvement as being members of sororities and that shouldn't be punished during recruitment. Although their concerns of swaying any potential new members opinion as an RA may have some sense, overall, using that same logic, you should restrict any member of a highly-visible campus organization, such as student government, orientation leaders, etc. from participating in individual chapter's recruitment. As long as you are aware, as well as any other member regarding recruitment practices and that you can indeed talk to PNMs at any time, just not about joining your specific chapter - strict silence was reversed by NPC 3-4 years ago (the only strict silence period is between bid signing and bid day/announcement). Help your recruitment chairs be aware of the rules and realize that this isn't only hurting your chapter but also in bringing exposure to sorority women who are involved on campus as part of the recruiting process and the leadership opportunities many sorority women take advantage of.

i know that it would be far easier for me to get thru recruitment if i did not get into in-depth discussions with my suite mates/sisters during recruitment. maybe just a "there are a lot of great girls going thru" or "we had great returns today", but no more info. than that. set the ground rules with your sisters before recruitment starts. make it easy on yourself.

Excellent post, and I'm so glad your campus is up to date with this!

When I see women on here saying "we're not allowed to talk to PNMs at all from May until December" because they mistakenly think that's what deferred rush is I want to scream.

Check your private messages!:)

I agree that it's silly that RAs are being precluded from Rush.

Sure, it's a postion that's got more opportunities to dirty rush, but it's certainly not inevitible that it would occur. I guess I can see how it would be more likely to occur inadvertantly. Also, most chapters that dirty rush are going to do it, no matter how many restrictions are put in place.

From a purely practical standpoint, I can see why it would be better for RAs to be available to their halls during recruitment rather than being at their chapters, especially as girls get dropped or drop.

Well, my RA from the semester before I rushed was in a sorority, and I just have to say she was the LAST person anyone who was cut or dropped would have wanted to talk to. Rho Chis are trained to handle situations like that, RAs are not. If an RA wants to do that, she should be a Rho Chi.

If I was dropped, I don't think I would WANT to be with my Greek RA at that time. Just one more area of the PNM's life that screams "You failed at rush".

I wasn't even thinking about the counseling aspect as much as simply being on the hall and available, more to communicate that life goes on though action rather than discussion.

It just seems better to me that you could be sure that the girl wasn't just sitting there while literally everyone else was at recruitment.

(And won't the rho chis/ rho gammas be at recruitment rather than available anyway?)

Although where you're coming from makes sense, I ditto the remarks of 33girl and Alphafrog that a sorority woman who is also an RA should be able to participate in recruitment events as any other member would - nonetheless, there is always additional hall staff - including RAs, hall directors, etc., who are there for student concerns. Sometimes at a time like that, as others have mentioned, a non-Greek perspective or shoulder to cry on will be far more helpful. Not knowing the set-up of this particular university's recruitment, several campuses have taken to having panhellenic members and/or professional staff who are available for various crisis throughout recruitment - sounds like a bit much, however, the recruitment process, and rejection if it occurs, can be very difficult. Such is life. And for the very few women who will return to that particular floor rejected from the process it doesn't seem to make sense to sacrifice this member's participation in the process for her obligations as an RA. Nonetheless, that should be a member's personal decision, not that of Panhellenic - if PHC needs more people to help rejected PNMs, that's their responsibility to find them and acknowledge that need in their community - not rely on someone else's campus job and set up recruitment rules barring them from participation.

Unless your school is very heavily Greek, it always seemed to me that when the RAs were placed in their floors/dorms, they made an effort to mix it up for that very reason. That is - the floor had 2 wings - A wing's RA was Greek and B wing's was not. In general it would make it easier for there to always be an RA on the floor, not just for rush but for other activities. The same reason that you wouldn't have every RA in the dorm be on student senate or the rugby team or something.

Does your disaffilation at recruitment extend to not being able to display sorority memoribilia or telling a PNM your affilation? If so, you and your suitemates may want to refrain from decorating or hanging up paddles, etc., until after recruitment.

Talk to your roommates about your disaffiliation and ask that they keep conversation about recruitment and MS to themselves out of consideration for your RA duties during recruitment week. They don't have to stop whispering when you walk in the room, but surely after 10-12 hour days in recruitment, they will be sick of it and ready to talk about something else!!! Have an open discussion about this over the summer and come to an agreement that everyone can live with. Good luck as an RA and to your chapter this recruitment!

Orientation assistants (OAs) can't have any sorority stuff in their rooms, but I think I can. I can't tell a PNM my affiliation, but since it's a sophomore dorm, most everyone is going to know my affiliation...and not that many sophomores will rush anyway. Most girls match freshman year, but a few will go through as sophomores.

The whole situation with RAs not rushing is kind of ridiculous, because OAs get to rush, and they're around freshmen way more during the first week of school! Panhellenic was supposed to change it this year so that only RAs for freshmen dorms couldn't rush, but it turned out that my GLO was the only one that had a sophomore dorm RA, so it was voted down. (Woo hoo for unity?!?!)

At UIUC, RA's did not actively participate in rush because it isn't really fair to the PNM's. Even if recruitment starts right at the beginning of the school year (as ours did), PNM's are living in the dorms for a few weeks during recruitment. A PNM should never feel as though she can't go talk to her RA about something totally unrelated to Greek Life, and letting RA's participate would cause that. If you were miserably homesick, would you want to tell your RA that, even if she was in the sorority you were dying to join? I know it may be no fun to be the RA, but I think it is an important rule for a reason.

Just to throw in a thought... My roommate and I went through recruitment freshmen year, knowing that our RA was in a specific sorority. She participated in recruitment as an active member (the school I was at didn't have rules again it). Recruitment was going well for both my roommate and I and we both hoped to Pref our RA's sorority, XYZ. She was invited to Pref and I wasn't at sorority XYZ and ABC and I was only invited to ABC. The night of Pref, I got "the phone call." My roommate received a bid to our RA's sorority. My RA and her sisters decorated our door and left baskets of goodies for bid day and then they went out for the night.

While she was at Bid Day festivities, I was in the room alone (not the best place to be when your 800 miles from home and upset) and had a major bout of homesickness... maybe it was the rejection of not getting a bid, maybe it was being lonely since my roommate and I had been inseperarable since we moved in. But either way, it was rough... we had only one RA on our floor and the next closest RA was the boys' RA on the next floor (who I couldn't see crying about being homesick to...) and it put me in a bad spot. Later on, things were still awkward between me and my RA (although she later figured out how awkward it was and did her best to make it go away - especially through Big/Lil Week when my roomie got presents everyday and my RA turned out to be her big sister...)

Long story short - it can be really hard on the PNM, especially if she's having a rough time with recruitment and so other things (homesickness or roommate conflicts) tend to be magnified...