Rho Chi Question

[TheEpitome1920]

I'm familiar with the concept of Rho Chi's but I have a question for women who have had the experience.

How do you remain unbiased when dealing with PNMs? And what was your reason for wanting to be one?

[ADPiShannan]

For me, it was wanting to make a difference.

So much crap was going on with the MTV Sorority Life show and stereotypes and me talking to girls in my classes who were so against all sororities based on false facts that I wanted to be able to help the process.

Believe me, it is not a thing to do if you cant be unbiased. This is something you do when you see all the sororities, love yours the most, but want to see all the sororities take people and the campus better because of it.

I wanted to know that I helped girls find the right place, the place to call home. When I became a Rho Chi I put aside that I was a die hard ADPi and looked at it as helping the potentials find homes.

It was the best experience EVER.... I got to know so many other sororities. I mean I knew some girls from each but this way I got to get to know some really awesome and wonderful women. I became much more aware too. I still loved ADPi but I wasnt just stuck in ADPi, I looked out for all of Greek Life.

I say if anyone ever wants to do this you really have to go into it with your all and your heart. It is something that can turn out to be the best time of your life or the worst, based on how you make it. I loved seeing those girls who were assigned to my group so happy and excited running up to me saying look I got into DG or APhi or whoever it was about showing them that sororities can all come together and that we arent what most people think we are.

As far as being unbiased I just kept saying I am a Rho Chi not an ADPi right now, I may love this girl and want her to go ADPi, but it has to be something SHE wants not something I push. Id talk to them about what they thought and felt and what they wanted and liked about each place. That way I never made up their minds, they did.
It was hard being out of the loop for the summer and first of the fall. I didnt live in the house that semester so I had no clue what was going on there. I really focused on helping the girls. I was really happy to get back to ADPi when it was all over, but I had a great fall and summer doing it......

[ashgal6184]

I have been training and will be a Rho Chi(we call them Pi Chi's here) for Fall 2004 Recruitment. The reason I chose to become a Pi Chi is that I really love to help people and going through Rush I was confused and lost and frustrated at times since I came to a new school from out of state and didn't know anyone. We had only been at school for a few days before Recruitment started and I was really homesick and sad. My Pi Chi really helped me get through everything and reminded me why I loved Clemson and why I had decided to come to here. Not only was she my recruitment counselor, she was my general school counselor as well! She told me about classes, things to do, places to go. I felt that she was not only a huge part of my rush process, but the most important person I met in the first few weeks of school as well. I want to do that for another group of girls who feel just at confused or lost as I did! And although I'm sure it's hard to not be biased, you are disaffiliated from your sorority and you have to look at it as getting as many girls in the Greek system as you can. "No matter the letter, we're all Greek together!"

[adpiucf]

Originally posted by TheEpitome1920

How do you remain unbiased when dealing with PNMs? And what was your reason for wanting to be one?

As a Rho Chi, now called a Rho Gamma at UCF (we're phasing out Rho Chi to avoid confusion with a pre-professional honor society of the same name), disaffiliation for recruitment is taken very seriously!

When I decided to do it in 99, interested women filled out an application and went through a very interesting stress interview in which they sat at the front of a room at their own desk. And like a firing squad, Pan Exec, Recruitment Exec, the Presidents. RVPs and advisers of each sorority began shooting questions at them!

From there, the Recruitment Exec drafted their PX "Bid List"-- we went on a retreat, had a little made-up ritual and pretty much were of the mind that we'd joined (temporarily) another sorority whose mission was to help PNM's find their sorority home. We had weekly trainings through the summer and could not wear letters, or be around affiliated women wearing letters. The day before Greek Forum, Strict Silence was enforced-- we had zero communication with the chapters and moved into a hotel. You had to be accompanied by at least one PX not of your chapter at all times!

It was insane.

I remained unbiased because-- well, it was easy. Our campus Panhellenic was a very hospitable place-- we had close friends in all the chapters. While we wanted our chapters to succeed individually, we also were aware that our Greek system is only as strong as its weakest member.

