No, actually there isn't anything in the NPC Green Book that says if you give out to many bids by accident you can still take the all the women that accept. Boy that would lead to drama when XYZ group just "accidently" gave out 5 or 10 more bids than they could take.
Usually there are not multiple rounds of COB unless a chapter needs quite a few women to get to chapter total or quota (which is not unheard of, but probably not the situation here). Remember, I'm going on the assumption that this is informal spring recruitment for this campus and that fall recruitment is the formal recruitment period. All that being said, this is the "norm" of what would happen in that situation:
1. Each chapter would have women that graduate in December, that voluntarily suspend their membership, that don't make their grades and are suspended or that don't pay their dues and are suspended or leave school for one reason or another.
2. They then ask two questions: a) did we make quota during formal recruitment and b) are after all of the things that happened in #1 are we at chapter total.
If the answer to A is no - then they are allowed to take the number of women it takes them to reach quota - even if it puts them over chapter total.
If the answer to A is yes - then they go onto B and if they are not at chapter total they are allowed to take the number of women it takes them to reach chapter total.
If the answer to both questions is no and taking quota doesn't put them at chapter total then they are allowed to take that number plus the number that would put them at chapter total.
Confused yet???
3. Unless the chapter is having membership problems they will probably only need to take a few girls. Depending on chapter size (and since I'm not sure where Kelly is, I don't know if chapters are large or small) it could be anywhere from 2-3 women to 15-20 women. Most chapters will be able to do one big "push" (meaning maybe a week or so of activities with lots of PR etc) and get the number of women they need. Unless they need more than 20 (which doesn't sound like the case here) the chapter usually likes to get it done so that they can get all their new members pledged at the same time so that they are all in the same place in the new member program. Usually chapters that need larger numbers do COB for a couple of weeks and then stop and will take a second or third new member class later in the semester.
Also remember that informal recruitment is not like formal recruitment. You have your events on your schedule and give out your bids as you like. Unless your local Panhellenic has a rule, I don't believe that there is a time limit that you must give for women to decide to accept a bid. If you have a big number of bids you can give, then you can leave them out indefinately. Usually, even in that instance, the women are given a deadline on when to accept. I would say 24-48 hours is the norm, but some groups may want you do decide by the end of the day.
Informal recruitment is just that - informal, unstructured execpt to what the chapter wants and needs. There is no formal bid list that is turned in to be paired up with the potential new members (PNMs) choices - just a list of the chapters new members and the university's version of a binding acceptance of the bid.
So, since there is not "bid list" and they were probably at chapter total - they can't snap bid. Snap bid is a term used during formal recruitment (although some use it interchangable with COB - but they aren't the same). Only those chapters that did not make quota during bid matching can give out a snap bid. Snap bidding usually takes place in the in the two or three hours after formal bid matching, but before the presentation of new members to the chapters and before the PNM's get their actual bids. The idea behind snap bidding is that you are given the bid and allowed to mix in with those that got a "regular" bid. COB happens after all the PNM's receive their bids and at that time any chapter that has openings is allowed to give out a bid. This could be because a PNM didn't accept their bid or because even by taking quota the chapter is still not at chapter total.
The NPC Green Book doesn't leave room for "nice" in this situation. This would be up to the Panhellenic or the Greek/Panhellenic Advisor. Ultimately, our goal is for all women to have a place in our systems that want a place. I think had the chapter explained the situation an exception would have been made, but you never know. Perhaps the situation had come up in the past and the exception hadn't been made, so they didn't ask. It also could be that they gave her 24 hours. They realized their error and her exact 24 hours were up . . .
As I said in my earlier post, we need to give the chapter the benefit of the doubt that they were not doing this to be mean. We are given Kelly the benefit of the doubt that it played out exactly as she said in terms of time - but maybe her 24 hours was up at 3 pm the next day and not at midnight (which maybe would have been 33 hours).
I'm sure the chapter could have handled the situation better as far as giving reasons they could not allow her to become a member. Ultimately, this may be the best for Kelly. She may go through formal recruitment and decided that it would have been a mistake to be in this chapter and that her true sisters are in another chapter.
As always - OPEN MINDS during formal recruitment make for the best choices!
