Too many pledges!!!
 

So a group on campusis initiating their spring class next week. The problem is that these new girls will put them over both total AND quota. They plan to initiate eight when they only have room for five.

Anyone ever faced this before? What happened?

Obviously, there is an infraction against them, and there will be consequences, but what type of consequence is fair?

Should they have to get rid of three women?

I want some other opinions before I post mine.

WOW! I've never heard of this happening before.

It is my understanding that NPC rules forbid any sort of punishment that reduces the number of members a group can take, but that seems only fair for next time rush is held.

I would be very curious to hear what PenguinTrax has to say here since she's the expert.

Out of curiosity, how come nobody caught this mistake earlier?

I'd say that it would be unfair of them to kick out three of the pledges, seeing as how that would hurt the pledges more than it would hurt the sorority. Maybe they could reduce the number of girls they could take next year . . . even if that's technically illegal, it seems like an exception should be made for this case, seeing as how I can't come up with any better ideas.

Why didn't your greek advisor catch this? When they turned in their pledge cards he should have let the chapter know then that they could not take that many sisters!

For spring COB, there is not a specific date for bid distribution, so the chapters do whatever they want in that respect. Pledges are added to the chapters roster when they are initiated.

The Panhellenic VP recruitment caught it and told the chapter they are in violation, but this has all happened since spring break.

Yeah, but then they get to have extra girls participating in rush, and three may not seem like many, but when some chapters have to rush 2 on 1, it is not fair for anyone to have a size advantage.

DeltaBetaBaby--

Don't the girls still have to go to Greek Life and sign their bid cards accepting their bids, even during COB? The Greek Advisor screwed up, but I'm doubting that they will get in any huge amount of trouble. As someone else said, NPC forbids punishments of reducing numbers of chapters. And would it really be fair to the women who pledged all semester to not get to finish now? I think we all can say a resounding no.

A new idea: Maybe they could have three of the girls be held over into next fall's pledge class, counting them towards next year's quota? Yeah, it would kind of suck for the girls, but it wouldn't be the end of the world . . . they'd still get to pledge, it just wouldn't be right away.

If you were the chapter, would you pick three to hold over, or would you weight on all of them?

Re: Too many pledges!!!
 

The only time I've seen a similar situation is after Formal Recruitment. Sometimes groups end up over total, but most of them loose a girl or two during the pledge process, or will loose someone to alum status at the end of the semester to even things out.

I'm not exactly clear on how this situation came about at your school. Can you elaborate?

Re: Re: Too many pledges!!!
 

Campus total is 145. For reasons unbeknownest to me, their national org. told them they should COB up to 150. Therefore, they attempted to do so, and pledged 8 girls even though they began the semester with 140.

The Panhellenic VP Recruitment told them this was not allowed, and their response was that it was okay, because their nationals had said so.

Maybe their dumbass nationals should provide a seafood buffet for all the other sorority members. I think that would be a fitting punishment. :p

mmmmmm......shrimp cocktail.

Ha, I guess you can safely say that knowing that your group is not on my campus :-).

hee hee hee....even if we were, if we advocated something like that, I would admit to dumbass-ness.

I'd consult with your campus' NPC counterpart, as well as your sorority's NPC counterpart. Logically, it's unfair to ask 3 of their pledged members (who's initiation is next week, right?) to wait until fall to be initiated. The pledged members were clueless in this situation (hopefully). However, if you asked 3 of them to wait, that would be 3 less they could take in formal recruitment. Therefore, a fitting consequence would be to allow them to take 3 less during formal recruitment (along with no quota additions if that occurs on your campus). But, that is against the Panhellenic spirit (finding a GLO home for all who want one and qualify, etc.) After all, it's not the Fall PNM's fault either.
So. . .what about allowing every other group BUT them to take 3 quota additions? Plus a multitude of community service/campus service, or purchasing all the campus Panhellenic delegates their very own Green Book, and making a presentation on what's in it.

I don't think I'm making much sense, but it is a difficult situation to consequent. However, I don't think you can say it was done in complete ignorance of the rules, so a stiff consequence is called for. Tough call.
PsychTau

P.S. They could serve the seafood buffet BEFORE they give everyone a personal copy of the Green Book. :p