Should the system of Quota be changed? A look at the Nebraska system

[PenguinTrax]

When I hear the 'horror' stories of Recruitment events at campuses that do not use the quota/total system, I get the heeby-jeebies. It turns the whole event into a ruthless series of events with much disappointment on all sides. The new release figures method does work to maintain healthy chapter numbers across the board. On some campuses there are slightly fewer women pledging, but there are also more women dropping out of recruitment earlier in the process, and these women are not maximizing their options. The numbers set for quota are staying about the same vs. previous years when (the newer) release figures were not used.

There is going ot be disappointment on all sides, but I think that completely dispensing with the system, especially in a competitive environment, would lead to more problems.


Here is an excellent presentation on how and why the release figures work (Powerpoint format): http://www.odos.uiuc.edu/GREEK/recru...ruitSummit.ppt

[BigRedBeta]

Okay, so this has been exactly the type of discussion I was hoping for. I'm seeing it a little better from other sides and what the concerns are:

First, I'm not sure when total is set, but I do believe that it happens at approximately the same time as when quota would be set in one of the standard NPC models.

Second, as NUBlue&Blue (some of my best friends are members of your house!) mentioned Nebraska is an extremely old system (AXO is Xi, GPhiB is Pi, AOTT is Zeta, APhi is Nu, AZD is Rho, XO is Kappa, KD is Pi...you get the picture). And as she alluded to, this form has been in place for a long time. ALL the chapters are very close to total if not there. All the chapters are relatively the same in the number of girls they are going to take simply b/c eventually all the chapters are at or near total during the year. And really what's 10-15 people in a room of 75? I doubt that the "smaller" houses appear that way to an outsider. Also it's not like a chapter is going to go from 40 members during recruitment to 120 or whatever. The largest pledge class size I've ever heard of was 52 girls during a year when total went up by 8.

The other thing is that Nebraska has a guaranteed bid system in place. If girls "play fair" then they will end up someplace. Granted that doesn't mean they are necessarily going to end up in their first or second choice, but if they play by the rules then they will end up somewhere.

I also think that b/c the chapter houses have little idea of where total may fall by the end of the week, that they don't go around saying "we only have X many spots". People know that chapter XYZ and ABC historically have filled up first, but no one knows just exactly how many bids will be offered. It also helps in a system as old as Nebraska's, that chapters don't automatically have to bid legacies because there are so many. Granted girls with older sisters in the chapter have a distinct advantage, but that happens everywhere. But I do see the concern about making the best chapters even more elite. However, I don't necessarily see that in how the chapters actually operate.

As for dakareng's comments. You're right that sisterhood is not a function of chapter size, but this model removes chapter size as a variable. Everyone ends up damn close to total so for the most part they're equal. I personally believe that good retention rates are a symptom of great sisterhood. If your sisterhood is great, then why would girls drop out? You end up getting girls to stay for four years (which is definitely less common among sorority women vs. fraternity men at least at Nebraska). In the end, the chapter which gets a smaller class size is at an advantage in setting up those girls to have great sisterhood - as it's assuredly easier to set up programming for 28 vs 40, and it's easier to be close with 27 others compared to 39.
Further it also helps out the chapters with poor retention rates b/c they don't keep falling further and further behind. They will, at least at some point early on the year be on the exact same numbers position as every other chapter.
Again, the point here is that total chapter size is no longer a variable. At most other places, bigger chapters are better and that's for the most part true with the fraternities at Nebraska at least when looking at the general trends...but in case of the sororities everyone is the same size so there has to be other ways of looking at who is the "best".

Finally, I didn't mention the most surprising part of Nebraska's recruitment. This I don't particularly like, and I have no idea how or why it's set up this way, but it is. There are 13 chapters that go through formal recruitment. Monday is an info session and meet the Recruitment guides day. The first day of parties is only 8! Girls find out their invites on Monday night and if they have more than 8 they have to reject invitations based on what they've seen in the introductory presentations. Chapters are only allowed a certain number of invitations, with (at least I've been told) most cuts coming solely due to GPA requirements. But if that can't achieve the number of cuts needed, then other criteria are used. Girls are required to submit applications 2 weeks before recruitment starts (but no pictures). This bothers me, b/c it means that in some cases the best matches aren't found b/c the girl never even sees that chapter through the week.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

Finally, I didn't mention the most surprising part of Nebraska's recruitment. This I don't particularly like, and I have no idea how or why it's set up this way, but it is. There are 13 chapters that go through formal recruitment. Monday is an info session and meet the Recruitment guides day. The first day of parties is only 8! Girls find out their invites on Monday night and if they have more than 8 they have to reject invitations based on what they've seen in the introductory presentations. Chapters are only allowed a certain number of invitations, with (at least I've been told) most cuts coming solely due to GPA requirements. But if that can't achieve the number of cuts needed, then other criteria are used. Girls are required to submit applications 2 weeks before recruitment starts (but no pictures). This bothers me, b/c it means that in some cases the best matches aren't found b/c the girl never even sees that chapter through the week.

So the chapters invite girls before they have actually met them? What???

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

So the chapters invite girls before they have actually met them? What???

I agree!

I think I could get used to the rest of the system, especially if it works as well as it sounds like, but WAY not cool to cut girls without even meeting them.

[carnation]

I've heard this about the University of Texas... is it true that even the first round there is invitational?

