Consequences for Recruitment Infractions
 

Other than fining, what kind of consequences have you guys seen that are effective? Fining does not work on my campus - and from what I hear, doesnt work on most campuses, since the problem houses who dont know how to play fair will set aside money in their budget or call on an alum to pay for their fines since they know they will dirty rush anyway. I need some ideas to take to panhellenic for constitution and rules revisions.

The best idea I've heard so far is forcing the problem chapter to go to the other chapters on campus, with anapoligy - with their new members in tow - and to give a panhellenic program - give examples of dirty rush techniques that are not acceptable (examples of things that chapter actually did). This makes the problem chapter eat their humble pie in front of their new members, and makes the new members realize that those things are not acceptable so when they start recruiting the following year, they dont say 'Well, I joined because you did X, Y and Z for me...." when X, Y and Z were rush infractions that shouldn't have been done in the first place... but obviously, this kind of consequence can only be used so often...

I'm curious - what kinda of consequences do you have on your campuses - consequences that actually make chapters scared enough to not break the rules?

Thanks.

Social probation - no mixers or homecoming/greek week pairings. I think this is the only thing that would work.

The apology scenario you proposed just makes the NMs feel bad about their decision and want to quit, and they are pretty screwed if they do because they can't rush again for a year. The other chapters are going to know the apology is full of poo, and the sororities who violated the rules are just going to treat it as a big joke.

They wont treat it as a joke if their new members DO quit because those new members dont want to be associated with a group who wouldn't play by the rules. If enough of them quit, the chapter will realize they screwed up and their dirty ruishing bit them in the ass. Granted, some girls wont care, and wont quit - and that's fine. But it's going to suck for that chapter if the new members realize they could have had abetter greek experience if they had made the decision for themselves, rather than being influenced inappropriately.

How does the mixer thing work? I mean, how can you force them to not have mixers? They'll just end up having off campus "unofficial" parties anyway. and we dont pair up for homecomng anyway. Preventing them from participating in Greek Week or PowderPuff would be about the only thing I think would work...

But the thing is - the NMs going around with the sisters would make them feel like they were guilty, even if they're not. It's kind of like a scenario that was talked about on here - a chapter screwed up rush rules and gave out more bids than they should have. By the time the error was discovered, pledging was underway. It would have penalized the NMs even more than the sorority to take those bids back.

If you don't think the mixer thing will work (I wasn't sure what kind of campus you were at) then forbid them from Greek Week/Powder Puff participation.

I like the idea of panhellenic programs .. and up the ante .. first infraction 1 program, 2nd infraction (cumulative from previous years) 2 programs, etc. ..

how about restrictions on the number of times the group can use university meeting facilities?

fines can be punitive if high enough and cumulative, but are, by the unanimous agreements (assuming these are NPC groups you're referencing), reserved for objective types of infractions, such as $50 for each ten minutes late with formal recruitment invitation lists.

I agree with the social probation.

Maybe it's just the cultures of schools that I am personally familiar with, but your idea of parading the guilty chapter around with new members (in the hopes that it would humiliate the NMs, have them drop, keep them from same infractions, etc) would never work. Ever.

My experience with chapters that dirty rush is that they are already chapters that PNMs come into Recruitment wanting to be a part of. These are typically chapters that can be very selective in who they choose, and therefore the PNMs who get bids are proud to be a part of the organization because of the name/status and really don't give a flying crap about rules having been followed in the process of getting them there.

Again, I recognize that chapters are different everywhere, so your campus culture may be different. But I still stand by the social probation... that would be much more punitive and thus ideally more likely to prevent the infractions.

So how do you control multiple offenses time and time again? This one chapter does anything and everything they can without any regards to panhellenic spirit. They act like some fraternities - pledge as many as they can and let the ones they dont want will weed themselves out - after all, the other sororities cant have dibs on the "sloppy seconds" until next year anyway.

