My Little Sister's BAMA Recruitment!

[Low C Sharp]

one girl told her that if the chapter liked her, they would seat her in a certain location. When she was sat near, but not exactly in, that location, she became concerned that she was going to be cut.

Question for all the actives on the thread -- if it doesn't come too close to MS, of course -- is this kind of thing EVER true? Do any chapters actually have a policy that all the preferred rushees get to talk to the president or that the preferred rushees will sit in chairs with arms or any of the other superstitious rumors we've heard from PNMs?
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[IlliniMeg]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Question for all the actives on the thread -- if it doesn't come too close to MS, of course -- is this kind of thing EVER true? Do any chapters actually have a policy that all the preferred rushees get to talk to the president or that the preferred rushees will sit in chairs with arms or any of the other superstitious rumors we've heard from PNMs?

There were two incidents while I was on Panhell Exec at Illinois that we found and then subsequently punished.

One was that as soon as a PNM walked into the house the President would greet her and tell her to join a sister waiting in either the room on the left and the room on the right.

One of these rooms was designated as a "cut" room, so if the left room was the cut room, they got all the index cards the PNM gave the rusher and they would cut them all. This was done very early in the first or second rounds so judgment was purely based on looks and before any conversation.

In another sorority as each PNM left the house, their rusher would introduce them to the chapter President.

This is going to be hard to do without showing you. Imagine you are seated at a table and you have to pass a dish to someone next to you. The movement is sort of similar to an introduction to someone. "Jane" (with hands pointed to Jane, "I'd like to introduce to our president Barb" (hands move across the body to Barb, similar to the movement you make when you are passing a dish at dinner from the person on your left hand to the person on your right. Make sense?

So each PNM received this introduction. IF the rusher did this motion at the top of her body (so boob level) this meant that she liked her and was silently communicated it to the CP. IF the rusher did this motion at waist level it meant that she wanted to cut her.

During the recruitment while on Exec Board, we heard about the first story but weren't too involved with it, the Greek Affairs handled this one. I'm not sure why they did other than it is cruel and perhaps was not allowing the PNMs chances.

But for the second one, we were sent over to that house (We acted like Rho Gammas but could actually go inside the house and observe watching for infractions) as we stood outside as the women exited, sure enough we saw sisters introducing PNMs to their President - the typical cookie cutters got the hands at boob level, and after seeing the PNMs being introduced while their hands were at waist level, it was obvious that this was a system. That chapter also got in trouble.

I'm not an expert at what constitutes private membership selection and when Panhellenic gets involved. But I'm pretty sure both were deemed recruitment infractions due to the fact they both chapters were severely limiting PNMs chances from the outset instead of sticking to release figures.

This was 8 years ago so who knows what has happened since!

[violetpretty]

Congrats to dawgsis and Kappa Kappa Gamma! I want to know if that girl she met during the first round becomes her big! She is lucky to have known (and gotten) what she wanted all along!

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Question for all the actives on the thread -- if it doesn't come too close to MS, of course -- is this kind of thing EVER true? Do any chapters actually have a policy that all the preferred rushees get to talk to the president or that the preferred rushees will sit in chairs with arms or any of the other superstitious rumors we've heard from PNMs?

NO!!!
I mean, who could remember?
Especially at the big recruitments...you're lucky to get a seat at all, much less "preferred" seating.
Years ago we had a chapter who wound up with a 2-room chapter room. Yes, rumors abounded as to which was the "preferred" room. It was a lie. There was no preference.
That's just the sort of thing that convolutes into "tent talk."

And congrats to dgdramadawg's little sis and KKG!!

[TrueBlueKappa]

Congrats to your sister! Hooray for a new Kappa!

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

I'm a guy, and didn't realize this kind of thing was an infraction. Many, if not all of the chapters at my school do this type of thing.

Examples from different houses:
-During philanthropy round, you only make a craft if the rusher is bored.
-You get to sit in the formal living room or chapter room if you are more attractive during round one, while the less attractive girls stand in the hallways.
-"calling cards" are crumpled, folded, dropped in different bowls, etc. for different rankings.
-I know one house where rushers will put their weight on one foot to show that they want the president or recruitment chair to meet their girl.
-walking a girl upstairs with her on your left means "yes" while on the right means "no"
-these really go on forever...