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by carnation

I've heard this about the University of Texas... is it true that even the first round there is invitational?

I've certainly heard of chapters coming up with the list of cuts for round 2 before round 1 (based on GPA usually), but I've never heard of schools really DOING the cuts before round 1!! I wonder how many campuses do this.

[NUBlue&Blue]

I don't know how long they've been doing this, because we went to all the houses for 15 minutes, I think. It was 14, then 6, then 3, then bid day.

As I've said, it was a long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away!

BTW, we had 32 in our pledge class. Don't know if that was big or small. I know of another who only had 28, but the funny thing is, I do remember that quite a few "about to be seniors" got married the summer before I pledged. Maybe that's why there was room!

BigRedBeta, what do you know about the Lincoln girls and how it affects total? I was never very clear on that.

And....most important question...do they still have the Beta-Kappa ring?

[BigRedBeta]

Originally Posted by NUBlue&Blue

I don't know how long they've been doing this, because we went to all the houses for 15 minutes, I think. It was 14, then 6, then 3, then bid day.

As I've said, it was a long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away!

BTW, we had 32 in our pledge class. Don't know if that was big or small. I know of another who only had 28, but the funny thing is, I do remember that quite a few "about to be seniors" got married the summer before I pledged. Maybe that's why there was room!

BigRedBeta, what do you know about the Lincoln girls and how it affects total? I was never very clear on that.

And....most important question...do they still have the Beta-Kappa ring?

They go 8, 5, 3, bid day nowadays.

As for Lincoln girls, I'm not sure how that affects total. As I've pieced together information from various alums and such, I know that at one time if you were a Lincoln kid (guy or girl) then you typically were unable to live in the chapter house. Some chapters (AZD I know for sure) still have a specific room dedicated to "lincoln girls" but most of the use actually came from seniors who had chosen to live out of the house in an apartment on their own. I'm not sure when the change came about, but like I said, I've certainly heard of lincolnites not being able to live in the chapter houses, which is definitely not the case these days. Given that, I don't think that Lincoln girls have any sort of special impact on the numbers.

Now as for this Beta-Kappa Ring, I'm certainly intrigued, but I have no clue what you are talking about. My guess is that this is one tradition that got lost either during the period from 88 - 94 in which our chapter basically became the antithesis of what we had always been, or during the 95-98 period in which we were reorganizing (went from 88 members in fall 95 to 13 in spring 96 after the alumni cleaned house). There was definitely a time in which most sororities wouldn't hang out with us (which has of course changed). And while I have many friends in Kappa (and one of my pledge brothers pinned a Kappa) I don't think we are as close with Kappa as we are with some other houses...which is unfortunate...

[FSUZeta]

beta, do you know after which round quota is set?

[NUBlue&Blue]

So sad about the Beta-Kappa ring....it was very old, some of the girls in my chapter had mothers who'd worn the Beta-Kappa ring.

At one time (I don't really know when) a lot of Kappas and Betas were couples. There was a sterling silver ring with the two crests on it, and the most recently pinned couple had it until the next Beta-Kappa combo was pinned, then they passed it on...and so on and so on. Wonder which Kappa kept it?

We only had a couple of Beta-Kappa pairs when I was in school, because of location girls in our house tended to date Sig Eps or Sig Alphs. My husband was a TKE, but of course they are gone from Nebraska as well. They were Phi chapter, but had periods throughout their history where they were on and off campus, so when they started to have problems with numbers there were no alums of a certain age in a financial position to help. When we were in school they were a huge house, won intramurals every year, had guys on homecoming every year and lived in two houses and an annex (their houses were the two across the courtyard from each other right next door to the KD and DG houses, and their annex was located in what is now a parking lot near the AXD house).

Lincoln girls were counted differently, I think, so you could take more people if you had more Lincoln girls. They could only live in the house one semester of their college career. We didn't have a Lincoln girls room, although I know that was pretty common. We HAD to live in the house, no other options, unless you got married. Period. Soph, Jr., Sr. If you were an academic redshirt (5th yr) then you got to live in an apartment if there was no room in the house.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by NUBlue&Blue

Lincoln girls were counted differently, I think, so you could take more people if you had more Lincoln girls. They could only live in the house one semester of their college career.

I wonder if they could really still do that - tell girls that because of their hometown, they had different housing options than the other members. I would think in this day and age that would be looked at as discrimination.

[BigRedBeta]

That is really sad...especially b/c my pledge brother and his girlfriend could have it right now...but i guess considering how few beta/kappa couples there have been in my time, I guess those sorts of traditions get lost. I wonder where it is.

[alum]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

I wonder if they could really still do that - tell girls that because of their hometown, they had different housing options than the other members. I would think in this day and age that would be looked at as discrimination.

I heard this was the policy for Lawrence girls who attended the University of Kansas from a woman who graduated in the 60s. She has no idea if this is still the case.

[NUBlue&Blue]

You have to remember that Nebraska is not a very populous state. If you had to house all the Lincoln girls, along with the Omaha girls, there'd be very little room for the girls from Bugtussle and Hooterville.

And like every college town, if you make the decision to go to school where you live, normally you live at home to save money. Or at least that's the way it used to be in the "olden days". We didn't even think about that being "discrimination", when nowadays that's the first thing that comes to mind.