panhellenic age limits

[UGAalum94]

I guess I should say upfront that I'm not in favor of discrimination* in general. However, it's not surprising to me that at a many campuses where the majority of new member classes are 18 year old fresh-out-of-high-school kids, a 28 year old married woman would have a hard time getting a bid. Decisions about releases are made for pretty superficial reasons, not that that's a good thing, but something that seems at all atypical might get you cut.

As far as the "she could sue" idea, it's probably harder to really assess that we can do here. It's much more likely, in my opinion, that the groups would get in trouble with the university or their national group for violating their own non-discrimination rules.

As bad as it might seem sometimes, fully private groups on their own retain the "right" to discriminate.

At some campuses, despite the proclaimed values of the groups, meeting and dating hotties are the central reasons people go greek. If that's an important part of the system, many group members are going to find it weird that married folks rush.

I agree that it would be cool for groups to get beyond that.

*I'm being obsessive, but I want to clarify that on some level discrimination just has to do with telling differences or treating things differently. Generally, when people use the term they have in mind discrimination based on race, gender, age, nationality, etc. Obviously, I think that kind of discrimination is wrong. But I'm in favor of discriminating between people that I know who are idiots and people that I who are awesome. The faster you do it, the better.

[33girl]

Believe me, I've seen some 18 year olds that act more like old non-fun married people where their boyfriends are concerned than 28 (or heck, 38) year olds. I'm sure there are some cute young girls who got pledged at the school that cut this 28 year old who have turned out to be as much fun as a root canal.

[amanda6035]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Believe me, I've seen some 18 year olds that act more like old non-fun married people where their boyfriends are concerned than 28 (or heck, 38) year olds. I'm sure there are some cute young girls who got pledged at the school that cut this 28 year old who have turned out to be as much fun as a root canal.

HAH! I cannot freakin' STAND it when a girl says "oh my boyfriend won't let me..." or "my boyfriend wont like that..." blah blah blah. Hello, I'm the old Mama Hen in my chapter, and i'm engaged and my fiance doesnt stop me or prevent me from doing anything that I want to with the chapter. We had one girl quit last year because she was styuck so far up her boyfriends ass that it was a relief. She was a damn prude.

[OhSoSmoothKalyn]

I agree with an earlier post that there isn't no right or wrong answer to this question... there are certainly exceptions to the rule and not all 18 year olds are fun and energetic...

I pledged my sorority at the age of 18... in fact I was the second youngest in my class! I am very active... however, the oldest girl in my pledge class is 25, but she pledged when she was 23... she's very active when she can be... but work is very important to her... which shows her dedication...

There were rumors about a 42 year old woman going through recruitment at my school this year. I think she registered, but I didn't see her at any parties...

I think that there shouldn't be limitations to going through recruitment... as long as the person understands that they may or may not get a bid considering the circumstances and considerations of age, scholastic aptitude, campus/community involvement, character, ratio of Freshmen/Sophomores/Juniors/Seniors going through recruitment, etc...

[reverie]

Originally Posted by AXiD670

I completely agree.

ditto.


We have a few international students who are a little older--only about a year or two--and I would never have guessed that they were older because they're just as fun and down to earth as anyone else.

I would say a bigger drawback would be her class in school (a senior) than her age. Plus, you're never required to tell anyone how old you are. My school didn't give out birthdays (maybe others do?) and I think it would have been pretty tacky if someone asked her age in the middle of round one.