Can anyone explain to me how.......

Energizer420 · #1 08-30-2002, 11:02 AM

Can anyone explain to me how you are supposed to do good Public relations when everything is consdiered dirty rushing weeks before rush and most of the time after rush. Its soooo frustrating when you cant do anything. Can someone please give me some good ideas for Pr that wouldnt be considered dirty rushing, cause giving out water during freshman move in is. I dont know what to do im about to go crazy. Someone please help me?

sororitygirl2 · #2 08-30-2002, 12:10 PM

Wear letters every second that you are allowed to -- wear shirts, have stickers in your cars, keychains on your keys, water bottles to drink from, pencils with your letters on them in class.

Look nice all the time and act friendly to everyone who crosses your path.

Plan a philanthropy fundraiser and advertise it heavily.

hoosier · #3 08-30-2002, 01:37 PM

Announce to the panhel or dean or whoever makes these rules that unless this insanity stops, your chapter will drop out of the panhel council and rush on your own initiatives.

I define insanity as all rules restricting your ability to meet another student, make a friend, and sign him/her up.

The ideal - and I know of no campus where sororities do this - is spring rush for high school seniors. Invite the boys/girls to visit your house for a big spring weekend, and let them eat, sleep, party, shower, etc. with the members. You get to know them in a 36-hour/48-hour period, and they get to know you. Late Sat. night or early Sun., you offer them a pledge pin if they will accept.

If you did three big spring rush weekends, you'll fill the house for fall. If you don't get quite enough, you have summer party in the areas where your members live (a lakeparty, BBQ, etc.) and invite incoming students.

And if the house is still not full, you have more functions during orientation and registration and the first week of classes.

IF you still haven't filled the house, please give up and mail the charter back to Indianapolis.

KappaKittyCat · #4 08-30-2002, 01:53 PM

Umm, FM is a member of the National Panhellenic Council. This means that unless there are no other NPC sororities on campus, it has to be a member of College Panhellenic. I agree that an early rush is ideal (though maybe not while students are still in HS), but they cannot act outside of Panhel.

Advice for you:

LIVE IN YOUR LETTERS.

Be visible hanging out and having fun in groups on campus. Go to the campus coffeehouse/grill together, study together in the library or on the lawn, etc., all in your letters, of course.

I like the Philanthropy event idea. Do something that will involve all students. If possible, hook up with a fraternity to make it bigger.

I would address your concerns to Panhel. Don't make threats; that's not grown-up or professional. It's likely that they've become so paranoid about sororities edging out in front of each other that they've outlawed just about everything. As for move-in, keep in mind that the point of it is to promote the Greek system, not just one individual sorority. Our campus now does a Panhellenic move-in. We all wear our Panhellenic Recruitment shirts and everthing is done via Panhel, though we are allowed to mention our affiliations.

Good luck.

Tom Earp · #5 08-30-2002, 05:07 PM

KKAT, Right On!

Wear Wear Wear!

Do you promote Nike, Ole Navy, Tommy H! Yep! Bet you do!

Market, Merchandise, and Advertise your Group on Campus!

Show them that you care enuff to be the Proud! I have been preching this to my guys for the longest of time!

Do You participate in School Functions , Charity Events, Homecomming?

If you are in then be proud of being in! Show Them!

33girl · #6 08-30-2002, 05:16 PM

Is your group the only one having trouble with PR? Are the restrictions being placed by Panhel or by the school? Do you have deferred or 1st semester rush?

As KKC said make move-in a Panhellenic function. Split the functions up (moving, giving out water, etc) and make sure there is an equal amount of people from each group at each station.

oh, and giving bids to people who haven't even graduated high school is one of the most insane things I've ever heard of. Why don't we just ask the admissions office to mail out bid cards when they send out the acceptances?

nyrdrms · #7 08-30-2002, 05:36 PM

In addition to what's been said about "living in your letters".... If you'd like to make a positive statement about your organization, don't just tell the sisters to wear letters. I know that some sisters don't have 500 sets of letters that they can wear every day. When a sister isn't wearing letters, have her dress up and wear her badge. Someone who is interested in Greek life might just ask which sorority her badge is for, considering that most incoming freshman don't know what each organization's badge looks like. Beyond this though, whenever you sisters go out wearing letters or their badges, make sure that they look presentable. It's not very good PR to have someone wearing your insignia that looks like they just rolled out of bed.

