pan-hell

AlethiaSi · #1 02-03-2004, 03:25 PM

my local is currently on the pan hellenic council... however we're pretty small (only about 25) and the only local.... amongst 4 other nationals.... (who have like 40 girls and up) so we just went through rush and we got a few girls back (only 16 girls rushed- total) and none for final tea (our pref night- same thing) so... we spent like 600 dollars and didn't get any girls..... and the issue of being in panhell has come up again and again- and we're thinking we might get out of it since it isn't benefitting us at all.... any advice?

(i'm gunna try this in the local board too)

33girl · #2 02-03-2004, 03:56 PM

Do you mean you spend $600 on Panhel dues??? Or did you spend $600 on rush parties? If it's the latter, wouldn't you have spent it anyway, even if you weren't a Panhel member?

If it's the former, I would seriously question why they are asking for so much $$$.

AlethiaSi · #3 02-03-2004, 04:05 PM

actually- thats a very good question- and they spent the money on rush parties- but if we weren't in panhell then we wouldn't have to participate in the parties at our student union.... (which is where most of the money goes) we do more toned down stuff at the house- balloons etc but nothing crazy....

astroAPhi · #4 02-03-2004, 05:22 PM

Last year (2002-03 school year), we spent about the same amount as you on recruitment. 8 girls went through, and quota was 3 because 2 of those girls dropped out. We got one girl, and we're a national. We were devastated.

We COBed like crazy. It was exactly the kick in the pants that we needed. We were at total by the end of the year. We initiated about 15 sisters that year. The previous year we initiated 8.

You have 2 choices as I see it:
1. Learn how to Rush in a formal situation. Maybe the other sororities in Panhellenic would be interested in giving you guys a workshop. Or talk to people on GC about what they do.
2. COB really hard. Is that where you get most of your girls? Then concentrate on it.

I wouldn't entirely drop out of the Panhellenic council. If you girls decide that you don't care for formal recruitment settings, is it possible for you to forgo formal recruitment and only COB?

AlethiaSi · #5 02-04-2004, 04:54 PM

i'm not really sure about forgo-ing formal rush- thats a good question... i'll ask about it- thanks

James · #6 02-04-2004, 05:17 PM

I have never seen (in my limited experience) a situation where a local is benefited by being part of Panhellenic.

Usually the NPC groups want you as an associate member because it offers them a measure of control over how you Rush and when you Rush.

A popular local not bound by Panhell's rules can slaughter the NPC groups in Rush. Point one: Rush wouldn't have to be dry per se. It could be wet as hell.

I am not sure there are any other benefits of being in NPC to be honest. All they do is enforce rules that shouldn't apply to you. The frats will mix with you anyway as long as you are cute, or fun.

The only thing they might be able to do is keep you out of formal all-greek events, but honestly the frats will want you in it so there are ways around NPC dissaproval.

Girls chime in here: Is there any really beneficial reason that a local would want to voluntarily adopt NPC rules? Reasons that outweight the limitations?

33girl · #7 02-04-2004, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by James
Girls chime in here: Is there any really beneficial reason that a local would want to voluntarily adopt NPC rules? Reasons that outweight the limitations?

If for some reason not being a part of Panhel would cause you to be looked down upon on that campus and hurt your ability to attract women. (i.e. if rushees would refer to you as "not a real sorority" if you weren't part of Panhel or didn't rush with them)

Or if you have to be part of Panhel to get housing etc, although I guess you don't consider that strictly voluntary.

AlethiaSi · #8 02-05-2004, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 33girl
If for some reason not being a part of Panhel would cause you to be looked down upon on that campus and hurt your ability to attract women. (i.e. if rushees would refer to you as "not a real sorority" if you weren't part of Panhel or didn't rush with them)

Or if you have to be part of Panhel to get housing etc, although I guess you don't consider that strictly voluntary.

to the first part- i think that is the only reason why we have stayed in it b/c we don't want to deter girls just for this fact alone... its hard enough being apart of panhell and a local and then not being a part of pan-hell... we just don't know how it will go... i guess what we figure is- we almost died out once... we might as well go out in style by our own rules than have other nationals determine what we can do... and we also look pretty stupid not getting girls through this rediculous process anyway.....in pan-hell or not... grrrr....

we own our house so the housing thing doesn't apply to us- but it definately might in other campuses....

shadokat · #9 02-05-2004, 10:54 AM

I went to a campus with five locals and five nationals. ALL were full blown members of the Panhellenic. No associates or any of that crap. Local women held positions on Panhellenic, were active and participated in all of the events. If you're not a full member of Panhellenic, you should try to make that happen. If you are a full member of Panhellenic, you need to get into leadership roles on the council so that you can help make the big decisions. It's sad to say, but unfortunately, most of the big choices a Panhel makes comes from their leadership.

If you honestly feel that stepping out of Panhellenic is a good idea, then by all means, do so. I'm curious to know where you go to school.

AOX81 · #10 02-05-2004, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shadokat
I went to a campus with five locals and five nationals. ALL were full blown members of the Panhellenic. No associates or any of that crap. Local women held positions on Panhellenic, were active and participated in all of the events. If you're not a full member of Panhellenic, you should try to make that happen. If you are a full member of Panhellenic, you need to get into leadership roles on the council so that you can help make the big decisions. It's sad to say, but unfortunately, most of the big choices a Panhel makes comes from their leadership.

If you honestly feel that stepping out of Panhellenic is a good idea, then by all means, do so. I'm curious to know where you go to school.

At the school that I went to all the locals and all the nationals were involved in Panhellenic also. There was no association membership...everyone was a full member. The other local besides us dropped out of PC back in 1999 and my sorority dropped out of it last year because some people weren't playing by the rules...

