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Old 02-16-2010, 05:19 PM
kchaptergphib kchaptergphib is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: The interwebs. I understand it's a "series of tubes."
Posts: 499
As far as I know, NPC Unanimous agreements started saying schools were supposed to phase-out frills starting in the early 90's. That is now when some PNMs were born. This shows how entrenched frills can be.
I pledged at the University of Minnesota in 2002, and fall '02 was the last year we were allowed a skit. I'm not sure if they now allow slideshows there, but we never had one in 03 or 04 (some schools are switching to slideshows instead of having skits).
At Minnesota, during the first 2 rounds, we were not allowed to have any decoration that was not normally in the house. That meant we could get away with, say, a small bouquet or two of flowers in each room, but that was about it. We were allowed a little bit of decor for Pref, but it wasn't much- we did have one balloon arch in a formal living room, and some (electric) candles and larger bouquets in the dining room. I think PHA mandated all that through extremely specific (kinda nit-picky) Recruitment Rules and budgeting.
We were allowed cutesy matching nametags for each round, and allowed to order matching shirts for certain rounds, but nothing like doing a mass order of the same JCrew sundresses for pref or anything. They tried to keep food less-frilly by putting restrictions like no flavored or special-shaped ice cubes, I don't think we could have monogrammed napkins or anything, they wouldn't let us use placecards or write the PNM's name in icing on the desserts, etc.
At Northwestern (where I'm on the advising team) they still get away with a ton of frills. The women essentially transform the main floors of their chapter house to fit with their set 3 theme (cover walls, bring in different furniture, costuming, etc). They really enjoy it, and it is certainly impressive, but I can't help but think they're spending a lot of time on something that doesn't necessarily translate to being a better rusher. They may very well impress the PNM's with their decorations, but are they getting to know them and having effective conversations?
So, after that long story, I would say make sure PHA is clear about what each chapter can and cannot do, as it is not fair for some folks to follow the new rules and not others, enjoy doing the frills you are allowed, and take the extra time you have that would have been spent decorating and polish your sisterhood and conversation!
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