It's to the point that the other chapters on campus think they have to play dirty in order to play with the big dogs, and it shouldnt be like that. The other chapters shouldnt have to be planning what sneaky things they can do next year to doublecross the bully chapter.

I mean - can you prevent that org from being present at the freshman orientations over the summer? (i like that idea, but I dont know how well over it would go..) or force them to take members who commit individual infractions off the floor for a certain night of recruitment - or something. Seriously, there's got to be more that just a monetary fine and no participation in greek week. Greek Week isnt as big on our campus as it is on others....it's kind of a joke in my opinion, but that's just me....

The biggest deterrent would be limiting/reducing the number of new members the group can take. Unfortunately, I don't know how that could work, nor do I know whether that's 'legal'.

But, to echo the others, the apology/skit would probably not have the desired effect. I think social probation is the way to go if fines don't seem to work.

I know! But even if this could work (which I doubt) they would just convince the PNMs to drop out of formal so they could COR/snap bid them. :(

*Edit* Yeah - what Violet said...^^

as SydneyK said, limiting the number of new members the sorority can take in might be an idea.

On my campus, about 2 years ago, the Greeks as a whole started to form a Greek Judicial Board, addressing problems among the Greek community. It is made of up certain members from Panhellenic and IFC. If your campus doesn't already have this, it might be a good idea. That way, you can actually impose sanctions (decided on by the board and approved through the Greek advisor and student activties), that will force the chapter to act appropriately.

that is true. fines and punishments should be listed in the campus panhellenic rules-to add additional punishments would call for a vote. sounds like some additions need to me made.

there is no quota set on your campus? are these NPC sororities?

These are both fabulous ideas. This often is a certain few key members who do it, and to take them off the floor for pref would really make a dent.

FSUZeta - if the chapter total is set artificially high then it could be that even if there's quota it's a moot point - no one is ever at total and formal rush doesn't attract enough women to get them there. All the HQs see is that the groups are under total (never mind total has been the same since 1982) and they get penalized for it and will do anything to remedy the situation. Voila - dirty rushing out the ying yang.

Yeah....quota/total isnt even an issue at this point :( If you were to force that chapter to stick to quota, they would just convince PNMs to drop out of recruitment so they could pick them up as COBs and not be bound to a bid card with other sororities ranked on it....and they would be able to take them all....

That's how the dirty-rushing chapter at my alma mater did it. Or alternately, they told the PNMs to suicide that group, and not to worry about not getting bids during Formal Recruitment - because of the "stupid rules," they "didn't have room for everyone," but would pick up the rest during COB the next week. And they did, every time. And none of the PNMs who they persuaded to drop out of Formal Recruitment or suicide this chapter and then COB would ever rat them out because the next thing you knew they were NMs of that chapter.

Campus total was twice the size of the largest chapter on campus, them. We tried my last year as an active to lower total to make them stop, but it got voted down. So frustrating!

One idea I've always thought might work is limit what they can do for recruitment next year, especially for campuses with "frillier" recruitment. Maybe there's a day when all the chapters do a door stack and the offending chapter will not be allowed to do it. Maybe limit songs in the entrances and exits, or forbid them from wearing letters on campus the week of recruitment. Enough of these things may make a chapter look "lazy" to PNMs. The devil's advocate to this situation is that it may make them want to dirty rush more to overcome these setbacks.

I love what W&L's Panhellenic did. There was one group at my school that had recruitment violations 2 years in a row. Both times, Panhellenic took away their right to do songs or chants during entrances on Skit Night. It was very noticeable and a negative for PNMs. The other chapters were instructed NOT to discuss or answer questions about it from PNMs (we had to respond with "Oh, I don't know" or something, I can't remember exactly what the given response was), but the Rho Chis could explain the situation to the PNMs. Of course this would only work at a school where door chants are a significant thing, but I think it was fairly effective with this group... or maybe not, since they had violations 2 years in a row. hm. Well, anyway, all the other groups were very satisfied with the resolution - I guess we were sadists. LOL. :o

ETA: Ah yeah. What APhiAnna said!

