Not allowed to wear letters

[archangel689]

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[GPhiBLtColonel]

...how enforceable is this "rule" and what is the supposed punishment for infractions?

Not only does it seem like a stupid rule, but you're right that it may be a freedom of speech issue as well ....

[Kevin]

Public school? Is it a volunteer program? Is it at-will-employment? I guess if it was any kind of job where they set your hours they could simply cut your hours back to zero...

We have the same rule on campus. The TOUR GUIDE can't say anything... But brothers can strategically be placed along the route

Being the Rush Chair of my fraternity I personally feel that freshmen make poor rushees... a large percentage of them will not accept their bids because their parents say no. Upperclassmen (sophmore and up) are generally much more independant and will join regardless of parental funds, and are much better suited to be good pledges and brothers since they are more involved and established on campus. Plus most people that drop out of school do so freshman year. we don't lke loosing brothers.

However, this does not discredit the fact that they are a HUGE pool from which to draw, and loosing this makes it really hard for greek organizations to recruit adequate numbers.

Orientation is definately too early to get them anyways. And I think it's the same here at RIT... tour guides, or volunteers at orientation aren't allowed to recruit... also IFC doesn't formally start rush 'till a few days AFTER orientation. We can however wear letters if we're just manning a booth or something. ::shrug::

[nyrdrms]

Are there any sessions offered for the freshman during orientation in which clubs and organizations can inform the incoming students about their organizations? When I came to college, we had a fraternity session and a sorority session, but when we switched to deferred recruitment, those sessions were cut. At the end of welcome week, however, there is an organizational fair for all the incoming freshman and all organizations on campus.

[GiantsChic]

I'm in a similar organization on my campus (tour/orientation leaders) and we're not supposed to wear anything that shows different club affiliations. I do understand this rule because they don't want us to affect the new students impressions about diff. clubs/organizations (positive or negative)... this is for most of them their first interaction w/ their new school, and they kinda want a fresh start. The difference w/ my organization is that we are allowed to mention that we're in other organizations, and let them know which one it is if they ask. Basically, they just don't want us to "push" our club/organization on them, if that makes sense? But we're not punished or anything if we talk about it...

[MoxieGrrl]

Originally posted by archangel689
I ask, um, since when is recruitment supposed to be fair, it's never been, it's always been a competition.
-T

Thank you for saying what I have always been thinking.

[33girl]

If campus ministry, ski club or whoever are allowed to put ads in the bags, IFC and Panhellenic should be too. But as far as ads like "Go ASA", "DKE welcomes you", absolutely not. The focus should be on going Greek, not a particular group.

I don't quite get being upset over not wearing letters - how do your orientation leaders dress? Ours usually wore business casual-type things - we certainly weren't going to wear a letter sweatshirt. Can you wear lavaliers or pins?

[shadokat]

I think that is absolutely ridiculous!! We ALWAYS have fraternity and sorority members vying for those orientation leader positions BECAUSE it's a great opportunity to tout your organization, AND, the orientation department gets great leaders by having so many able people to choose from. Maybe offer that up to the orientation folks as a plus side for offering greeks the opportunity to promote Greek Life. We've gotten PLENTY of girls from freshmen orientation who came through recruitment and went D Phi E because their orientation leader was one, and they loved our house in turn.

[Optimist Prime]

go for it. connect four.

[UDZETA]

On my campus freshman can only rush their second semester and I think it is a good thing. It's still gives freshman a chance to rush but they are a little more adjusted to college life. I rushed my freshman year and I am very glad I did.

[hopefulgreek]

We're DEFINATELY NOT allowed to wear letters or state our particular greek affiliation (I know I give the tours). We're allowed to say we are greek and talk about rush or being in a sorority in general. It's funny but the organization that gives the tours is half greek and half independent!

[Betarulz!]

I'd see about the possibility of IFC and Panhel putting in ads - a listing of houses, statistics like how greeks are overrepresented in campus organizations compared to their respective % of the student population, stuff like that - into the bags.

We have New Student enrollment during the summer and our NSE leaders are dressed always in red...no affiliation shown. But they include Greek Life into their skits as something you can be a part of. Because of this I don't think that NOT being able to wear letters is that big of deal.

Perhaps you could get info added into the tours. If you walk past Greek houses, just make sure all the tour guides mention that greek life is something that is available to everyone, that the stereotypes aren't true, and when Rush is. I think this is not that big of deal if to say if groups are walking by greek living units anyway, and the tour guides that don't support greek life aren't actively supporting it, just giving out more information.

I think the best way to present this to your boss is to say that it is entirely about getting information about college out to the freshmen, letting them know their full range of options when they come to your school. Withholding such information would just be like not talking about intramurals, or student government...it would be ignoring a significant population of students. The most important thing is that you have to play this up as not promoting Greek life, just letting people know it exists.

As for hendrixski saying freshmen aren't good rushees...depends entirely on where you go to school. In some places (like my school) freshmen are 98% of rushees, and typically we have found that sophomores are far less likely to take bids b/c they have been on campus for a year and are more likely to feel that they don't need a fraternity since they did fine the previous year without one.

[nyrdrms]

If all the other organizations on your campus are allowed to put things in the orientation bags, then I see no problem with IFC, NPC, NPHC and whatever other greek councils you have submitting something on behalf of all the organizations that fall underneath it...welcoming them to the school and making them aware that these organizations exist, no necessarily for recruitment purposes. One way of pushing the idea might be for the Greek councils to submit a pamphlet on the risks of drinking and driving or on alcohol awareness (things that the school can't really say no to because of the positive reinforcement they want to promote).

On a side note, why is it perfectly acceptable for the athletic coaches to scout high school students for their teams just because they "bring money to the school" and yet, Greek organizations can't even make their presence known? hmm...

[sailorpiphi]

I am not quite sure about the rules on my campus regarded whether our not our orientation leaders (we call them aop leaderS) are allowed to wear letters or even mention it. However, I have noticed some ways that even with out wearing letters you can help greek life and your organization. There is a girl in my house who was last year one of the head leaders of aop. I am not quite sure if she wore her letters at all, im assuming she did not only because the aop leaders usualy wear clothing during that time to denote them as part of the aop program and willing to help. Anyway, even being a part of this program is a really good thing for your house. I do know for a fact that there were many girls who came through our house who just remembered my sisters face from aop and remembered how cool she was and that was a definite help. So even if you cant wear your letters in the end you are still representing your org. and it could just come back to help you if you make a positive impression on the freshmen. good luck!