Bashed by the school newspaper

[DartmouthPanhel]

Hey all.

I've mentioned this before, but I'm actually an Dartmouth alum now, but I used to be involved in the CPH.

I understand what D Mom is saying, but a strongly tiered sorority system is not unique to Dartmouth. Our Panhellenic does work with those chapters that are weaker at recruitment, but the fact is, someone always has to be last.

I would feel better about the tier system if it were based on something worthwhile like GPA, service hours, happiness of the sisters... Instead, the tiers are mostly based off of the opinion of fraternity men and trashy publications like IvyGate (I know it's hard to ignore, but it makes me sad when women make life decisions based on a repulsive internet blog that recently posted a humorous article about a student death).

Part of the reason Dartmouth women have the luxury to find chapter reputations beneath them is because Panhellenic works so hard to get all women a bid. At many campus, the majority of women who go through recruitment end up bidless, so even getting a bid to the "worst" sorority is considered an achievement. If we chose to take that path, we could artificially make our system significantly more competitive, so that many women wound up bidless. This would likely make all bid recipients more likely to be satisfied with their bid. BUT, our number one priority is providing the opportunity of sisterhood to every interested woman, so this is not a route Panhellenic will be taking.

Panhellenic can not hold rush any earlier than it does per College regulations.

Informal, 'get to know the sorority' events are held for freshmen women during the spring. All of our chapters take advantage of this opportunity to meet women, and our 'less desirable' chapters are no exception. There are also events that are Panhellenic in nature, providing women a chance to see sorority life in general. We chose not to control these "pre-recruitment" events, because each chapter chooses to organize them differently.

I understand the pressure your daughter felt to join a "desireable" house, but I have to tell you that most if not all of the talk of desirability and tiers fades out after rush. All sororities mix with all fraternities, and women truly aren't placed in a box because of their affiliation. Women who end up in houses they didn't expect are often the happiest a few weeks or months down the road because they find their chapter truly values them for who they are. In my anecdotal experience, it almost seems like the system knows where these women fit better than the women themselves.

And a final, small point. The school newspaper made a HUGE deal last year of what they called a totally new computer system/recruitment style. We switched from accept/regret to select&rank. The real difference is just taking out an extra and unnecessary step. It really wasn't a huge change.

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by DartmouthPanhel

And a final, small point. The school newspaper made a HUGE deal last year of what they called a totally new computer system/recruitment style. We switched from accept/regret to select&rank. The real difference is just taking out an extra and unnecessary step. It really wasn't a huge change.

Actually that is a huge change as part of RFM. Accept/regret is too cut and dried. If a PNM has a negative preconceived notion about a Chapter based on popularity, campus rep, tent talk, or even "I know one XYZ and can't stand her", then she will often regret them without really giving them a chance.

RFM requires the most popular Chapters to make larger cuts earlier in the process so as to not string PNMs along with false hope. Then the ranking system allows a PNM to remain in the process even if her favorite Chapters didn't invite her back. Sure it can be harsh on a PNM getting cut from her favs, but it makes her give her least favorites another shot if she truly wants to be Greek. When a PNM spends more time with those actives (hopefully) she will make a connection and change her opinion, especially when she now knows these are the ones who are interested in her while her original favs weren't.

I've got numerous anecdotal proof this can happen, but all anyone needs to do is read through some of the Recruitment Stories here. How often have we seen a PNM at first rank a Chapter low, get dropped by her #1's, then wind up loving one or more of those she had left? Had the accept/regret system been in place she would have never had that chance and might have been totally cross cut.

[Low C Sharp]

Maybe it is related to high/over achieving and the push to be THE BEST at everything since Dartmouth is an Ivy.

That push is present at all the Ivies, but it doesn't necessarily express itself through social-climbing. I'd point to Columbia, Harvard, and Brown as peers of Dartmouth with overachieving students who are mostly concerned about proving themselves through non-social organizations. Greek organizations exist at these schools, but they're kind of a niche interest. Publications, theater, political groups, etc. are a much bigger deal. For good and for ill, having a large and prominent Greek system contributes to the importance of social rankings on campus.
________

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by Zillini

Actually that is a huge change as part of RFM. Accept/regret is too cut and dried. If a PNM has a negative preconceived notion about a Chapter based on popularity, campus rep, tent talk, or even "I know one XYZ and can't stand her", then she will often regret them without really giving them a chance.

RFM requires the most popular Chapters to make larger cuts earlier in the process so as to not string PNMs along with false hope. Then the ranking system allows a PNM to remain in the process even if her favorite Chapters didn't invite her back. Sure it can be harsh on a PNM getting cut from her favs, but it makes her give her least favorites another shot if she truly wants to be Greek. When a PNM spends more time with those actives (hopefully) she will make a connection and change her opinion, especially when she now knows these are the ones who are interested in her while her original favs weren't.

I've got numerous anecdotal proof this can happen, but all anyone needs to do is read through some of the Recruitment Stories here. How often have we seen a PNM at first rank a Chapter low, get dropped by her #1's, then wind up loving one or more of those she had left? Had the accept/regret system been in place she would have never had that chance and might have been totally cross cut.

Aren't RFM and accept/regret or priority separate from one another? I know most CPHs are encouraged to use priority ranking, but theoretically, a CPH could use RFM and accept/regret. Priority just removes a step so the Rho Gammas and the PNMs don't have to meet up between rounds and a PNM doesn't have time to think and sulk and decide maybe she won't go to the next round if she doesn't like her invites.

Hopefully with RFM, things will improve in the next few years at Dartmouth.

[DartmouthPanhel]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

Aren't RFM and
Hopefully with RFM, things will improve in the next few years at Dartmouth.

We've been using RFM for a while. The switch to S&R was made, as said, to 1) stop the process where PNMs felt "led on" by chapters which the PNMs would never receive bids to, and 2) use invitations more efficiently. When we used A/R, there was always a large group of women who would receive invites to all the houses they were invited back to. This was lovely for them, but they only cared about their top houses. Then there were women who ended up with few or no invites who would have been ecstatic to receive the invites "regretted" by the other women. Thus, S&R made sense.

What I meant by "it's not a huge deal" is that the press made it sound like we made this change and that was the reason more women didn't get the bids they wanted and/or dropped out of rush. There's this weird perception on campus that because we use ICS, we are randomly placing the women into chapters, and that somehow S&R "mismatches" women more often than A/R. What everyone fails to grasp is that this whole thing is based on the preferences of the PNM and the chapter. Panhellenic (or ICS for that matter) isn't arbitrarily making decision.

Even the comics are weighing in:

http://thedartmouth.com/2009/10/15/comics/touchthefire

http://thedartmouth.com/2009/10/20/comics/4coffee