I think removing the songs/stack is a great idea. PNMs will definitely notice this if it's something every other chapter is doing. For campuses that have less frilly rush, maybe limit the amount of sisters who are allowed to table, or limit the advertising for that group.

The problem I see with the suggestion of not allowing the sisters who dirty rushed to participate in a round the next year is that chapters who dirty rush would just have their seniors or girls who were studying abroad do all the dirty rushing since they would be "losing" them the next year anyway...at least that's what I'd do if I was in such a chapter. ;)

Wow. That's different than when I was Rush Chairman way back in the day. If a house was found to be guilty of a serious rush infraction, they were likely to forfeit bids.

I can see both sides of why Panhellenic would not want to continue such a policy.

other possible penalties could be not being able to participate in homecoming or greek week(or something comparable),or loss of social privileges for a specified time.

One of the Kappas at S. Carolina lives in a dorm (she's an RA) and saw 2 flower arrangements being delivered to a PNM from 2 different GLOs! I hope she reported the infraction. Can y'all believe how brazen this was?!? The cards must not have been in envelopes, because she (and anyone else who looked) saw what was written. I think the message was something to the effect of "good luck" from each group, but that is totally inappropriate and unfair.

How sad that they feel like they can't compete with the other GLOs on an even playing field and how sad for their NMs to be tricked into joining.

Oh my god - can I quote you with this in my signature? It totally describes my campus situation.....

Two years(?) ago, a number of our eventual pledges received roses, a bottle of wine, and a celebratory note prior to pref night from one particular house. :rolleyes:

ETA: IIRC, it wasn't the house, per se, but an errant group of overzealous sisters who did this.

StargazerLily, I'm flattered! Quote away! :D

Hard core social probation is the way to get a chapters attention. 1st offense, 1 semester of total social probation. That equals no swaps, mixers, date parties or formals. No event where the sorority is acting as a host. 2nd offense in a reasonable period of time, and entire year of the same. You can't make it cumulative over the sororities life at a campus because it is not fair IMO to punish girls 10yrs down the road. It is 1) embarrassing and noticeable for a chapter to not have any social events during a semester, and 2) imagine how the NM feel when they find out that they are not having any socials because their new sisters broke the rules. It's not so fun when their friends in other orgs are asking guys to date parties and they aren't.

:)

Your fraternity/sorority advisor should contact your NPC Area Advisor for help. She can help you tailor a solution that will fit the needs of your campus. Find the woman assigned to your campus at www.npcwomen.org

Once you find a solution that fits for your campus please share your ideas with us!

Good luck!
:)

I agree with Gator.. above. It definitely sounds like your panhellenic council needs some help.
And I know social probation is a HUGE deterrent. No one wants to be the reason their chapter cannot participate in a semester's worth of official activities. And this way, NM's who were successfully dirty-rushed, and did not notify anyone because they liked the group and/or the special attention, bear the consequences as well as their new chapter.
It'd be like, "Well, let's see, for this serious of an infraction, you do not get to participate in Greek Week, and you are only allowed one formal instead of two, and you will be fined the amount that you would have spent on your second formal and Greek Week= $10,000."
I think a lot of us here agree that we've seen consequences of social probation work well in the past; so good luck in your circumstance. And work on getting total lowered!

I agree monetary fines aren't a deterient when a chapter is blessed with financially well off alums who are willing to pay it or their members can afford to budget for them through dues. Social probation is a huge deterient, but because it is so extreme it should be used only for the worst and/or repeat offenders IMO.

Our campus has primarily gone to community service hours. New members are specifically banned from being the ones to do them since they were not responsible for the infractions. This requires someone in Panhellenic to work/follow up with the org that is being helped and make sure that's actually who has done the work.