Are those kinds of things really infractions? To me, it just seems much more efficient for large rushes.

I don't realize why those are needed. For example, making a craft with a PNM if the rusher is bored. Maybe she didn't click with that particular rusher, but why does she need to broadcast her opinion to everyone else? The next girl to talk to the PNM might click with her (might have more in common or is a better rusher) and she could end up being a keeper. But if an active is giving "no" signals, then the next rusher is going to think "Oh great another painful 7 minute conversation". The only "signal" that I could think of that would be useful is to have a "help me conversation is slow" to let actives who are "floating" come help the conversation. Even for chapters that have to make the biggest cuts, why do they need to signal? They can just share their opinions later.

[dgdramadawg]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

Even for chapters that have to make the biggest cuts, why do they need to signal? They can just share their opinions later.

I totally agree with this... I mean, do they not get to share their opinions on girls later on? Many of these systems seem very complicated to me.

[UGAalum94]

None of the systems mentioned make any sense to me. All they are going to do it make guest feel uncomfortable. The chapter gets to share information with each other about the guest later; it's not like it has to be telegraphed during the party.

But I'm just as baffled as why Panhellenic would be involved in preventing them as I am with chapters using them.

If the chapter wants to treat guests at the party differently before they do their invite lists, it hardly seems like something that an outsider can or should control, seeing as the chapter is eventually going to be able to use whatever method that they want to in selecting members.

[GeekyPenguin]

I can see a logic behind using these systems. Let's say you're a chapter of 100 girls and 75 girls are coming to each party. 25 sisters are left that don't "have" to rush someone and instead are floating around to meet as many other people at the party as they can. If you're with a girl who says "I'm a PDQ legacy and I don't even WANT to be at your house but my stupid Rho Chi is making me" why would you want your president or recruitment chair to waste their time with this girl? She's obviously not somebody you want and they can go talk to the sister who's rushing the triple legacy to your house, the football coach's daughter, etc.

[UGAalum94]

Well, I guess that could kind of explain the standing on one foot kind of thing, which makes sense if you have a VIP guest too. But not the cut room or cut sign system. At that point the investment has been made, right? She's met the president and still has a rusher. You can wait until MS to tell that you want to cut her.

[polarpi]

Back to dgdramadawg - congrats to your little sister and KKG!

[jwsteele]

I do know of one chapter of my school where a girl has flat out told me that there are different "rooms" that they will bring rushees into...that is, all the VIP/legacies/scholars/bombshells, etc that they really really really want will all be led into the same room while everybody else is in different rooms. Not that the girls in other rooms won't have a shot, I guess it's just more of a psychological way of having girls look around and seeing everybody in their room be either the best from their rush group or the best, most accomplished and best rushers (cynically, the most attractive) of the chapter. That kind of made sense to me.

[bamabelle99]

Originally Posted by bamagirl09

On ice waters my chapter uses one room for our tops, legacies, and girls who, as my grandmother would say, tickle our fancies to begin with. These girls are placed here so they can meet the girl in charge of our rush group, the president, and the rush chair.

The other room is for girls who are random. Random is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means we don't know them yet. Our potential tops and rush crushes come from this group.

The girls exit according to how much we like them. Girls who we do not feel fit into our chapter go first. Then girls who are "randoms" but we like. Next, are the girls who are legacies that we do not want. Then tops who did not make a good impression. After that go the tops and best legacies. The final two girls out of the house are the chapter's favorite in that party.

With so many girls in each party, there has to be some distinction made so that the girls that we are really interested in get more exposure.

After ice waters, the girls are seated according to how much the girls in the chapter like them.

Top in the front, the ones who haven't made a good impression in the back.

This is VERY similar to what my chapter did during rush as well...top rushees were kept in the house as long as possible, sat up front during skit day, and were usually taken upstairs during serious night...those that "lacked luster" were usually the first out and sat in the back.