I wanted to be a PX b/c I loved being able to advise a young woman through recruitment and experience life on "the other side"-- as a senior, I was a tad burned out.

Being away made me appreciate collegiate sorority life so much! Our chapters sent us little gifts each day we were sequestered, with little inspirational messages. And we tortured our PNM's incessantly-- What sorority do you think I'm? C'mon guess!! (Ask ZTAngel, she was a PNM that year! We drove the girls nuts!)

I was really proud to be able to participate as a PX, and it made me appreciate all the hard work our Panhellenic puts into promoting Recruitment and seeing all the great new PNMs coming through. It was also an ego boost to hear the girls come out of my chapter and talk about what a great time they'd had!

[AXWhoah]

It was easy to remain unbiased because my girls were so great that I wanted whatever house for them that they wanted for themselves. My very favorite two girls both got houses on bid day that they didn't want at all and it broke my heart. What I mean to say is that I knew which girls fit in my house and which ones didn't. And even though I loved them that didn't mean that I needed them to be in my house. I wanted for them to get the best fit for themselves and to have a good greek experience.

[aephi alum]

It's not easy to stay unbiased. It's tough when you see great girls cut or get cut by your sorority, but I knew that just because AEPhi was right for me didn't mean it was right for everyone. Most of my girls were happy on bid day, and that's what matters.

I wanted to be a PX to help PNMs find their new sorority homes and to work with women in other sororities. It was a great experience that I highly recommend.

[ADPiShannan]

I do agree about it being a process. Panhell and the Greek System take it very seriously. You fill out a application and many people are turned down. They have a closed door meeting about it to select the Rho Chis (also called Rho Gammas now at my school too). They evaluate you and your involvement and your app and everything. It is very special to be chosen. Also it is a big job not to be taken lightly. I loved it though. We had a great retreat over the summer and since we coukdnt attend our own chapter meetings till recruitment was over we Rho Gams had our own meetings every week so we had our own family to hang with. We even had a special ceremony to be inducted as Rho Gams. I was very honored to be a part of that and with the girls who were selected.

[FSUZeta]

my senior year. i had a terrific time but i missed my chapter terribly and i felt very lonely at night. they put us up in a hotel off campus, and it was a slightly seedy hotel and i had a room to my self. we were on our own for meals.

i loved helping the potential new members. i'll never forget two girls who were best friends. at the beginning of recruitment, they said that they were going to join the same sorority, no ifs, ands, or buts. i tried to explain that they needed to look at each sorority individually and see how they would each fit in that chapter, and i reminded them that they could still be friends if they chose different houses. as the week wore on, it became obvious to both of them that they liked different houses. one of them came to me in tears-she had been dropped by the house her friend liked the best. when i asked her if it had been her favorite, she said "no, xyz is my favorite and they invited me back, but my friend dropped them." i was so afraid she was just going to drop out of recruitment, but somehow i convinced her to stick with it. in the end she pledged xyz and her friend got her favorite house too. and on bid day they were both all smiles. it was also fun listening to the girls try to figure out what house i was in. i had friends or acquaintances in most of the houses so my girls were really confused and i don't think any of them guessed my affiliation. i took that as a compliment and felt i must have done my job right! if you have the chance, do it!! lisa

ps-in answer to your second question, while there were girls i hoped would like my sorority best, and that my sorority would choose, i realized that i had taken myself out of the mix, i had a job to do, i had taken a pledge to disaffiliate and i was going to live up to my word. it was a matter of honor.

[ShaedyKD]

In the fall of my sophomore year, the Panhellenic treasurer could no longer fulfill her duties due to a really hard class schedule. I ran in a special election and won. That December I ran for Panhellenic Exec again because I loved working with other sorority women. I did not win, but I wasn't that upset because ever since I went through rush, I had wanted to apply to be a Pi Chi, and figured I could do it for Fall Rush 2002.

