MTV Sorority Show

[James]

Point 3: And here is MTV's Genius. Yall are looking at the show like Greeks, so you know the subtext. The show is actually geared towards independants.

The rules that y'all want to see more enforced is actually what is going to be the worse press for sororities.

I know we have some uptight sorority ladies on here who in the quintessential style of Dean Wormer (animal House) vote to cancel fun, but that actually isn't the population that we are mostly drawing from.

You see the vast majority of the people we are drawing from, want to drink, have fun,and be attractive to the opposite sex. They also want to meet and hook-up with members of the opposite sex.

So they are going to watch this show and see the restrictions, and watch the pledges be treated a bit like children or second class citizens and that will give them pause in rushing.

And what is funny, is that they are not going to realize that many of the NPC groups are actually more restrictive! LOL

And what is funnier, is that some of you on here are arguing that its good to show the pledges who is boss and make them respect the active sisters more. This seems to translate into making them obey or become more subservient.

I think what we are going to see happen, is that the average viewer is going to relate and sympathize with the pledges and think the sorority is kind of catty and bullies.

[shadokat]

Well, I finally saw the show today, and it was pretty ridiculous if you ask me. I about died laughing at Pauli, the girl who says, if you don't like it, get out. Since when is the new member period the time to see if you really want someone to be your sister. I mean, yeah, a few people you may have a second thought about, but the new member period is about learning about the sorority, not seeing who can "handle" it. And all of the house rules were too funny...they don't tell them they can't go out, yet they conveniently drop by the house and seem totally pissed that they aren't there reading their manuals or something. I mean, they aren't allowed to drink in their house, even though the majority are 21, so they go out to have some fun, and are looked down upon for that.

Here's a thought for Sigma....be a little more selective in who you choose to join your group by REALLY getting to know the women who are rushing. That way, the new member period can be about learning about Sigma, and not about weeding out those you don't want.

I have no doubt this show is going to take a turn for the worse soon enough...the cattiness is starting already, and the new members are treated like children. It'll be interesting to see who actually sticks it out.

[IowaHawkeye]

I was actually watching the show today with my mom and my younger sister:

Sister: Nicole! I'm scared for rush this year - you guys talk about us while we're there?!?!?! We're not Jewish - are some sororities going to look down on me for that?!

My Mom (an AGD alum): Wow times have changed since my day... I don't remember rush being that way; boys and religion were always "no no" topics... and all the drinking those girls do! Especially in a house that represents the sorority; Nicole, you girls don't drink in your house, do you? It would be a shame to disgrace your founders like that....

So yeah... good thing it was my family askingthe questions and getting straight answers from me otherwise they might still be thinking bad things about greeks in general (like some PNMs and parents of PNM may be...)

[LeslieAGD]

Originally posted by shadokat
And all of the house rules were too funny...they don't tell them they can't go out, yet they conveniently drop by the house and seem totally pissed that they aren't there reading their manuals or something.

Okay, question: What exactly was written on the dry erase board when the girls came home?

I'm asking because I didn't take it as a bad thing, the way many people here have. Maybe I'm forgetting because it's been a week since the show, but I don't remember them being "pissed" off that the girls weren't there...just curious that they were already gone the first night. I just thought the message implied: "Hey, stopped by to see you but you weren't here. Talk to you tomorrow." Again, it's been a while since the show, that's why I'm asking exactly what was said.

[Lucky07]

-Ok, is it just me or does anyone else think that this show is completely ridiculous. The way these girls "pledge" isn't pledging at all. If my pledgemaster ever....i mean ever was looking for me and I wasn't there...i'd be terrified! She would kill me....and as far as boys go...when i pledged....i wasn't allowed to talk or even look at boys...unless it was in class about school work. I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone but my pledgesisters!
These girls have it so easy...and i think it is pathetic that jordan complains aout the rules so much....as far as im concerned...the sigmas aren't pledging at all.
Ill admit...my pledging was ridiculously hard...but you know what, I'd rather earn my letters than have them handed to me on a silver platter.
Living in a pledge house? Having boys over? Having parties? That is definitely not pledging.

[aephi alum]

Originally posted by LeslieAGD
Okay, question: What exactly was written on the dry erase board when the girls came home?

I'm not sure word for word, but it was something like "Hi, dropped by to see how you were doing, but no one was home See ya later!"

I took it that way too... that the sisters were surprised, not pissed, that no one was home at 1am. The 11pm rule was no guys in the house past that time, not a curfew for the new members. (Though it makes me wonder if the sisters will try to set a curfew now...)

