[angelove]

I'm surprised she didn't include any of the sisters' catty comments about her overdone eyeliner.

I wasn't thrilled with the chapter in which she gives away ritual. First, she's dead wrong on a lot of it, and some of what she gives away can be found in any pledge manual or website. I realize that disgruntled initiates of any GLO will give away aspects of ritual, but is it necessary to publish it in a book that yearns to be on the best-seller list? Did any group try to get an injunction against publication? (Are there any threads about what can be done to stop the spread of ritual information by disgruntled members, or even gruntled members who share it with their boyfriend/girlfriend? Just wondering ... feeling protective after reading the book.)

Second, the comparison and juxtaposition of ritual and spring break? "I just had sex with a Jamaican on the dance floor," and here's a sorority's secret whistle. I don't get it. It's obvious that she's trying to lump spring break "rituals" in the same categories of initiation and chapter, but it's quite a stretch.

I was very angry at the way she promoted BGLOs as morally superior to HWGLOs - pages and pages about their community service and how their alumni are so involved and so successful, with only a paragraph about hazing. Never mind that she talks about the AKA drownings at the beginning and at the end, and cites it as a horrible example of hazing, while giving the casual (or non-Greek) reader the impression that it was an NPC sorority that did it. (I don't mean to pick on AKA or any other BGLO - just trying to pick on Robbins' writing style or lack thereof and her incredible bias.) She criticizes NPC organizations for promoting careers within the sorority (which, again is contrary to my experience), yet praises a Delta who rose high in government after being Delta's executive director.

Robbins contends that being in a sorority doesn't help your career - just ask Sue Grafton, who is the only alum cited after Robbins sent questionnaires to many prominent alumnae. Where are the quotes from the others? Not juicy or negative enough for publication, I suppose.

I haven't looked it up, but does NPC really prohibit treatment or distinction of pledges and actives? (This wasn't the rule when I was in college, so I'm not familiar with it.) I do agree that you can't say you're going to treat everyone exactly the same while not letting pledges participate in ritual, wear crests, etc., but I'm not sure that NPC has this requirement. If in fact they do, it's not only inconsistent, but it's ridiculous and unnecessary. If you join the Junior League, you're treated differently your first year than once you're a full active member. If you join Kiwanis or Rotary, you have to do certain things for a period of time before you're eligible for offices, etc. Not allowing pledges to wear crests or even letters is not the same as hazing. I agree that we need to focus on real hazing that physically and emotionally endangers pledges.

Academics: maybe this was just an anomaly at my school, but Greek women always had a higher overall GPA than non-Greek women. Robbins would like us to believe otherwise.

Summary: easy read but definitely fiction. My fear remains that non-Greek parents will not let their daughters go through recruitment/rush after hearing about this book.