Does a legacy need a letter of recommendation?

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by mythreedd

Are you considered a legacy if a pnm's mother was pledged and was initiated but later transferred schools and graduated from a school where there was not a Greek system?

Thanks!

Yes. If she was initiated and never terminated, yes.

[AGDLynn]

This happened to me recently when I was doing a recommendation.

The pnm listed her gmother as being an "Alpha Gamma". I looked on our member site but didn't see the gmother's name. I called her mom and while her mom was on the phone with me, she was also on the cell phone calling her mom to verify what sorority.

Says yes, it was Alpha Gamma Delta and she even remembered the songs!

So, I called IHQ to verify that the gmother was in Good Standing, thankfully she was.

I called back to mom and got gmother's email address and sent her some info and suggested she update her contact info on the Alpha Gam website.

I still sent in the RIF and the gmother was going to send in a legacy form.

On another note, I know of an Alpha Gam who's mother didn't tell her SHE was an Alpha Gam until after the collegiate pledged. Not sure why.

But often, pnm's don't realize that it is to their benefit to make sure they tripled check with mom, gmother, etc. to see if they were initiated into a sorority and in Good Standing (if not, the member might say no, I wasn't an XXX and not have to explain what happened)....of course this applies to the guys too!!

[Drolefille]

Our campus' regsitration forms had the question "do you have any relatives who were in a sorority or fraternity" Technically the form was for fraternity rush too, but the one or two times guys actually filled one out they got sent to panhel. Imagine going through facebook and finding out a PNM is a guy! Oops!

Anyway, girls would list anyone and everyone they were related to who was Greek. This meant that if she put down that her cousin was an XYZ, panhel's list of legacies included Susie PNM as an XYZ legacy EVEN if XYZ only counted mothers or grandmothers. Recommendations were basically unknown on our campus and I don't recall girls getting dropped strictly because they were legacies. In fact we enjoyed "stealing" legacies from each other.

[Zillini]

Situations I've seen in my years:

- PNM flat out lied
- PNM was mistaken, especially if it involved Grandma who had passed away.
- PNM didn't know she was a legacy until late in the game, again often a passed away Grandma.
- Non-Greek mother sent in the legacy intro info on behalf of Grandma who had passed away.
- The alum was too embarrassed to admit to her family that her membership was cancelled.
- An alum who voluntarily cancelled her membership (quit) didn't realize that meant her PNM was no longer considered a legacy.

So my answer is yes, always send a letter of rec or legacy intro. Then the Chapter needs to verify that it is in fact accurate. I also agree that questions will be asked if a Mom, Sister or Grandma doesn't bother writing an intro.

[rusheemom]

I was told that as the Mom of a legacy rushee - that we were NOT to involve ourselves at all. My daughter could write on her registration form that she was a leg, and on her resume, but that I could not write ANYTHING. My daughter is actually a double legacy, but her grandmother passed away in May, so wouldn't have been able to write in her behalf anyway. I'm sure it's different from school to school, but in the bigger schools here in the Midwest, we were told to keep quiet.

[Zillini]

Rusheemom, I'm curious as to where you heard this information as I've never heard that before. Was it Panhellenic? Your home Chapter? Regardless of where my advice is to double check. Go to the source: the campus Panhellenic, your International GLO and maybe even check with your GLO's Chapter/Recruitment Advisor. I would hate to see you act on misinformation. I'm not saying it is wrong because I know every campus is different, but please make sure it's not some false rumor.

[rusheemom]

It was from a chapter recruitment advisor - but maybe I'd better do some more checking, because my daughter starts rush on Monday!!! She does have some good recs to my sorority and the girls there know she's a bona fide legacy, but now I'm worried that maybe I SHOULD have written a letter of introduction. I have never heard of this before I joined this network.