Dry Party Rant
 

hey all, i am a lil irritated with my greek advisor right now so i am here to vent about it. reply if you want.

first of all, i am an alum of a local sorority that is an associate member of PHC. We do not participate in formal recruitment (this is will make sense later.)

We recently had to opportunity to put together a joint party with Nu Alpha Kappa at a third party club. We have flyers out and everything and we are hoping to make a lot of money because we are using it as our first fundraiser of the semester.
However, the party is tomorrow (the 12th) ... Friday is the beginning of Formal Recruitment and IFC recruitment is the following week meaning that it is still technically Dry Rush on campus. Our greek advisor has told the national orgs that if they attend our party they will be put on probation for violating Dry Rush. Sooooooo... there have been rumors flying that we are making the party dry, meaning the bar will be unavailable.

I understand that Dry Rush is intended to keep PNMs from thinking that all greeks drink and party. However, if the "party"/fundraiser is thru a 3rd party vendor and the environment is more controlled than a house party, and we are charging for admission, why is it such a big deal that alcohol will be served or not. It's a CLUB/BAR... that's what they do.
A good friend of mine who is also involved with IFC made a good point... It's like saying that nationals will be put on probation if they attend a club during dry rush.
This event also isn't intended to be a recruitment event either. We may mention to PNMs that we are throwing a fundraiser at a club but we won't be taking names at the door. It's open to the public as well.
I mean I am sure lots of people will show up whether we serve alcohol or not. There are a lot of other people around besides the greek system on campus. But I am just scared that people will pay their cover (which is pretty high), find out that the bar is closed, and then leave with a bad taste in their mouths. But I don't want people to get in trouble either for something that is, in my opinion, stupid. (Dry Rush isn't stupid; the punishment for attending the event is...)
I even checked out the place today... the bartender laughed when I said that I thought it was gonna be dry and he said that he didn't have enough soda and juice for everyone. That kinda made me laugh.
Alright, that's my frustration. I hope it goes well. But it's me, I worry about everything...:rolleyes: Thanks for reading!

hey, dont stress...i have learned that in the greek world there are some real bastards out there. anyway, have fun at your party...if its dry or not.

Chideltjen,

Sorry, but I'm gonna have to side with the Greek Advisor on this one. If this party falls within the time-period of the established dry rush period, then it WOULD BE ILLEGAL for any IFC or Panhel member to attend.

The term "dry rush" means so much more than just not allowing alcohol at the houses and during scheduled recruitment events. "Dry Rush" means that in no instance, circumstance or occasion will an initiated member of a fraternity or sorority be allowed to be in the same room with ANY non-member where alcohol will be present and/or consumed, regardless if that person has signed up for rush or not...EVERYONE is a potential new member. So, using that guideline and logic, then yes it is technically illegal for a fraternity or sorority member to be a restaruant or bar drinking at the same time PNM's are present...ESPECIALLY if that restaruant or bar is the site of an officially sponsored or hosted function/event by a GLO. Regardless if your organization is a part of IFC, Panhel or not - you are a GLO and therefore the perception will be that you are the same as the IFC and Panhel groups. And PERCEPTION is the key to many cases regarding liability and association with a specific organization.

Let me give you a scenario of what happend here at my campus a few years ago. It was during formal dry rush and after a round of house visits, several chapter members went out to eat at the local Mexican place. They had a few beers with dinner. While they were sitting there eating, drinking and relaxing, several Rushees came into the place. The Rushees said hello to the chapter members because they recognized them from the house tours, and sat down at a table near the chapter members. Across the restaruant was a sorority member whose boyfriend was in a rival fraternity. She reported to the Greek Advisor that she witnessed the chapter members drinking with Rushees, despite the fact that the chapter members and rushees were not "together". The GA slapped a rush infraction on the chapter due to violation of the dry rush rule. So you can see it doesn't matter what the circumstances are...members and non-members CANNOT be around alcohol NO MATTER WHAT during the dry rush period.

Sorry to say it, but it sounds like your party will be a flop. IFC and Panhel members are NOT going to run the risk of being charged with rush infractions simply to attend your party. Chalk it up to bad scheduling and ignorance of the rules. I would suggest trying to postpone the party until AFTER formal rush is over and the dry period ends. For example, if the published time that rush ends is 7:00 p.m. on Sept. 27, then make your party a "7:01" party!

Good luck with it!

If neither you nor Nu Alpha Kappa are participating in the "dry rush" don't worry about it. As you said there are plenty of people on campus besides the IFC/NPC Greeks - just concentrate on getting them to show up. Keep it wet so the people who can show up do, and have fun. The scheduling might not be the best, but it's done now, so just go ahead with it and double check the dates next time.

yeah the scheduling was kinda bunk... since it's a new club that wants to get noticed, they started booking organizations really quickly. Our name came up and we were given that date. If we had declined... there would have been a 3 month waiting list until December. Since having a Fall Fundraiser for the Fall Semester would be pretty pointless at the end of the semester, we took this date.
I am sure it will be ok, dry or not. It's tonight so I will give you all an update tomorrow morning. :)

Good Luck with your party...if I was close I would definitely come! :)

PARTY SUCCESS
 

hey all

just wanted to give you the low down on our "dry party." reguardless if we weren't serving alcohol to greeks A LOT of people showed up. We reached maximum capacity around midnight and had to start turning people away cuz it was sooooo packed, which kinda sucked for the people that got there really late.
But the club wasn't "completely" dry. Since it was open to the public they couldn't close the bar down completely cuz then people not even interested in greek life or don't attend college couldn't go in and drink. So they had a "secret bar" where they only let certain people with wristbands in (most likely if you weren't affiliated with a glo). However, a few people that prolly shouldn't have had wristband did so i don't know if they took advantage of that. But then again, most of the people there were under 21 so they couldn't have drank at the club anyway.
But bottom line: a total success. I think the house made a lot of money off of it. YAY!

edited to add: and my big sis showed up to the party. i haven't seen her in like 2 years cuz she graduated in 2000 and moved away. i was so happy to see her. made my night.