Quote:
Originally Posted by Senusret I
The biggest problem with sororities is their national leadership, which is often out of touch with the personalities of individual women and chapters, Robbins said.
Sorority members should work with their national headquarters to reform the Recruitment process and make sororities less image-focused, she said.
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I think this is backwards. Sorority members and HQ should work to educate PNMs and those who don't join to make sororities less image focused (at least the recruitment aspect of things). While we still need to think about what image our group projects to others (let's be honest...some groups actually earn a negative stereotype with their behaviors), I think what continues to drive the image focused recruitment process is the expectations of PNMs and other students. Think about the conversations we have about expansion at Ole Miss...a lot of people believe that it would be very hard for a new chapter to survive there because the PNMs (and their families, to some extent) will refuse to join a "new" chapter with no "history" and "tradition", especially if they don't have a house that compares with or exceeds the other houses. The PNMs seem to be "image-focused", and I don't think we've figured out how to really fight that expectation yet (without spending tons of money doing it).
Once the PNMs join a chapter (any chapter) that offers a quality experience, they fall in love with the experiences they have. Unfortunately, I don't think we've mastered the art of communicating the meaning of those experiences during recruitment. And some of the PNMs haven't figured out how to really grasp that meaning when making a decision (it could be the stage of development that members and PNMs are in, I don't know). Some groups (and campuses) have, and you can tell a difference in how they go about recruitment.
I'm sure there are a lot of our organization leaders who focus on the image of a chapter, but I don't think they do it because they believe that is what is most important. I think they do it because for some campuses it's life and death for a chapter...and if we can keep a chapter open on a campus by competing that way then we have another opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of women through our values.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Senusret I
"Don't think about the labels of the house," she said. "Pay close attention to the members you meet and if you feel like they're people you can be friends with."
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If I were saying that sentence, I'd say "Pay close attention to the members you meet and if you feel like they're people you can no only be friends with, but who would also encourage and inspire you to become a better person."
PsychTau