Panhellenic & Preference?
 

Hello Ladies!!!

I'm an adviser at what for now will remain an undisclosed location and to follow suit with the highly addictive writings of SilverPearls, my affiliation will remain a secret as well... For now, my affiliation will be known as Purple & Pearls (or P&P).

Our campus is rather small and all groups are un-housed. I am currently a Panhellenic adviser for our chapter on our campus and am new to it (it's my first year doing it). We are just finishing out the year and the girls are working on the plans for recruitment in the fall.

In the past few years our Panhellenic has gone through a lot with many changes and some of our Neutral Advisers resigning due to the way the other chapters (thankfully not my own) have treated the Neutral.

So we are restructuring our Panhellenic right now and have a really great group of collegians on the executive that are (for now) being very Panhellenic to one another.

However, since we are un-housed we are doing our recruitment on campus, with the exception of Preference. Purple & Pearls International wants us to do our Preference on campus, which our chapter totally agrees with as it is a Risk Management issue (in the past alumnae from each group drove the pnms to the preference parties... which is a HUGE risk management issue!!!)


Anyhow, at the next Panhell meeting, the groups will be voting on having Preference on campus or off, regardless Purple & Pearls will be having their preference on campus.

However, the other # of groups, I suspect have not even talked with their internationals about whether or not they are allowed to have their Preference on or off campus.

An adviser for one group does not even show up to meeting, and that group, lets call them Blue & Brazen says that their international doesn't care what they do (which I highly doubt!) and the other group's adviser, let's call them.... Red & Rosy, has just resigned and they have been given conflicting information.

We are trying to turn things around on our campus and do them PROPERLY and following the Greenbook, but there is nothing in the Greenbook in regards to this...

I don't want to go over these girl's heads but I know for a fact that they have not talked to their international and just go by what has been done in the past...

Please let me know your affiliation and your International's standpoint on this issue!! I just want to make sure everyone is safe for recruitment and that our own chapters and our panhellenic is not put at risk should something happen while driving between preferences!!!

Thanks so much!

Ivy 313

Since this is a campus panhellenic issue, have you considered contacting your sorority's area panhellenic rep?

My school had the same situation as yours - small school, unhoused, did recruitment in classrooms. We always did preference on campus. I would think it would be odd to have alumnae giving PNMs rides; not only are they strangers and it's a risk management issue like you said, but it might invite rush infractions. I can't recall all the rules in the green book regarding alumnae involvement in recruitment, but it seems like that's too much (figuring there would be conversation in the cars).

It would be far more convenient for everyone for you all to have preference on campus. It's amazing what decorations can do to the most simple of spaces. Anyway, preference isn't really about the location...it's the mood, conversation, remarks from members, songs, ritual, etc.

Thanks Peggy!

I completely agree that Preference is not about where you are but who you're with...
Really if a girl joins your group because you have your Pref in an extravagent location.. Do you really want them anyway? ( that's happened in the past to the B&B and R&R, and they've lost members because of it, we thankfully have a very high retention rate for girls we obtain through formal recruitment)

I have contacted our NPC Area Rep, she said that the girls should contact their Internationals.... which still leaves me with their lack to do anything!

Who you should call is your insurance carrier - either MJ Insurance (which 24 of the 26 subscribe to) or Willis HR (who the other 2 subscribe to). Since we don't know your group, I can't tellyou which is which but Alpha Chi Omega and Alpha Xi Delta are the 2 with Willis. It's your insurance coverage which should be the question for driving these women around. If all the groups on your campus are covered by MJ, then they need to follow whatever directive MJ gives you. If you have folks in the two groups handled by Willis, I can't tell you what their response would be as we are with MJ. Their number is 888-442-7470 and ask for Heidi Lewis or Bev Stiles in her absence.

I agree with PeppyGPhiB, contact your org's NPC delegate. You are not "going over anyone's head", you are simply informing your rep of the situation on campus. She then may (or may not) contact the other GLO's delegates and/or your campus' NPC Area Advisor. They then may or again may not step in. If something horrible risk management-wise happens you've done what you could to inform the appropriate people. Regardless, just make sure your chapter follows your org's and NPC's policies. In the end that's all you can control.

P.S. What is the Univ Greek Life's position?

Thanks so much Titchou!

However, I guess I should've mentioned that we are in Canada... that doesn't help to much with keeping my location under wraps, but the insurance situation is a bit different up here.

P&P's international has just told us that under no circumstances are to have PNM's being driven by alumnae and that our Preference needs to be on campus, just wondering if anyone else's internationals were similar?

Thanks!

Ivy313

How far off campus are they going? Can't they walk? Like PeppyGPhiB said, the idea of alums giving rides sounds horrible all around, for RM and for infractions. I as a rushee would have felt very uncomfortable if I had to be transported in that manner, by an older woman I didn't know.

Are there unofficial houses off campus, or would it just be at some sister's random apartment? If none of the groups have a house that is consistent from year to year, I don't understand why they would WANT to have preference off campus - it would be much easier on.

It sounds as though this may be becoming somewhat of a "common" issue, and by common I mean that this is now the third campus I've heard of this issue within the past week. Our organization is just now gaining feedback from chapters and beginning to address this concern, so it could be that the other organizations haven't done so yet either (none of their campuses may have had this come up before.)

Titchou gives great advice for taking matters into your own hands- if the insurance company says no for one, I would guess they would say no for all (I don't know how varying the individual policies are, though).

Zillini's said exactly what I would have- your organization has a NPC delegate/team so that they can decide when it is appropriate to go over collegians' heads. If you notify her of the situation, she'll decide whether or not it is appropriate to involve the other organizations' headquarters.

