[Sistermadly]

Originally posted by a CA in CA
Is it the seemingly anonymous or semi-anonymous use of the internet and message boards that raises our suspicions, or something else?

Yup, to both questions. I'll clarify.

I was someone who "shopped around" as a potential Alumna Initiate before I found my fit with Alpha Phi (or, more correctly, before we mutually decided it would be a good fit). I made that decision based on my experience (albeit brief) with Panhellenic recruitment as an undergraduate student all those fifty-thousand years ago when I went through rush. I was told to keep an open mind, to look at everyone equally, and not to get too focused on one particular organization because they all had fantastic things to offer. When it came down to the wire, I think I'm one of the only alumnae initiates on GC who actually had an experience that somewhat mirrored that of a collegiate PNM - I actually had to make a choice between two organizations that I'd "preffed", for lack of a better term.

I think that discretion is a wonderful thing. I think that being selective, exclusive (without being elitist) and guarding Alpha Phi's legacy is what the Fraternity expects of us. I think these things are key components to the continued success of our Alumnae Initiation program. However, I don't think it serves us well to be... um... curt when people approach us for information. I'm not saying we have to fall all over ourselves to make sure that someone gets to wear our golden pin ('cause we don't. We're fierce that way.), but I really, really hope we don't adopt a negative attitude toward this process that has been so successful since our Fraternity's earliest days.

So to make a long story short, yeah, for me the suspicion comes from the message board/Internet anonymity aspect of these requests for information, not from the process itself.

There's also the perception given by the sheer number of Alpha Phi alumnae initiates represented on GC that somehow our Alumnae Initiation process provides an "easy in" to Greek life. That's not really an indictment of our process so much as it is a recognition of the, shall we say, viral nature of communication posted on a message board.