Rho Chi/Gamma Duties - venting

shadokat · #1 09-11-2002, 10:53 AM

OK, I was reading one of the recruitment stories on here, and the PNM said her Rho Chi told her that one of the sororities didn't have a house because it was taken away from them for doing bad things. What gives Rho Chis the idea that they are the people who should be telling this sort of thing?

This past weekend, I did formal recruitment with a colony, and the Rho Chis there told the PNMs that, and I quote, "D Phi E isn't even a chapter yet." in a not so nice tone...we were there!!!

I understand that it's the Rho Chis job to counsel the PNM on the Recruitment process, but it is not their job to judge other sororities, air dirty laundry that you may know of other sororities or talk negatively of any other group. It's their job to promote Greek Life, no matter where the PNM goes. I really think that some campuses have lost this vision of this, and I hope that Campus Panhellenics can advise the women that they choose to be Rho Chis of this. I think it's a disgrace for a Rho Chi to talk badly about any chapter, and they should be dealt with in the proper fashion, whatever that is.

Sorry for the rant...it's just on my nerves

PenguinTrax · #2 09-11-2002, 11:01 AM

FWIW, I agree with you.

A Recruitment Counselor is there to counsel, end of story. Offering opinions (they're not a real chapter!) etc. is uncalled for.

For all they know, it's campus rumor that that group lost their house for a risk management or other violation. It could be that there was a problem with the house and it was too expensive to fix or who knows what. If a group did something 'bad' enough to lose their house, they wouldn't still have a charter, I would think. Nationals don't take away houses w/o taking away the chapter, for goodness sake. Taking away a house and leaving the chapter is dooming it.

UKAXO · #3 09-11-2002, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shadokat
I understand that it's the Rho Chis job to counsel the PNM on the Recruitment process, but it is not their job to judge other sororities, air dirty laundry that you may know of other sororities or talk negatively of any other group.

Amen, shadokat.

Someday I may have the guts to post my own horrendous rush story on here. For right now, suffice to say that the first time I went through rush, a Rho Chi (not mine) actually had the nerve to TELL ME AND MY ROOMMATE ALL ABOUT EACH GROUP'S SO-CALLED "REPUTATION" ON CAMPUS! Sorry to yell, but OF ALL THE PEOPLE to have the nerve to do this during rush - the LAST person you would expect to hear this sort of trash from, would be a Rho Chi!

Thanks for letting me vent - all these years later, and it STILL bothers me!

aopirose · #4 09-11-2002, 11:42 AM

I agree Shadokat. I have some friends who are national staff members for their NPC. A few years ago they were trying to establish a colony on a very small campus and it was the colony’s first formal recruitment. There was a break between rounds and my friends went to the restroom. A couple of minutes later two Rho Chis came in and were chatting not realizing that others were in the restroom too. One Rho Chi told the other, “Well, I solved that problem. I declined all my girls’ invitations to ‘new colony’ even if they wanted to go back. That group is a bunch of dorks and my girls are too sweet to be associated with such trash.” One of my friends stepped out of the stall and said, “Thanks for the information, I am on my way to the Greek Advisors office to report you.” My other friend had words too and “thanks” wasn’t one of them.

2017law · #5 09-11-2002, 11:55 AM

I was a PX at a large state U a few years ago. It was disgusting. PXs were calling their houses all week. The disaffiliation rule was complete bs. The exec board knew what was going on, participated in the actions and only had a problem when certain PX's were calling their houses. They called about girls they knew and girls in their PX groups. The whole experience was a real let down. Coming from a smaller house the other PXs were not supportive at all, even though they knew the dire situation my house was in. I was in the Greek system for 4 years, now that I'm out, I look back with little regret, except for the 2 weeks of recruitment and work week. As long as the PX exec is run by the biggest houses with no input from the small ones and even less representation of them nothing will change. The bigger houses get bigger, the smaller ones get smaller and eventually will be gone, as mine is.
Just something to think about.
~2017

dzrose93 · #6 09-11-2002, 12:17 PM

Someone mentioned that Rho Chis at UF discouraged rushees from being interested in the new DZ colony that is starting this year. I was pretty upset about that, because Rho Chis are put into their positions for one reason -- to be UNBIASED. It certainly didn't sound like some of them were living up to that role.

Fortunately, the colony seems to have accumulated a large number of interested women despite the negative comments, so I'm looking forward to hearing about a successful rush very soon!

texas*princess · #7 09-11-2002, 12:25 PM

The university from which I transferred from is under-going major changes in the Greek system - specifically for sororities. This will be the first time in a *long* time that NPC has groups on the campus.

From what I was told (this was in May,so they may have changed their mind since then?) the Student Activities Office wanted to recruit Rho Chi's from a neighboring university. None of the sororities on the neighboring university have chapters or colonies at our school. (I guess this might work because the schools are considerablly smaller than most greek schools).

Would there be a possiblity of these recruited Rho Chi's to demostrate behavior that this thread has shown?

AlphaSigLana · #8 09-11-2002, 01:08 PM

At my previous school--rho chi's would call their house and let the girls know what the pnm's thought of the house and if if was negative they were dropped usually. Also the rho chi's would tell us if there was someone they wouldn't want in their house.

