WaterChild's Fall 2007 Recruitment
 

I went through formal recruitment last August. I had plans to share my story during the actual process, but I couldn't due to the circumstances that PNMs are put under during rush week at my school. After we arrived and moved into the dorms that we lived in for five days, our Rho Chis were under orders to take our cell phones from us and ensure that we didn't have internet access or any other contact with the outside world during the week. This made the recruitment process very difficult for most girls. Directly afterwards, I was still too stressed out from the week. Now that I'm home for the holidays and have some spare time, I've decided that I want to post my story.

Since I'm currently an active, I'm going to use code names. I've decided to go with Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream flavors. There are nine sororities at my school:

Chunky Monkey
Phish Food
Half Baked
Cherry Garcia
Pumpkin Cheescake
Karamel Sutra
Dublin Mudslide
Everything But The...
Chubby Hubby

Not in the same order:
Alpha Phi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Gamma Phi Beta
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Pi Beta Phi

Day One- Arrival
 

Recruitment at my school takes six days. The first day, everyone arrived, moved into dorms, met Rho Chis, and said good bye to parents. My roommate and I got along great right away. Like me, she’s super down to earth and into academics. She is also way into following the rules. So, she listened to our Rho Chis and refused to discuss any of her or my experiences at recruitment parties.

Wait a tick! They actually took your cell phone and restricted your access to the net? I know the word “tyranny” comes from the Greeks, but this seems like it’s a bit much.

are you serious!? that seems so extreme..i wouldnt be able to function without my phone..or the internet for that matter! yea...I wouldnt like that at all, i would feel like i couldnt be trusted or something. But anyways, im excited for another recruitment story! :)

Yes, they did actually take our cell phones. We weren't warned ahead of time or anything. It was pretty terrible for all of us to not be able to call home during this stressful time.

Good lord, that's insane! It's not like you were a sequestered jury deciding a capital case, it's sorority rush, for goodness sake! What were they afraid you were going to do? Call someone at another school and tell them what color streamers and balloons they'd used for decoration?


ETA: Cool points for having "Everything but the..." in your list :)

I love the Ben and Jerry's names, and YES that's insane about the cell phones.

LOL, back in the dark ages nobody had PCs or cell phones so when you rushed and they turned off the dorm phones, that was it. No contact with the outside world. We were so excited to finally be rushing that nobody cared, though.

I remember waiting in line at the pay phones in the dorm lobby to call home, listening to hysterical girls crying.

Might as well have been hazing.

Shocked as well they took away cell phones. Just seems wrong.

I'm almost done typing up day two. I'll finish and post it after work today.

The reason that our cell phones were confiscated and our internet was banned was to help us make our own decisions during the process. We also weren't allowed to talk to anyone else on campus, and we weren't allowed to discuss any of the houses or anything that had to do with recruitment with the other PNMs. The Rho Chis basically listened at our doors to ensure that we weren't. It was pretty ridiculous.

How many girls dropped out because of stupid things like this?

I don't like the idea of an atmosphere of repression. Yes, you should make your own decision, but come on! Listening at doors? Why not just bug the rooms????

She never said they didn't....

what the hell? I don't really feel they have right to take away your cell phones. It's personal property for crying out loud. What if some kind of emergency at home happened and the family wasn't able to reach their daughters.