Resident Assistants (RAs!) in recruitment

[AlphaFrog]

If I was dropped, I don't think I would WANT to be with my Greek RA at that time. Just one more area of the PNM's life that screams "You failed at rush".

[UGAalum94]

I wasn't even thinking about the counseling aspect as much as simply being on the hall and available, more to communicate that life goes on though action rather than discussion.

It just seems better to me that you could be sure that the girl wasn't just sitting there while literally everyone else was at recruitment.

(And won't the rho chis/ rho gammas be at recruitment rather than available anyway?)

[ekDZ1535]

Although where you're coming from makes sense, I ditto the remarks of 33girl and Alphafrog that a sorority woman who is also an RA should be able to participate in recruitment events as any other member would - nonetheless, there is always additional hall staff - including RAs, hall directors, etc., who are there for student concerns. Sometimes at a time like that, as others have mentioned, a non-Greek perspective or shoulder to cry on will be far more helpful. Not knowing the set-up of this particular university's recruitment, several campuses have taken to having panhellenic members and/or professional staff who are available for various crisis throughout recruitment - sounds like a bit much, however, the recruitment process, and rejection if it occurs, can be very difficult. Such is life. And for the very few women who will return to that particular floor rejected from the process it doesn't seem to make sense to sacrifice this member's participation in the process for her obligations as an RA. Nonetheless, that should be a member's personal decision, not that of Panhellenic - if PHC needs more people to help rejected PNMs, that's their responsibility to find them and acknowledge that need in their community - not rely on someone else's campus job and set up recruitment rules barring them from participation.

[33girl]

Unless your school is very heavily Greek, it always seemed to me that when the RAs were placed in their floors/dorms, they made an effort to mix it up for that very reason. That is - the floor had 2 wings - A wing's RA was Greek and B wing's was not. In general it would make it easier for there to always be an RA on the floor, not just for rush but for other activities. The same reason that you wouldn't have every RA in the dorm be on student senate or the rugby team or something.

[adpiucf]

Does your disaffilation at recruitment extend to not being able to display sorority memoribilia or telling a PNM your affilation? If so, you and your suitemates may want to refrain from decorating or hanging up paddles, etc., until after recruitment.

Talk to your roommates about your disaffiliation and ask that they keep conversation about recruitment and MS to themselves out of consideration for your RA duties during recruitment week. They don't have to stop whispering when you walk in the room, but surely after 10-12 hour days in recruitment, they will be sick of it and ready to talk about something else!!! Have an open discussion about this over the summer and come to an agreement that everyone can live with. Good luck as an RA and to your chapter this recruitment!

[AGoDdess]

Originally Posted by adpiucf

Does your disaffilation at recruitment extend to not being able to display sorority memoribilia or telling a PNM your affilation? If so, you and your suitemates may want to refrain from decorating or hanging up paddles, etc., until after recruitment.

Orientation assistants (OAs) can't have any sorority stuff in their rooms, but I think I can. I can't tell a PNM my affiliation, but since it's a sophomore dorm, most everyone is going to know my affiliation...and not that many sophomores will rush anyway. Most girls match freshman year, but a few will go through as sophomores.

The whole situation with RAs not rushing is kind of ridiculous, because OAs get to rush, and they're around freshmen way more during the first week of school! Panhellenic was supposed to change it this year so that only RAs for freshmen dorms couldn't rush, but it turned out that my GLO was the only one that had a sophomore dorm RA, so it was voted down. (Woo hoo for unity?!?!)

[DeltaBetaBaby]

At UIUC, RA's did not actively participate in rush because it isn't really fair to the PNM's. Even if recruitment starts right at the beginning of the school year (as ours did), PNM's are living in the dorms for a few weeks during recruitment. A PNM should never feel as though she can't go talk to her RA about something totally unrelated to Greek Life, and letting RA's participate would cause that. If you were miserably homesick, would you want to tell your RA that, even if she was in the sorority you were dying to join? I know it may be no fun to be the RA, but I think it is an important rule for a reason.