KappaKittyCat · #9 09-11-2002, 01:34 PM

Texas*princess,

It looks like they're wanting to recruit recruitment counselors from other schools to avoid these sorts of behaviours. I know just from reading rush threads that it's a lot easier for me to be unbiased about a PNMs experience if there's no Kappa chapter on her campus. If I were a recruitment counselor on a campus with no Kappa chapter, then the disaffiliation wouldn't be an issue. I'd have no temptation to call up any house, report on any PNMs, or do anything of hte sort. My focus would be purely on making sure that all these girls have a positive experience.

I'd encourage them to go for it.

-KKC

RockChalk · #10 09-11-2002, 01:35 PM

Can a PX say unflattering things about a chapter that she knows to be true? For example, my freshman year there was a chapter that had lost its house due to money problems. They were the only unhoused chapter on our campus, so I'm sure some PNMs were wondering why XYZ didn't have a house but all the other sororities did. In that situation, would it be OK for a PX to tell the PNMs why XYZ didn't have a house, or would the PX be forbidden from answering that question?

FuzzieAlum · #11 09-11-2002, 01:59 PM

We used recent alums. Many of them were great, but it's always a risk. Personally, I thought the Greek life assistants (grad students) who were from other chapters made the best Rho Chis. They couldn't advocate for their own chapter, and whatever preconceptions they had about the various chapters from their own experience were usually totally different than our campus, so they had learned to keep an open mind.

I believe that Rho Chis are allowed to state anything that is factual. So you could ask your Rho Chi, "Does X have a house?" "Who won Greek Week?" Which is nice, because I know every sorority claimed to have the top grades when I went through! But for anything sensitive, they might refer you back to the chapter anyway.

shadokat · #12 09-11-2002, 02:01 PM

Thanks everyone for your responses!! I thought maybe it was just me being sensitive

texas*princess, they are probably looking for Rho Chis b/c your greek system is new, and the women there don't really know how to be Rho Chis. Therefore, the other university, with an established Panhel, can hopefully fill in and teach the women this.

AlphaSigLana, I don't necessarily think it's wrong to tell your chapter if a girl in your group is interested or not interested. I mean, if there's a girl who is really into your house, giving her a little extra attention during parties is ok. What's wrong is actually talking shit about other sororities to the PNMs. I think it's really common practice for the Rho Chis to tell their chapters how they are doing and such.

RockChalk, if you're not a member of the sorority who lost their house, and you're not affiliated during recruitment, as a Rho Chi, you shouldn't say anything. If a PNM says they heard this or that, you say, I don't really know why they don't have a house, but that really isn't such a huge deal in finding a sorority. Encourage the women to look for what really matters in sorority life, and they'll join for the right reasons.

sororitygirl2 · #13 09-11-2002, 02:57 PM

Quote:

AlphaSigLana, I don't necessarily think it's wrong to tell your chapter if a girl in your group is interested or not interested. I mean, if there's a girl who is really into your house, giving her a little extra attention during parties is ok. What's wrong is actually talking shit about other sororities to the PNMs. I think it's really common practice for the Rho Chis to tell their chapters how they are doing and such

I have to disagree with this... When someone chooses to be a Rho Chi they disaffiliate from their chapter and pledge not to discuss ANY recruitment business with the members. If they start to bend the rules slightly by telling their chapter what girls are interested, it is only a matter of time before the rules become inconsequential and are not observed at all.

Also, a little exception like this, gives a chapter a very unfair advantage if they know how a PNM feels based off what a PX says. Say PNM Suzy likes ABC and DEF both equally, but her PXs are from DEF and GHI. Then DEF hears from the PX that Suzy likes them but ABC doesn't... DEF starts treating her with priority based on what they heard and she chooses to join there. However, ABC never had that information and therefore missed out on Suzy because of a PX breaking rules.

Okay, so that was long and rambling...

2017law · #14 09-11-2002, 03:12 PM

AlphaSigLana, I don't necessarily think it's wrong to tell your chapter if a girl in your group is interested or not interested. I mean, if there's a girl who is really into your house, giving her a little extra attention during parties is ok. What's wrong is actually talking shit about other sororities to the PNMs. I think it's really common practice for the Rho Chis to tell their chapters how they are doing and such.

Thank you sororitygirl2.

Disaffiliation is the cornerstone of being a PX. For the time being these are your new sisters. Following the rules is part of being a PX, why should the rules only apply to some? If a girl is really into a chapter what happens if her PX is not from that chapter? She may like it, but not as much as the other. She may be dropped from that chapter. PXs also are looked up to. These are actives, that is where these girls want to be. What if a lady says she wants to join a house she thinks the PX is in just b/c she likes the PX? The no communication rule is a must. The sh*t talk needs to stop, I agree. But allowing PXs to talk to their chapters will only perpetuate it.

sbhill2 · #15 09-11-2002, 06:10 PM

Why would RhoChi's want to do that sort of thing? Their job is not to tell their sisters which girls they don't want and which girls they do - their job is to help girls who are interested in sororities make the right decision without a biased opinion. Any RhoChi who calls her sisters to dicuss certain PNMs is not someone I would want representing my sorority. I can believe that that goes on but I can't believe nothing was done to those RhoChis.