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A couple of weeks ago, I was at a cocktail party. For the most part, every one there was an alum of a Greek organization at LSU. Several had written a rec for my daughter. A couple of things are interesting to note. Many of the men and ladies were members of groups that during their active years had different reputations than they do today. One of the men I spoke to was a Kappa Sig and they just got back on campus. By this time everyone was pretty well informed how rush went-who was cut and who cut their chapter.Because of the atmosphere and friendships everyone spoke freely. The main point was, if you have a strong Greek system, it's better to participate than to remain independant. The Kappa Sig was saying (and I've heard it a thousand times on GC) they, LSU chapters, need to promote "Go Greek" rather than individual fraternities and sororities. It has to be a "grass root" effort starting with alums and extending to the actives. Everyone was pretty torn with the legacy issue. On one hand, it was great if your child was a legacy of a currently strong house, but on the other, some of the legacies were not the best representatives of our area. The same thing is happening to our Krewes. One Krewe in particular has membership that is basically passed from mother/mother-in-law to daughter/daughter-in-law. At one time, the membership was entirely wives of doctors, lawyers, dentists and high profile ($$$) businessmen. These ladies had the financial freedom to do the "correct" volunteer work, ie; Jr. League, Cancer Society, THE RIGHT CHURCH.
Today, those daughters and granddaughters have married husbands with occupations that would have been shunned. You have parents paying for their kids' membership. Tax fraud, unethical behavior, swindlers just plain a$$es acting like they are important when in essence, they are really weakening the foundation. This is the loose comparison we made. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS AWFUL! The point was, alums need to take a more visible role in the initial recruitment process, (similar to those threads about famous national members) with our own local hall of fame. SEEK OUT INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS and get those recs out for the young men and women who meet a higher standard which we all want for our organization. Instead of a few ladies and men perpetuating the grandness of their own chapters, join in the effort to promote the concept of Greek life on campus. Many, many great girls dropped out because they were told by active members that their own sorority was the best or XYZ was the worst AND in a few sad cases, alums denegrated some of the chapters with "stear clear" statements and such. Once a person becomes involved, in MOST cases the benefits of Greek life completely over-shadows any disappointment that occurred during the rush process. As far as the legacy issue, there was no consensus. We all just hope that parents would raise their kids to exemplify the qualities we value and perhaps, while keeping the point system intact, just de-emphasize it a degree or two to make sure a bid is extended on the basis of the individual, not parents or grandparents.
I've got more to say, but fear I may have said too much already.
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