If the vote is soon, you can always have your delegate make a motion to table to vote, in hopes that all national organizations can be properly notified and advise their chapters accordingly.

OK. I might be taking the unpopular route. After all, this is how I always practiced Preference up until a couple of years ago. We held the event in an off-campus location, and alumnae drove the PNMs. We never thought it was out of the ordinary, and in fact got good feedback from PNMs as it showed that sorority life was not just four years. Yes yes, you can say that in conversation. But it's also nice to see it in action. With regard to recruitment infractions, our guidelines stated that all alumnae were held to the same standards as actives. If an alumna dirty rushed, the chapter was held accountable. (And this happened.)

We eventually had to move to a common location when one of the chapters' International folks insisted that they no longer drive. In a move of solidarity, the rest of us agreed. For some reason the discussion came up again recently though, and a chapter is wanting to go back to separate locations. It won't happen, as we are all pretty comfortable in our convention center. Plus so much time is saved in setup/breakdown as well as cutting out driving time. Getting done faster is a plus.

From an insurance standpoint, our understanding was that as long as it was a properly approved, chapter-sanctioned event, our insurance covered any incident. As a precaution, Panhellenic also checked insurance cards for any alumnae drivers to prove additional coverage.

Bottom line, I would not recommend a move to separate locations if you are already in a common location. To me that is a step backward. But if you are doing it already, it's not that bad (unless insurance guidelines have changed since I was directly involved in this kind of situation).

You could also contact your NPC Area Advisor (find her at www.npcwomen.org) and she can help to facilitate a discussion between the NPC Delegates of the chapter on your campus.

Like you mentioned, I doubt their HQ's "do not care" they may not even be aware of the issues.

Good luck!

Zillini:

Our Greek Life Coordinator is an alumnae of Red & Rosy... we don't have a lot of unaffiliated alumnae in the area so our Greek Life Coordinator doesn't have much to do with Panhellenic, especially since she's an alumna of Red & Rosy it would be a huge conflict and she mostly deals with Greek Council.

33girl:
The girls would be going to different areas of the city probably about 10-15 minutes apart. The only rule that was set last year was that it could not be at an Alumna's house (some chapter's alumnae are very wealthy and have more luxurious homes so it was limited to active's homes 1-2 years ago). I completely agree that it should all be at a central location but the girls can't get away from the excuse of 'this is how it was always done before...' which is VERY frustrating!

OneHeartOneWay/Zillini:
I've contacted an old friend/adviser from another chapter (lets call her...Amber) who now works with our international in regards to this issue, she is VERY knowledgeable when it comes to Panhellenic and has some cohorts in Red & Rosy.... it's mostly Blue & Brazen who we are having the biggest issue with! Hopefully Amber will be able to help me on this issue!!

jwright25: A convention center is a great idea!!! We never thought of moving it from campus, however the rooms are free for student groups on campus & we are working with a limited budget.

gatordeltapgh: We have contacted our Panhellenic Area Advisor, she's said that she doesn't know each international's policy on it, and that each group should contact their own international regarding this...


Hopefully Amber will be able to help me!!

Thanks ladies for your input, hopefully this can be solved..

We're also in a debacle over "No Frills" right now, like I said we're trying to get our Panhellenic more on track and this would be the first time doing a No Frills recruitment, so the voting will be done at our next meeting, Purple & Pearls is all for "No Frills"!

Like I said before, if a girls just wants you for your house or your food or whatever... do you really want them???


Thanks again ladies!

Ivy313

I personally find the off campus pref totally diferent than what I'm use to. Coming from a campus that also has no houses (one sorority dorm), we had frilly rush as undergrads. The school has since (15 yrs later) moved to no frills but the parties (including pref) are still all conducted on campus. I guess what I'm having trouble understanding is why would the chapters on your campus want to spend the extra $$$ on transportation, energy on alumnae coordination, and highly decorated venues for pref when you aren't doing this for any of the other parties? It would also seem simpler to me to have the PNMs attend pref parties at the same on-campus rooms that they have become use to visiting all week. My campus is small and non-competitive in a rural area (not a lot of nearby frilly city venues) but it just seems to me that if there is a panhellenic a push toward no frills, this would be a good way to start. I also feel that your chapters are reluctant to change on your campus because of "tradition" which is not a good enough excuse in my opinion to stick with what clearly are risk management and infraction inducing incidents. Is this really something that needs to be voted on by all chapters or couldn't it just come down to mandate by the campus panhel? I guess I'm still a bit confused as to what the problem is.

Is it a private or public university? I would think that would be a liability factor from the school's perspective as well.

Kansas City:
I completely agree that spending the time, energy and money on transportation and alumnae coordination is ridiculous, it's unfortunately the collegians that need to be convinced of this. They don't seem to get that change can be good and I guess don't think of things like Risk Management or Insurance and Liability and more so on the events themselves, I've provided these girls with the Huge list of Pro's towards moving towards a completely on campus, no frills recruitment but our bylaws for our Campus's Panhellenic is written that major recruitment issues and some other issues as well need to be put to a vote and it needs to be a 2/3's affirmative vote in order for the motion to pass... I wish Panhellenic could just mandate things...

LadyLonghorn:
It's a Public university, and the population of Greeks on our campus is also relatively low... we have 30,000 people on our campus when it is in full session (Sept - Apr) but in total there are only about.... 150 Greeks!

FYI, MJ Carries the Canadian coverage as well. I even have a copy of the policy on my computer....so if you are one of the 24 under MJ, call them. And see my PM to you.