My Rho Chis were awesome, one was an ADPi and one was a Tri Delt, and they made my rush a memorable experience. Our rush group theme was so cute, we were "Beauty Queens," and they gave us sashes and tiaras to wear, I still have mine hanging on a bulletin board!

So I applied to be a Pi Chi - they changed it from Rho Chi in 2001 - and got it! There were only 14 of us, and only one other KD, so I made friends fast! I became really close with a Tri Delt, and we still hang out from time to time. I also became a lot closer to my sister, who was in the pledge class before me.

I had such a fun time as a "Beauty Queen" during my recruitment, so I copied my fabulous PXs and made all my girls sashes. Funny story, a girl that I preffed the year before was in my Pi Chi group! I had loved her, things just hadn't worked out the year before for her with a different sorority, so she was back to try again. I begged her not to tell anyone, and prayed she didn't hate me, but she ended up being so cool about it. (And she finally found her way home to Kappa Delta!) I know it's probably bad, but being a IIX was so much more fun than recruiting with my sorority. The sister side is very stressful to me. I did miss my sisters, and cried the night before bid day because I missed prefs, but I wouldn't have missed being a IIX for anything.

By December, I was missing Panhellenic so bad, that I decided to run for Exec again and got Executive Vice President. The sister who was a Pi Chi with me got Director of Pi Chis, and a DG who was a Pi Chi with us got Director of Logistics. I got to hang out all summer with Exec and the new Pi Chis, and I had a blast!

I got really good at disaffiliating, and since I was a Pi Chi in 2002, I knew ALL the sororities cheers and songs and hand signs by the time Recruitment 2003 came around. Pi Chis and Exec would sing along with the sororities during entrance and exit songs to try to throw off the PNMs. I started liking other sorority's chants better than mine! Expecially DG's "Come Right In!"

[TheEpitome1920]

The reason why I asked was because I felt the whole process of disaffliating would go against ones loyalty to their organization. Is there a limit on the number of times a person can be a Rho Chi/Rho Mu/Rho Gamma?

[33girl]

Originally posted by TheEpitome1920
The reason why I asked was because I felt the whole process of disaffliating would go against ones loyalty to their organization. Is there a limit on the number of times a person can be a Rho Chi/Rho Mu/Rho Gamma?

You aren't being "disloyal" - you are helping the system as a whole. It's the same as being an officer in a national conference like NPHC or NPC. When you do that, you can't think only of your group, you have to think of the Greek system as a whole.

[aephi alum]

There is an implicit limit on how often you can be a rho chi. Ideally, you should have gone through formal recruitment at least once from the sisters' side. This means you should at least be a junior, which implies that you can be a PX at most twice (junior and senior years).

Being a PX isn't about loyalty or disloyalty to your org. Being a PX is about taking a step back, guiding PNMs through the process of formal recruitment and helping them find their homes, and recognizing that your sorority isn't necessarily the right choice for everyone.

[TheEpitome1920]

Originally posted by 33girl
You aren't being "disloyal" - you are helping the system as a whole. It's the same as being an officer in a national conference like NPHC or NPC. When you do that, you can't think only of your group, you have to think of the Greek system as a whole.

Being an officer for NPHC doesn't require that you disaffliate. I wasn't trying to ruffle feathers, just asking a question.

[33girl]

Just so we are in the same frame of mind - are you asking primarily about the not wearing letters and denying that you are an XYZ if anyone asks?

Like aephi alum said it's about helping others to the place where they will contribute the most to the Greek system. That only strengthens all the groups.

NPC currently has a resolution on the table (I think it's on the table and not passed) that rush counselors will not be disaffiliated from their sorority longer than 30 days. I wholeheartedly agree.

[azdtaxi]

Wish me luck I am applying to be a sigma rho chi right now. I am going to be a fifth year senior and have been a pnm twice at two different schools. Once al Ole miss where I got completely cut first round and the other at UNo where I joined AZD I was on the sisters side last year and I think this woul dbe a great way to help me start moving back from my chapter because that is going to be really tough.

Any advice for interviews????