Quote:
Originally Posted by ModernMajor
Hello Everyone! My first post, please let me know if I am doing anything wrong.
At my school we have a lovely tradition called the Running of the Roses (A.K.A. Running for the Roses). Near the end of fraternity rush, groups of new members from each sorority go around campus to each fraternity. They stop at each fraternity and the new members of the two organisations exchange songs before the gents give their favorite ladies a rose. It is a very fun, sweet tradition but it gets a little awkward when the hosting institution is my social co-ed fraternity. Each year some of sororities skip my fraternity. The ones that do come are greeted with a song sung by both our male and female pledges. We usually give the sororities freezy pops rather than roses. Most sorority girls seem happy, some seem offended.
Being co-ed also makes formals or mixers strange. Resultingly we have not done any since my chapter went co-ed. We were looking for some other way to get more involved with the Greek community at my school. Perhaps philanthropy?
I know we could "solve" these problems by splitting the chapter and sending only one gender to each social event but I am sure that would not jive with my brothers (the women are brothers too!). Philosophically the chapter was made co-ed to ensure equal treatment. Segregation is not an option.
I would love to hear what you think about any of these things in general. Any ideas/advice? 
To everyone: Would you go to a three-organization social event? (1 traditional fraternity, 1 traditional sorority, 1 co-ed fraternity)
To the sorority women: Are the freezy pops OK? (Imagine it is a hot summer night and you are dressed to impress) Would you rather get roses? Or some other non-rose non-food item?
P.S. Anyone who goes to my school clearly knows what fraternity I am in. I left it out of this initial post because that seems to be the style around these parts of the internet. It does not bother me if others wish to post it. However, to be clear I am writing this on individual initiative. It does not necessarily represent the views of my chapter or my international fraternity.
P.P.S. Heteronormative is a fairly pretentious word, but it I cant think of a better way to say what I mean-- that the traditions were made to help a group of straight girls meet a group of straight guys. To be clear the above problems arise because of the co-ed nature of my fraternity. The use of the word heteronormative is not meant to convey a gay rights issue in this case. (Although we do have gay brothers) |
1) Lots of people don't name their schools simply because individual GC threads can come up in Google. So, a lot of people aren't trying to "hide" their school so much as they just don't want it to be the first hit in a Google search.
2) I don't see why sorority women would be offended. They know that you guys are different when they show up, and it's kinda on them to understand that your situation is unique. If they are offended, that's on them, IMO.
3) Personally, I like freezy pops, but they can be messy if the women are dressed up. I kinda think a different type of candy could be totally appropriate, though. I am also partial to instant lottery tickets as a cheap gift-type item that could easily be stashed away while they hit the other houses.
4) I think multi-org mixers are a little tricky, but I don't know your campus, and I don't know what people do for mixers. For example, if you have a bar rental as the mixer, and, as you say, the main goal is to meet the opposite sex, it can be very weird for three groups. If you instead, say, host a kickball game and mix people up on teams, it could be a fun way for people to meet each other. Again, I have no idea what the norm is on your campus, but you should try to think of the type of events where it wouldn't be weird for people to be meeting new people of their own gender.
5) Are you focusing mainly on the NPC and traditional IFC groups? You may wish to think about what other groups could be fun to mix with.