Has the tradition of Legacies outgrown its usefulness?
Just like the title says, do you think that the system of giving legacies preference has become more of a nuisance than a help?
With the recent threads about cutting legacies, and conversation that I had last weekend with a date, I have begun to question if we need to honor the legacy system like in the past.
Someone described the legacy system to me early on in my Greek experience as "well you were good enough to become a member, so we'll assume your relatives are too." Now this may not be even close to being right, but I cant' come up with anything more profound. I assume that at one time, it was used to have a constant pool of members...who would turn down an automatic invitation, but today with so many people who are interested in Greek Life, this theory no longer seems worth it.
The only other reason I could come up with was to inspire alums to begin donating again if they had a new relative in the organization...
For me, if the system is "well your relative was good, so we'll give you a chance", then I have to think that legacies who are not in the same generation (ie mother/daughter, grandfather/grandson) are iffy at best, b/c we all know people with cool parents but the kids are absolutely worthless to society. Plus GLO's have changed so much in the course of 25 years, let alone 50.
If it were up to me, I'd say that the only legacies worth honoring are those that are between siblings. Even then, in my own experience this is not a good assurance of character or worthiness.
Does anyone have opinions or thoughts?
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