Professor's Negative Recommendations

[RedRover]

Recently, I was introduced to woman who is an editor at a major magazine in New York City. During our conversation, she mentioned that that she was a graduate of the University of Indiana at Bloomington. I said that I heard that the university had one of the largest Greek communities outside of the old Confederacy.

She said that that was true. I asked her if she had been a member of a sorority on campus. She laughed and said no, but had thought about it. She said her mother's dearest wish was for her daughter to join ABC sorority, the sorority that the mother was planning to join before financial reasons forced the mother to leave college in the 1950s.

The daughter told me that she was told by one of her professors at the university, 30 years ago, not to join a sorority. The professor told her that she could be a journalist or sorority member, but not both. The professor told her whatever obligations that were required by the sorority would take away from the time needed to develop as a journalist. The professor added that sorority members weren't taken seriously by professionals.

The magazine editor added that she had often wondered if she could have done both -- be a sorority member and be professional journalist.

I am curious if anyone else has had a similar story to tell...