Weird Recruitment Question
 

I think this question is weird, but everyone here probably won't :p. The only reason I'm asking is because I couldn't find anything on it.

So, recently a few of my sisters and I were discussing when we went through formal recruitment as PNMs (some older actives, some newer actives). We started talking about one sorority in particular because during their party, they would take pictures of the PNMs (round 1 only). They would bust out a fancy camera and say it's for their scrapbook, which was obviously a lie. My school is a fairly large commuter school and we do not have a terribly large Greek system. We also don't normally get recommendation letters/pictures of PNMs for recruitment.

So, my question is, is taking pictures of PNMs during recruitment a normal thing? Or is it even allowed?

If it's not allowed, I seriously wonder why they have not gotten in trouble yet. This has happened at least 3 years in a row. Thanks for any and all responses! :)

There are no rules against it. It is different but I imagine they use them to remember you by or to make some sort of Bid Day posters. Back in the day when Polaroid cameras were all the rage, I heard of a chapter that did it to have for Bid Day stuff.

If the PNMs don't submit a photo, I can't imagine how else they remember who is who.

I think the same thing, but neither chapter I've advised has had access to PNM photos. I'm old school southern rush trained. I grew up pouring over the rush book and knew the names and faces of every single girl that went through rush. Oh well, it's different now.

Strange idea about the camera at the first party. I guess if it doesn't turn off the PNMs, it's a good idea.

When I went through recruitment in the late 90s, we had to provide a photo with our registration, but I found out later that those photos were then black and white in the copies that were distributed to the chapters. One of the chapters did take our pictures during first round - but this was before digital cameras so I'm not sure how they would have had the pictures back in time to help make decisions for at least the first set of invites.

Forever ago one of the groups on our campus took pictures on round 1 then used them in a slide show at round 3 for an imagine yourself an XYZ.

We also don't have access to photos and spend hours pouring over Facebook for photos of PNM's so we can connect a name to a face.

I would sort of think taking pictures during the first might be a little awkward.

Are we talking group photos or individual shots of each PNM? My chapter took group photos/candids during recruitment, with the direction to get every PNM in at least one so we could use them to jog someone's memory if needed (we didn't get pictures with the registration) but it never seemed out of place.

Well, I'm from the era of the great Polaroid Instamatic. At registration, we were plopped in front of one for a headshot, which was then stapled to our regestration card.

You said this sorority claimed the photos were for their scrapbook, though, so I want to think they were candids. We did take pictures of our events, including Rush (as it was called back then), especially theme parties that involved a skit, costumes, etc. PNMs were often included in the pictures, but were not the main focus. Such photos would end up in an album that was sometimes brought out during parties for PNMs to look through to learn more about us and see our activities.

A couple chapters at my school took pics, and one had a video camera that you stepped in front of and stated your name. I imagine that was infinitely helpful during MS.

They may use the photos of the women that end up as their NMs for something. Our rush book had to be burned after rush, but our NMs' photos were used for our bulletin board to welcome them to our chapter and help everyone learn their names/faces.

My chapter did this too, with a Polaroid - normally 2-3 PNMs and a sister. And yes, the pictures actually DID go in our scrapbook.

They definitely did not take candid photos. They had a member with walking around with a camera and saying to smile/the whole scrapbook thing. I remember just posing with the member I was talking to.

It's kind of hard to remember who is who, but we don't normally have a lot of girls go through recruitment in general. I do think utilizing photos would be beneficial to us though, as it's hard when two girls have the same first/last name.

Well, thank you so much for the responses, I really appreciate it! This has been something I was very curious about. It's actually pretty cool to learn how other chapters/schools do things. I may have to pass some stuff on to my chapter!

UGA Rush - 1993: We had to submit 18 physical copies of our photo with our application - which was a hassle. But with so many of us going through, they had to have them for each house.

Nowadays, I hear they take a digital photo of the girl when she signs in at registration - which generally is right after the girl has spent the day moving into her dorm room in the August heat. On the upside, it's a recent photo and the hair color/length are grounded in reality.

I would like to think that my photo ended up, in a least one case, like the scene in Animal House where they flash up Kent Dorfman's photo and people throw stuff at it.

I may have gone Greek thinking it would be more like Animal House than it was.

Perhaps the girls on Panhellenic council can suggest that in the future, PNMs must submit a photo* with their recruitment application (*or how every many chapters there on your campus). Then the chapter that takes photos at the parties wouldn't need to take their own photos.

I can see one advantage of taking pictures at parties. A sister's memory may be jogged by what a PNM was wearing at the party. "Oh, Susie PNM - now I remember her! She was the one with the really cute pink floral blouse and the silver necklace!" Or, OTOH, "Ana PNM - she was the one with unkempt hair, no makeup, and a Budweiser T-shirt. What was she thinking?"

At my school, all freshmen were encouraged to submit a photo for the "Freshman Picture Book". Every GLO got a copy of this book. Unfortunately, the photos were black and white, and not everyone submitted a photo.