[KappaKittyCat]

First of all, I'd like to thank you all for the support in your posts and PMs. I didn't quite expect that story to come spilling out like it did. I just got a little worked up, there. Yay, PMS! I have trouble understanding Earp-isms at any time of day, and last night was late and I was worn out. Upon re-reading his post, I think I may have overreacted a bit, but oh well. The master of typos and mixed metaphores strikes again.

That said, I stand by my original statement that the NPC Formal Recruitment system works if it is not abused. It is not designed to protect us from ourselves or each other. It is designed to carefully regulate supply and demand, to give PNMs the best chance of finding a home, and to give the sororities the best chance of finding new sisters who are compatible. In my case, had our chapter died, Panhel would not have brought another group onto campus because the demand is just not there. Beyond that, no org in its right mind would have colonized Lawrence. It would have been a wasted investment. Once we confronted the internal problems in our chapter, the problems that had caused us to shrink in the first place, the system did nothing but help us. It works as long as it is not abused.

My thoughts on Recruitment Counselors are as follows.

On a campus with deferred rush, being an RC is even more of a job because it involves disaffiliation for the entirety of Fall Term and the first two weeks of Winter Term. Being an RC is a commitment and a sacrifice. It is a labour of love for the Greek system as a whole. On my campus, Panhel selects the RCs. It is an honour and a privilege to be selected to represent your chapter in this way. And yes, you are representing your chapter. On a campus like mine, with deferred rush and a pre-existing anti-Greek bias, most women go through Recruitment because an RC talked them into it. People naturally attract others who are like them, so it stands to reason that a Kappa is going to attract women who would be more compatible with Kappas, and so on. This holds true regardless of whether the RC is wearing her letters. This is not intentional. It just happens.

We as women are far more focused on emotions than men are. Most of us process things emotionally before we think through them logically. We also tend to be more verbal. When we have problems, we need to talk them out with other people. When we have blessings, we need others with whom to rejoice. We need people who understand where we're coming from because they've been there. Think about the job title-- not the Greek letters, but what they stands for: Recruitment Counselor. Their job is to counsel, to offer unbiased, knowledgable advice. Going through Recruitment is a stressful and emotional process, and PMNs need someone to whom they can turn to ask questions about anything, from "Why was I cut?" to "Whom should I place first on my bid card?" Whether they be active sisters or PNMs, everyone involved in sorority Recruitment needs RCs.

I think we also need to remember the primary purpose of Recruitment week. Its purpose is not to get women to join a particular organization. Its purpose is to get women to be Greek. As a rusher, I'm always much happier to hear that a woman has regretted us and opted for another chapter than I am to hear that a woman has dropped out of Recruitment altogether. I want Greek women. On my campus, we need them. We are only as strong as we are united, and I say this with all sincerity on a campus where Greeks are persecuted with the full fury of the closed-minded liberal arts bias. An RC should do everything in her power to keep women in Recruitment. If a women joins the RC's chapter, then GREAT! If not, then at least she's gone Greek.

We got several women this past year via the snap bidding process. If it weren't for the RCs, none of whom were Kappas, those women would never have accepted their snap bids. They would have instead held out to COB into groups that might not have taken them anyway. The RCs encouraged the women to seek a family in Kappa, to go through the Pledge process and determine that way whether our organization was right for them. They did this with the intention of keeping women Greek and keeping Greek life alive on our campus. It was an incredibly unselfish thing to do, especially because I know the RCs were counseling women who would otherwise have COBed their chapters. I got one of my littles that way, and I'm grateful to the RC who encouraged her to join us.

As long as we Greeks are focusing on classical ideals, let's look back at another ancient Greek tradition, the Olympics. During the Olympics, all the Greek city-states put their hostilities on hold to engage in friendly athletic competition. Of course the competition was fierce, but there was no cheating to win. Cheating was considered the most dishonourable thing that any group could do. If a title was not gained legitimately, then it was not gained at all. The Olympics began out of a desire to bring unity and strive for excellence through peaceful competition. In my mind, that's exactly what Recruitment should be. It should be a cessation of open hostilities for a period of time to focus on the most important thing: finding women who will live up to our ideals.