I completely agree about the "no frills walk." My school is currently restructuring the system for formal recruitment. We have already moved formal rush from the fall semester to the spring semester. Currently, panhel and a committee of girls from each chapter are debating and deciding on the other rules that will be implemented. Because of all the changes, there has been a lot of talk outside the meetings about what should be done. We were talking about older rules, and I thought this one was particularly enjoyable:
We weren't allowed to distribute gifts at Greek Carnival during freshman orientation week that exceeded the cost of $0.25.
I don't remember who told me, but an alum of another chapter mentioned that when she was in undergrad, panhel actually had a rule that limited the diameter of cookies that the sororities could hand out!
These are silly, and petty, but they're for a reason. I don't entirely agree with them, but they make sure that a large sorority with lots of money, or one with better alumni support doesn't have an unfair advantage. Unfortunately, girls can be petty and childish at times! (don't gloat guys, you can be too!)
It would be nice to move beyond all of this and have a more practical system that is still fair. I think the best we can hope for are small changes each year until we achieve what was originally intended with Panhel.
33girl, I didn't know about that "no frills" resolution. But how effective can it be with chapters above total, they can't give out bids so they have no need to rush very seriously. Perhaps it's really intended to help the chapters below total.
Tom earp, cob is continuous open bidding and pnm is a potential new member
