When rush conflicts with religious observances...

aephi alum · #1 09-13-2002, 09:14 AM

Just wondering how your schools/GLOs handle it if rush/recruitment happens to conflict with sisters'/brothers' or PNMs' religious observances.

I was reading uwgirl's rush thread, and saw that she finished up round 1 yesterday and has to wait until Tuesday to find out about round 2... Yom Kippur is Monday and I'm curious if that is why she won't find out until the next day.

Round 1 at my school used to be Friday night / Saturday during the day, so if you were an Orthodox Jew you were SOL. We had one Orthodox sister (she joined us via COB) who could not rush during round 1 for that reason... we gave her special permission to miss round 1, but she had to give up her right to vote on round 2 invitations.

The schedule of Catholic Masses was such that PNMs involved in sorority rush could attend Saturday evening Mass if they booked it from their last party... sisters, of course, had to vote at that time. Catholic sisters had to get special permission to miss one of their round 2 parties to go to Mass on Sunday. And how do fraternity brothers and PNMs handle such things - do they just disappear for an hour?

(Can you tell the greek community and religious communities at my school did not exactly get along?

)

sugar and spice · #2 09-13-2002, 02:02 PM

I can't tell you very much about this subject, but I do know that Yom Kippur is the reason that we're not rushing on Monday at Wisconsin.

We also don't have any rush events on Saturdays, as Saturdays are football days and football is the official religion at the UW.

Lisa Fishman · #3 09-13-2002, 07:21 PM

aephi alum, When I went through rush as a PNM, neither Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur were a conflict. However, my second year during recuitment Yom Kippur was a conflict. I asked if it would be possible to miss one round of recuitment. Though I did have to explain the Jewish calendar to people. They did not understand why the holidays fell on different days on the regular calandar. (i.e Their thought was Christmas is always on Dec. 25th) I ended up going to stay and go to services with friends of my parents in nearby Atlanta. I then returned to the rest of recuitment. I do not think it was a problem to the rest of the sisters.
Also, we had a annual Christmas party. I didn't have a problem with it and I wasnt really offended. It was funny though because my sisters made a Christmas ornament for me with a menorah and draidle on it! I also got my first Christmas stocking. I showed them and taught them about my menorah and taught them how to play draidle!
I guess this is what happens when you live in the southeast US. I don't think I would have to explain myself if I went to school in other parts of the country. Lisa

Munchkin03 · #4 09-14-2002, 11:57 AM

It's kind of a nonissue at my school for a few reasons:
1). Rush isn't until February
2). The Jewish population, especially among Greeks, is so high that a Yom Kippur-time Rush would not happen. We had a pretty big controversy because Monday is the last day to add classes without a fee.
3). Our school is pretty nonreligious otherwise.

DWAlphaGam · #5 09-14-2002, 12:11 PM

My school always makes sure to schedule formal recruitment around the holidays. It's usually pretty difficult to find 2 weekends in a row in September that do not conflict with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so scheduling recruitment was always a big controversy between faculty and Panhellenic. This year, they solved the problem by having recruitment all in one week, Wednesday-Saturday with bid day on Sunday (bids are given out at 1 pm so people can go to church in the morning). So, while it was a headache to schedule recruitment, they do it that way so everyone will be able to attend all the events they possibly can.

lionlove · #6 09-14-2002, 12:49 PM

My school is 1/3 Jewish so if there were rush during a holiday, there would be a riot. As it is, we have no classes on Monday because of Yom Kippur. Rush starts for us in Wednesday and finishes with Bid day on Sunday.

theta sig agd · #7 09-14-2002, 08:48 PM

I have to admit I am pretty ignorant when it comes to Jewish religious days. To be honest I didnt even know they had different days untill I had a Jewish sister in my chapter, never really thought about it.

I think I am a little more enlightened than before but still am in the dark about the meanings.
I would however like to know all about the holidays and the explainations of their meanings and stuff.

Lisa, maybe you could explain when you visit!

hint, hint