AOX81 · #11 02-05-2004, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AlethiaSi
my local is currently on the pan hellenic council... however we're pretty small (only about 25) and the only local.... amongst 4 other nationals.... (who have like 40 girls and up) so we just went through rush and we got a few girls back (only 16 girls rushed- total) and none for final tea (our pref night- same thing) so... we spent like 600 dollars and didn't get any girls..... and the issue of being in panhell has come up again and again- and we're thinking we might get out of it since it isn't benefitting us at all.... any advice?

I belong to a local sorority and we never spent $600 on rush even when we were rushing with the NPC sororities. We probably spent close to $200 over a three week period and we always ended up with the most girls at the end. It's not about what you buy or how much you spend, it's about how you present yourself to the rushee's.

AOX81 · #12 02-05-2004, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by James
I have never seen (in my limited experience) a situation where a local is benefited by being part of Panhellenic.

Back in the day, we were the only local on campus and we got the more out of rush then the nationals did. For example, if the other organizations got 5-8 girls then we usually got 12-16 girls.

Quote:

Usually the NPC groups want you as an associate member because it offers them a measure of control over how you Rush and when you Rush.

We rushed with them and exactly the same way that they did.

Quote:

The only thing they might be able to do is keep you out of formal all-greek events, but honestly the frats will want you in it so there are ways around NPC dissaproval.

At my school NPC has no authority over "all-greek events". That is up to our Greek President's Council which all organizations are a part of.

Quote:

Girls chime in here: Is there any really beneficial reason that a local would want to voluntarily adopt NPC rules? Reasons that outweight the limitations?

When we rushed with NPC it allowed the rushee's to get ALL the sororities at once. I actually liked following the Greek Book and the NPC rules. It gave rush the structure that it needed at our school. Part of the reason that we dropped out of PC was because a couple members of the other organizations didn't feel that it was necessary to following the rules in the Green Book...

AlethiaSi · #13 02-05-2004, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AOX81
I belong to a local sorority and we never spent $600 on rush even when we were rushing with the NPC sororities. We probably spent close to $200 over a three week period and we always ended up with the most girls at the end. It's not about what you buy or how much you spend, it's about how you present yourself to the rushee's.

you are definately right about this- but unfortunately a lot of girls just look at how beautiful the houses and the girls are- and its hard to compete... we've always gotten most girls through COB just b/c we are more laid back abotu rush and when the girls hang out with us at these events and then go out with us later- they realize how much fun we are

and if they don't pledge- then they refer friends to us and definately keep in contact and chill... its pretty cool....

we are full members of the council and we have 3 sisters on the exec board as well- and one is the assistant pan-hell rush chair and will be running everything next year... so we definately have a say in whats going on (she's adamently opposed to us leaving) but its still really hard....

also- there is soooo much dirty rushing going on allllll the time that its difficult to play nice- we try to- but other sororities still talk a lot about each other...

i do like being a member in that the girls get to at least have the opportunity to meet us if they wish- sometimes you are scared during rush and don't want to go places on your own- and i worry that if we are not in pan- hell that we won't have that exposure... but since we get so many girls during cob.... it probably wouldn't matter too much anyway...

and we are definately keeping ourselves exposed as much as possible- wearing letters- getting involved with frats (we have 6 mixers alreayd set up! plus one with wayyy hot sigma chi in cornell

) and i guess the girls are having an open house party this weekend- and that really helps to get girls in too since they usually come iwth friends...

shadokat: i go to suny cortland- in upstate NY

we have a
d phi e chapter there too- and two of my best friends are in it as well... i actually pledged three weeks with them before depledging.... pm me if you want the whole story....

again- thanks guys for the advice!!!

Glitter650 · #14 02-06-2004, 12:54 AM

Well my school offers a completely different scenario....which I won't go into here excpet to say NO locals are on Panhell... nor do I think they would join if we NPC women BEGGED and pleaded... but our Panhellenic council isn't recognized anyway... but I digress... back to the topic at hand....

I personally feel you should leave the council... if it's not benefitting you to be a part of it. The only benefit I can see is that they women who may not find out about you otherwise have to meet you during rush if you are a member of NPC and take part in the party rounds... if it's not helping you that these women are meeting your chapter... then leave the council, or if you think the problem is with the dirty rushing... then make the council enforce the rules better... call them on their ISHT and file rush infractions.. that's partly why you joined so you could ATTEMPT to avoid that.... so take advantage...

I also have one more question why, if there are houses on campus are you all paying (what seems to be a lot of money) to rent rooms in the union ? seems to me AT most you'd need one for a day to do orientation and that's it... just curious....

MTSUGURL · #15 02-06-2004, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by James
Girls chime in here: Is there any really beneficial reason that a local would want to voluntarily adopt NPC rules? Reasons that outweight the limitations?

Phi Chi is an associate member of Pan at MTSU, and I definitely think it's beneficial to us. We're included in nearly everything, (I mean, yes there was that whole Homecoming fiasco, but that's another bitter story...) we hold offices, we vote on everything that could remotely pertain to us, and we have a lot of rules that are like NPC groups. Yes, we have more freedom, and we don't rush with them - we're required to hold rush afterwards. The best thing about being a local pertaining to recruitment - we can call the girls, invite them to lunch, met up with them so they can feel they already know someone... We have our own version of formal recruitment with all the freedom we could want. I personally think a lot of the limitations set forth by NPC are extremely beneficial and wish that we would vote to adopt more of them (alcohol policies, etc). I don't want to hold rush at the same time. We would be way overshadowed. I can't imagine not being intimidated by the next room holding a chapter 10 times our size...