Having sisters wear the same shirt on a given day also works. It makes your organization look even larger than it is because the same shirt is seen everywhere. If it's a bright color, it makes that much more of a difference.

If handing out water is considered to be dirty rushing, then I'm guessing by having any type of event, your NPC would consider it the same. But what you can do, is have designated days when your organization will meet at the cafeteria, or another common place on campus, to eat lunch. It will give the organization a more unified appearance.

Best of luck to you, I know how nasty rush can get. Keep your hopes up! Things will work out.

Kevin · #8 09-03-2002, 09:03 AM

Hoosier, while in the short term your strategy may be effective it isn't over the long haul. An NIC fraternity was booted on my campus and they started their rush parties the 1st day of school... They had beer at their house, etc... They rush fellas basically because it's the closest placae to campus that you can have a beer. Now -- not only does the rest of the campus not even consider them Greek... We also have NO respect for them anymore.

I used to be in favor of letting them back on campus... But to hell with 'em. They give us all a bad name (as it's a dry campus and other houses for the most part follow this directive).

I know there is currently no chapter in my state that is recognized by their school... The word gets around and in the long term it does damage to your reputation.

madmax · #9 09-03-2002, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 33girl

oh, and giving bids to people who haven't even graduated high school is one of the most insane things I've ever heard of. Why don't we just ask the admissions office to mail out bid cards when they send out the acceptances?

If a group did recruit high school students, what would be the harm?

The univeristy recruits high school students.

madmax · #10 09-03-2002, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ktsnake

I used to be in favor of letting them back on campus... But to hell with 'em. They give us all a bad name (as it's a dry campus and other houses for the most part follow this directive).

How do they give you a bad name? You drink dont you? It's obvious some of the other houses also drink or you wouldn't have added the, "for the most part" comment.

33girl · #11 09-03-2002, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by madmax

If a group was to recruit high school students, what would be the harm?

doing panhellenic/IFC outreach to make students aware of Greek life is one thing. giving bids is another. would you want someone in pre-med to do your brain surgery? I think not.

sugar and spice · #12 09-03-2002, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by madmax

Of course not, but you dont need the skills of a brain surgeon to pledge.

I agree. Those in the spring of their senior year of high school are not much different than they'll be six months later (or less!) when most of them will pledge.

However, I don't think it's a great idea to have rush during senior year -- they should still technically be concerned with the end of their "high school experience," even though most of them aren't. But I don't see anything wrong with having rush after they've graduated.

FuzzieAlum · #13 09-03-2002, 07:30 PM

Quote:

The ideal - and I know of no campus where sororities do this - is spring rush for high school seniors. Invite the boys/girls to visit your house for a big spring weekend, and let them eat, sleep, party, shower, etc. with the members. You get to know them in a 36-hour/48-hour period, and they get to know you. Late Sat. night or early Sun., you offer them a pledge pin if they will accept.

Whoa, I think that's a pretty bad idea for any school that doesn't draw its students just from the local area.

If you go far away from home, you may not even ever have the luxury of visiting campus before enrolling ... certainly not of going back a second time for rush. So the local kids fill the more popular groups to ceiling, and informal rush comes along in the fall and the kids from far away can only COB at the less popular houses? Or imagine you spend tons of money on a plane ticket to go to rush - and then get cut. That's even more devastating than cutting cut usually is!

Basically, unless you live near your college of choice (or were plenty rich), you'd get screwed.

Peaches-n-Cream · #14 09-04-2002, 05:27 PM

Wearing letters is a good idea. Also plaster the campus with them. Put your letters on your doors and windows in the dorm as long as that doesn't violate any rules. Every member of your org should join a club or team as a way to meet potential new members. Encourage people in your classes, dorms, clubs, etc. to come to rush.