UT sorority sizes... I have no idea what total is. I know my ex's chapter was ballpark of 200. Point being it's huge chapters that are not the norm at the vast majority of schools in the country.
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Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie
Do the national organizations know that pledge class mixers with underage drinking are going on and they look the other way because it is UT? That's how this reads and I'm asking rather than jumping to conclusions. The way this is said it sounds like chapters at UT do not have to abide by the same risk management guidelines other chapters do. From what others have said, it sounds like big and/or important chapters in the South don't have to abide by the risk management policies either. Again, I'm ASKING.
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I have no idea what any sorority national knows or doesn't know about those events. I'm sure the chapters themselves would explain them as not sorority functions, but set up by a pledge class social chair with active chaperons makes that a tough sell.
I get the think before you post statement, but I'm not defending their system. Their nationals should probably hold them accountable like every other campus, but that's not my business. Trust me when I say I'm not spilling out the gory details or throwing any particular sorority under the bus.
Just speaking for fraternities, the execution of risk mgmt policy there is different than most campuses. It's not horrible, and some of what they do I like, but some things are completely acceptable there that would get a chapter instantly thrown off at a lot of other campuses.
Some of it is because a several successful fraternity chapters are not recognized by the university. The greek system is just not that dependent on the university to do much for them - at least on the fraternity side. If the school were to crack down on anything, it would hurt the on-campus chapters while helping the off-campus chapters, which defeats the purpose. You can debate why so many nationals have let chapters retain a charter without university oversight, but prominent donor alumni might have a little something to do with it. It's just a strange world there. I think most fraternities at other schools would love to be able to operate in that regulatory environment.
As far as
deferred recruitment, that's a money thing. You miss out on a semester of dues from X number of people every year. And, you spend a ton on events all fall with a lot of non-members (with limited insurance coverage) at your functions.
Then there's regulatory issues. I'll use a different Texas school (NOT UT) as an example. Guys/girls there have to make grades & no alcohol/etc violations in order to take a bid in spring. On the fraternity side, it leads to a lot of underground bids, and then not reported to nationals because they share rosters with the University. They end up with unreported initiates w/o insurance coverage. It snowballs into a bad situation. Sororities don't operate that far out of the rules, but it does hurt their recruiting pool.
In principle, I like the idea of waiting a semester to get to learn people's character, and see their grades & behavior without parental supervision. But, functionally it can be a nightmare. I know it works some places, but I don't like it from a practical standpoint.
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