Into the Woods - I journey into the forrest to find my sisters

[BlueBayou]

Okay - this is a retro recruitment story. We have to travel back in time to 1986 and a Texas school with between 10,000 and 15,000 students as we head into the woods to find my sisters.

The school was on a deferred rush schedule. It was a formal rush - with chapters in matching taffeta tea length gowns. If there was COB - it was only one chapter, but I don't think there really was.

Only one sorority owned a home (more on that later) but all other sororities owned land on a "Greek Circle" and would have their homes built by the time I graduated.

At this school there were 6 sororities.
Alpha Chi Omega
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Zeta
Sigma Kappa
Zeta Tau Alpha

Since this was deferred rush - you had a chance to know the sororities and they know you. The 5 sororities building there homes had members living in "wings" of 4 dorms on campus. One of the wings was the floor beneath me in my dorm.

I went through rush to "meet people" and did not have my heart set on joining a sorority. I really, fundamentally did not understand how a formal rush worked. I thought it would be like cocktail parties without the alcohol where you just socialized. I had no idea of what the reality was.

Part of the reason I thought rush would be like a series of actual parties is for some reason my senior year some ladies in my small town hosted a Panhellenic tea. I got an invite. But strangely my close friends from church and school did not. This was a time and a place where diversity (racial and socio-economic) was not valued. Thankfully things are much different now.

As an aside about me, while I am a native Texan born in the town where I went to HS, I lived from age 2 until my sophomore year of high school on the east coast. So I kind of stood out a little in this small town that did not get people moving there often. It's population is just over 20,000 today and has been that way since the '50s.

Looking back I understand that, while my extra curricular activities and friend circle were not normally what would have got me on the invite list for the tea (Math team, Theatre, Latin Club, Quiz Bowl - VS Drill team, Cheerleading, NHS, Key Club) my neighborhood and my father's profession were. I went to this tea and none of my friends were there. I socialized with the adult women more than I did the other kids (since none of them were close friends). It was a fine time and my mom and I left. References and recommendations were not something openly talked about. My mom did not go to college - and my dad was in a social chemical/chemistry fraternity (not an IFC) at the University of Texas. We did not know why we had to fill out a form and bring the number of photos for the number of sororities at your school to the party. We were seriously that clueless.

But my talking with the ladies at the party probably helped me immensely. I did not know I had recommendations/references when I went through rush. Once again - an example of my and my mom's sheer cluelessness - the host from the Panhellenic tea called my mom right before rush was starting and told her that they could not find anyone in our town that had any connection to Live Oak. Mom thought it was strange that this lady was calling to see if she knew any Live Oaks. My mom did not. We did not realize that meant the Panhellenic had secured references from the 5 other sororities.

Any here is how I and most of the rest of the rushees looked at the groups going into rush.

In no particular order lets call them
Live Oak - Middle Tier. Reputation as the party group of the school. Makes or comes close to quota.
Cedar - Middle to Bottom Tier. Makes or comes close to quota. This is the only sorority I new I had a reference to. A close friend of my mom's was one. And I really respected and still love that friend.
Acacia - Top Tier - Sporty and brunette. High GPA. Makes Quota
Sweetgum - Top to Middle - Great girls - Not at strict on GPA (This is where the top rushees without great grades would end up) Makes Quota
Willow - The struggling sorority. Does not come close to Quota
Pine - Top Tier - Blond and friendly. High GPA. Makes Quota.

In the pre-computer days - with a very struggling chapter - It was very easy to group sororities by popularity.
You had 3 that made quota, two that did or came close, and then you had one that had serious problems.

I don't think we had much of a developed Rho Chi program. There were a few girls that helped out that you did not know what sorority they were in - but we didn't have Rho Chi groups and a counselor assigned to us. (This changed during the time I was in college).

I should add that quota was over 40 for the first time when I went through - and the pledge class size continued to more than 50 while I was in school. So Panhellenic was transitioning to a larger operation.


Monday/Tuesday - (what would be called open house now)
Wednesday/Thursday - Max 6 - first invitational round
Friday - Max 4 (Skit)
Saturday - Max 3 (Skit, more emotional)
Sunday - Pref
Sunday evening - Bid night party

Oh and this was all paper invitation. So you would go up to the UC - and they would hand you a large envelope with our name on it. Inside would be your hand written invitations. You would then go to a table with girls from each sorority and sign up for a party time. They would write your party time on the invitation. So as rush progressed - they would see what other parties you were going to. They could also see which table you went to first.

I did not spend a bunch of money on clothes for rush. However, my Cedar reference owned the only bridal shop in town. It sold prom, cocktail and tea clothing as well. She would buy individual or a few pieces in Dallas at market. So it was a boutique where you did not see 20 of one dress. My last three days of rush were outfits she selected and sold to us. So I was not dressed in the expensive/trendy clothes you might find in the mall. I was dressed in items particularly selected to look good on me. Okay - it was the 80s. Two were full lace - almost a flapper look. VERY COMFORTABLE.

So let the "parties" begin
I believe the first round of parties took place in the University Center. It's been a few years so some of the details aren't there.

I was completely taken back by my first party. No one warned us. I was greeted at the door my a Acacia sister clapping and singing as she dragged me over to a chair and then knelt down at my feet to talk with me. I was in shock and did not handle my self well. The room was so noisy I could not hear her well. She said, "so you were are a Thespian, did you like that?" But she was mispronouncing Thespian - to where sounded like Lesbian. Like I made her repeat herself a couple times - because I seriously thought she was asking me if I was a lesbian. I mean I did not think sexual orientation would be the first thing asked. So once I realized she was butchering the pronunciation of Thespian - I told her she was saying it wrong and very firmly corrected her on how it is pronounced. Not a shining moment.

I should say I did not have a great impression of Acacia before rush and this painfully awkward conversation did not help things. My previous impression of that sorority is a cautionary tale of pre-judging based on one or two sisters. There were these two girls inAcacia that lived across the hall from me that seemed to always be drinking. They were the only two sophomores on a hall of freshmen. I was not impressed at all. What I did not realized is they were "hold overs." Pledges that did no make their grades, were not initiated and were living across the hall from me because they could not live on their sorority's wing below us. Not who I should base the whole chapter on.

Then one day I walked out in the hall right when they were getting busted for alcohol in their room. I have come to realize they thought I turned them in. I did not. But I knew I would never want to be associated with them. Ironically - I don't think either of the girls ever made their grades and were never initiated.


I do not remember anything specific about the parties for Live Oak, Cedar, Sweetgum, Willow, Pine except that Willow talked to you in groups instead of one on one.