[PenguinTrax]

Originally posted by juniorgrrl:

Why is it that panhellenic tells us its the sororities job to get a rec, yet if we don't have them, we get cut?

Not all campuses require letters of reference and it is the responsibility of the sorority to get them if that particular chapter requires it. I think this is something that really needs to be looked at on a national (NPC) level.

Why is it that some houses have guestbooks to sign on each day of rush? Aren't they keeping track of us anyway?

I've never heard/seen guestbooks being used.

Why aren't people given a reason why they were cut? It would offer a lot of closure rather than imaginations running wild ("am I too fat?" "am I not smart enough" etc)

Because there are so many reasons why a person is cut and I think that if there is a 'bad' reason, that telling it to a potential member that is already in a fragile state of mind because they were cut, is more damaging than helpful. The obvious reasons for being cut are grades and activities. Are people cut because of appearance - yes. Do I personally agree with that, absolutely not. Also, a potential member may be cut because the sisters just don't feel like they 'click' with the girl. Even if the potential member loves chapter AAA, if the members just don't feel she would fit in, they may cut her. Also, if a potential member has a reputation that has followed her from high school, the dorm, or whereever, that may impact the chapter's decision to cut a girl.

For example, one year there were a group of 3 women going through Recruitment at my home chapter. They had high grades, lots of activities and every chapter on campus loved them. As it turned out, this little group also had a reputation as bullies - in fact, they had been arrested for assaulting a girl they didn't like by pinning the girl and her father against a garage door with their car. By looking at their application and by meeting them, you'd never know it. But when we tried to get a recommendation on them, the truth came out. In fact, all the groups on campus had the same experience and dropped these three at the same time.

Why do legacies recieve so much special consideration? We've established that all chapters of a particular sorority are different - just like members of the same family are different. An XYZ mom could be vastly different from her daughter, who doesn't fit in with the chapter, but to avoid upsetting the alumnae, she gets a bid anyway (seen it happen a LOT).

Legacies are given special consideration but as far as I know, not one of the NPC groups will guarantee a bid to a legacy. It is out of courtesy to the initiated sister (the mother, aunt or sister) that a legacy may be given an event invitation over and above the number of invites they normally would have received, but I have seen legacies cut, often brutally, once this additional courtesy has been extended. Legacies must be considered like all other potential members in terms of grades, etc.

Why is it that in big rushes, a 30 minute party will be filled with 20 minutes of singing and clapping to get all the rushees into the house? Its pretty hard to connect with anyone in 10 minutes.

Sounds like a faulty timetable. If it takes 20 minutes to get all the potential members into the house, leaving only 10 minutes, there is a problem. The party should be longer or the potential member groups should be smaller.