[Pike4Life]

I'm pretty certain the message board simply said:

"Came by to see you. It's 1 a.m....Where are you?

And on the topic of many of the new members being 3rd or 4th year students....Didn't anyone else catch the comment that I think the Rush Chair said early in the episode? She said something to the effect that they were counting on a good rush this quarter because they were going to lose like 10 girls to graduation...if that was the case, then wouldn't you want more FRESHMEN and SOPHOMORES than juniors or seniors??? This just adds to the feel that the abundance of over-21-ers are in fact MTV ringers.

The rush process seemed A LOT like fraternity rush to me...as well as the decision to bid everyone and let the pledge period weed them out. I know of a couple of fraternities that rushed and bid this way when I was in school.

[33girl]

Re the weeding out, I am guessing that in a usual rush for Sigma, they have between 5 & 10 girls come out and they pledge them all. That's why they have a nonselective bid policy. As I've said, A Phi O is pretty much the same.

In this situation...a LOT more girls have come out than usual, because of MTV. So either they entirely redo their whole method of bidding, and lose their right to say they are non-selective, or see who drops out when pledging gets started.

My point is if you pride yourself on nonselectivity, you have to weed people out somehow. We always had people drop in A Phi O because they couldn't handle parts of the pledging, like the service hours.

[James]

Just a reality check here: But how selective is formal Rush anyway? You have to get to know girls in a handful of days under very limited and contrived circumstances.

Eliminations start in the first round after a mere hour or so of seeing someone, which probably translates into maybe handful of minutes of actual contact time.

I have read the Rush thread here. And many Girls have admitted to eliminating people for mostly superficial reasons. So for example: All upperclassmen might be eliminated after the first round. Or some girl might be eliminated for the way she dresses. Some girls will be eliminated because they are shy and don't have a chance to warm up.

A PNM would have to be kind of a freak or having a real bad day to create an active negative impression. Although we have read some of those stories in Rush column .

The pledge program really is a time that is there to evaluate new members. The ideal purpose is to impart the skills and knowledge necessary to be in the group and see if the person gels.

So lets not be to hard on the Sigmas about their Rush techniques. We do pretty much the same thing, we just don't tend to admit it in public. Especially in situations where the PNM is coming in from the cold.

[DeltAlum]

Remember, too, that we may not have seen a representative sampling of the entire rush process.

We saw what MTV chose to show us.

[James]

I think the dry erase board said pretty much this:

"Came by to see you. It's 1 a.m....where are you? hugs"

But the pledges seemed like they took it as being checked up on.

[DeltAlum]

I think that's right. Under the circumstances -- or at least in the context of the way the program was edited -- I would feel the same as the pledges. They got the note the same day as they got the rules, right?

"Big Sister" (no pun intended) is watching!

[LilAGDSweetie]

I'm going to be an RC during structured this next fall and I guess our main concerns are that the girls that were thinking about going through, might have a second thought because of different things that they saw on the show. Most freshman when they come to college, feel like they're in a whole new world where all they want to do is be accepted by their fellow classmates. Most want to be active in something since it's so much bigger than high school. However, some of them wouldn't be too excited about being forced to live in a pledge house, being "checked up on," and being talked about and looked down upon because of the way they look or the way they dress. If they don't know any better, they're going to think that's how all sororoities are and might not want to join because of this. Now granted, part of my job is to get girls to want to go through structured, but in a lot of the cases that's going to be really hard. Sure we might be able to get them to go through in the next year or so, once they've got a better feel for college, but we'd rather have them go through right away so chapters who are having the same problem as Sigma, will have younger members to lead them to the future.

For the most part, I've gotten over being upset about the show. MTV's not going to take it off the air or put disclaimers on it, so now we as a Greek Community need to find ways of getting around the obstacles that they have put in front of us. As the season goes on, more and more obstacles will come up, but we're here to try and find ways to make it so this show doesn't change how many girls we get to go through. It will take more work on our part, but won't a huge recruitment, after so many negative images, make our work feel more worth while?

[PsychTau]

All of the questions and stereotypes that potential new members may bring with them to college this year should challenge us to look for new ways to explain what their GLO is all about. It should be pushing us to really dig deep inside and figure out how to REALLY explain our core values and what we live each and every day.

Personally, I welcome the challenge. It will only make me a better person and a better sister, and will remind me of the what I vowed to do on initiation day.