MIT recruitment posters

[jwsteele]

Position of misinformation? I will try to put this in a way as to not further sidetrack this thread...but my post was addressing the general trend (which was featured in multiple posters in this thread, not just your post) about stereotyping "elite chapters" as airheads, shallow, horrible, whatever you want to say. The ironic thing is that if you go to Barnard (I'm assuming this is the university you are talking about cause of your SN) I am 95% sure I know what chapter you are talking about and I actually have a high school friend who pledged and joined. From all accounts that is NOT how membership is decided...and she is very opinionated about that matter and would have certainly deactivated (or at least been vocally displeased) if that had been the case. Believe it or not, chapters like that DO have great philanthropy, strong programming, solid grades, standards requirements and most importantly strong sisterhoods. Although some women who do end up in these chapters do come off as cold during rush, many more of them were standouts academically, personality wise and talent wise who most any chapter would love to have.

I just find it a little hypocritical that you are railing against the chapter for "stereotyping other chapters as this and that to further their own cause" by STEREOTYPING THEM. Food for thought. Not trying to start an argument, but please realize that if these chapters in general (there are always exceptions) were really so rampantly air-headed, shallow, rude, materialistic, dramatic or whatever else there would be massive self-destruction. No chapter, no matter the status at the school, can maintain a destructive sorority.

If indeed they are stereotyping the Greek system, please stop harming the Greek system by their very method...stereotyping. It isn't endearing.

I very much applaud the MIT women for their promotional materials, I think it sends a great message about Greek life.

[SWTXBelle]

Just an aside, I figured Barnard1897 was an AOII - not that Barnard was her alma mater.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by jwsteele

Position of misinformation? I will try to put this in a way as to not further sidetrack this thread...but my post was addressing the general trend (which was featured in multiple posters in this thread, not just your post) about stereotyping "elite chapters" as airheads, shallow, horrible, whatever you want to say. The ironic thing is that if you go to Barnard (I'm assuming this is the university you are talking about cause of your SN) I am 95% sure I know what chapter you are talking about and I actually have a high school friend who pledged and joined. From all accounts that is NOT how membership is decided...and she is very opinionated about that matter and would have certainly deactivated (or at least been vocally displeased) if that had been the case. Believe it or not, chapters like that DO have great philanthropy, strong programming, solid grades, standards requirements and most importantly strong sisterhoods. Although some women who do end up in these chapters do come off as cold during rush, many more of them were standouts academically, personality wise and talent wise who most any chapter would love to have.

I just find it a little hypocritical that you are railing against the chapter for "stereotyping other chapters as this and that to further their own cause" by STEREOTYPING THEM. Food for thought. Not trying to start an argument, but please realize that if these chapters in general (there are always exceptions) were really so rampantly air-headed, shallow, rude, materialistic, dramatic or whatever else there would be massive self-destruction. No chapter, no matter the status at the school, can maintain a destructive sorority.

If indeed they are stereotyping the Greek system, please stop harming the Greek system by their very method...stereotyping. It isn't endearing.

I very much applaud the MIT women for their promotional materials, I think it sends a great message about Greek life.

I understand your point...yes, chapters who are filled with the most beautiful women who ever went through recruitment can and do have great sisterhoods. The point of the posts on this thread were to point out that students at MIT who are not interested in looks...because most of them presumably value intelligence more highly than appearance...will look at groups that appear to only value superficial beauty and condemn them as airheads, etc. This statement is valid since to the outside world the outward appearance is all they see. These women may very well have been chosen for completely different reasons, but it will be assumed that they were chosen just because they are pretty.

[barnard1897]

Thank you, AOIIAngel and SWTXBelle, for clarifying 2 very important points.

I did not attend Barnard, as JWSteele assumes, so again, please try not to presume you know what school or chapter(s) I am talking about. I am glad that your friend's chapter there is very well-rounded. I would never presume that any and all chapters with attractive women and good image could not also be well-rounded. It is too bad people at Barnard have viewed her chapter as such.

I simply pointed out that unfortunately, there are superficial chapters out there, even at the schools where greek life is not big and so many other factors like the ones you mentioned could otherwise make for some great, diverse chapters. It's a fact, not a stereotype, that some women have chosen to push this when they recruit. Maybe they have wonderful attributes among their individual members. But that is not what comes across because of the way they have chosen to market themselves on campus. Even though your friend's chapter was not thankfully not like that, you cannot presume to know what all other chapters on these campuses are like.

I also think it's important to note that while I can speak candidly on GC, because we are somewhat "internal" here, primarily among GLO members, about the concerns I have about stereotyping, I would not and do not ever publicly badmouth the particular GLO chapters I referred to earlier or perpetuate the sterotypes. I'm actually quite involved in NPC and one of my main tasks each year is to make sure girls from this area get referred to every one of the houses in the NPC, no matter where they go to school.