Years ago a chapter was placed on social probation due to some major Recruitment Infractions, though I never heard whether it was from the University or their I/natl (and I know it was kicked up to their I/natl). In addition they were required to send their (previous) Recruitment Team to make a presentation at a spring Panhellenic Recruitment Advisor and Officer meeting. It wasn't quite so much an apology as a "This is what we learned from our mistakes and why you shouldn't do what we did." sort of thing. I thought it was an effective learning experience for both those who presented and those who heard it.

The thing w/ social probation is that you have to get the fraternities on board with it too. I mean, if all the members of dirty rushing XYZ are smoking hot babes and the fraternities are frothing at the mouth to mix with them, they're not going to pay attention to any Panhel restrictions - they're going to say to XYZ "let's have an under the table mixer/you can all come over to the house at such & such time."

this kind of has to deal with this. do any of you happen to have chapters that feel threatened by your specific chapter and go out of their way to find ANYTHING that they feel is dirty rushing? for example, a girl in my house knew someone from high school and the house that felt threatened by us saw a wall post & reported it to panhellenic. she ended up printing off her entire wall history with the PNM and showed it to the director. it's one thing to see it and report it, but another thing to go searching to try and find a way to get us in trouble.

what about PNMs "dirty rushing" you? a lot of us have noticed that girls who know they will be participating in recruitment tend to flock to us because they know we're part of a GLO. it's very hard to deal with because we don't want to come off as rude, snotty, stuck up, etc. but then again we also don't want to get our house in trouble. one of my friends had a girl calling her off the hook and she tried to be nice to her multiple times & finally said "look, i can't talk to you because i could get my house in trouble."

i was dirty rushed by a house and instead of helping them "omgosh everyone in my house LOVES you" it ultimately hurt them because it made me feel uncomfortable.

That is really all you can do. If the PNM is too dense to get it, then they might not be a very good candidate for membership in the first place.

About 10 yrs ago on my alma matre a group who was notorious for dirty rushing got caught, red handed by Rho Chis and 2 Panhellenic VPs -- for giving alcohol to PNMs at a local bar (yes out in public!) during the silence period. The offending members denied it, until one of the staffers from the bar (who was in a fraternity) brought the security camera tape over that showed them doing this.

There was a hearing held on the judicial board - the offending members, GLO President and advisors were present. Even with the tape showing the members actually purchasing the alcohol and handing them to the PNMs - they denied it. Said that they didn't know the PNMs were rushing (even though one of the PNMs was the bio sister of a current member). The PNMs had registered and were listed on the PNM lists distributed to each sorority. That excuse didn't work in the least.

Because the sorority members violated recruitment rules AND provided alcohol to minors they were ordered to perform more community service hours (on top of their required hours). The new members could not be involved in performing the extra service hours because they had not been the offending sisters. They also were required to organize and pay for an all greek speaker for the following semester. And the GLOs name was basically mud into the following year - which the following recruitment they did not make qouta, which was the first time in 10+ years.

And actually the PNMs got in trouble too - They had met with their Rho Chi, they knew the rules, they signed the rules, they knew that accepting gifts, including alcohol violated recruitment policies AND their Rho Chis were at the bar that night and yet they still participated in the violation. I think they got a slap on the wrist when the events occured. However all the GLOs knew the PNMs names and I think most went bidless or withdrew. The only one I know for sure was the offending Glos legacy (bio sister) who ended up getting a bid to the offending Glo.

I believe that my collegiate Panhellenic had monetary consequences for recruitment fines, and once the total monetary amount reached a certain amount, they were unable to participate in events that would give them points for Greek Awards such as one sport in ISS (Inter-Sorority Sports), an event for Greek Week, etc., depending on the amount. Greek Awards was a big deal--especially as a topic to talk about for the next year's recruitment--that women were [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']conscientious about not impacting their chapter's chances at Greek Awards, that infractions looked down upon greatly even within chapters. [/FONT]