AOII Eliminates Legacy Policy

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by carnation

Haven't you seen articles online for years that scream that sororities are exclusive and must be made to take all interested women? They've been all over the place.

Yes, I have. And I don't think eliminating the legacy policy is going to change this, nor does it force a chapter to "take everyone".

My story about the purple-haired girl is hardly anecdotal. Read "Weird Rush Stories" again. I bet that hardly a recruitment goes by at big schools where there aren't several women who do this kind of thing. There are many women who do things that aren't acceptable to the sororities at their campus and then scream unfair when they don't get a bid. Thinking here about a girl who pulled trains with men all over campus the summer before her freshman year and then went berserk (and so did her father) when she was cut from all 7 groups after first parties. Women like this want to break the rules and they don't care if they embarrass their GLOs, but they'll tell the world how wrong sororities are for not taking everyone.

I'm not sure how the legacy policy has anything to do with crazy potential new members. There will forever be "Weird Rush Stories", and they will be generated because of PNMs with different-colored hair and PNMs who are tall, skinny blondes. Crazy doesn't discriminate.

I have written in this thread why I don't think the legacy policy is responsible for the lack of diversity and neither are recs...I won't write it again. Legacy policies and ripping up our fabric have nothing to do with each other. I think the timing of these organizations in announcing the new legacy policy is ridiculous. Not to mention, recruitment starts in a month and there are some very angry alums out there.

When would have been a good time? At what time of year or under what circumstances do you think all alumnae would be happy?

[carnation]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Yes, I have. And I don't think eliminating the legacy policy is going to change this, nor does it force a chapter to "take everyone".

--I didn't say it did. Eliminating the legacy policy, like I said, does not = taking everyone.



I'm not sure how the legacy policy has anything to do with crazy potential new members. There will forever be "Weird Rush Stories", and they will be generated because of PNMs with different-colored hair and PNMs who are tall, skinny blondes. Crazy doesn't discriminate.

--It doesn't.



When would have been a good time? At what time of year or under what circumstances do you think all alumnae would be happy?

I think that these groups were trying to figure out when to dump it on their members--99.9% of whom were not given a say or a vote in this--and then voila! All this horrible stuff happened in this country and by eliminating the policy at this time, these groups could virtue signal!

[SWTXBelle]

My concern has been when percentages are bandied about - if 20% of a student population is a minority, that doesn't necessarily mean that 20% of NPC group members should/could be minority. We need to acknowledge that they may have options in NPHC and multi-cultural Greek organizations, while making sure that NPC groups are open to them as well.

I like Sen's idea of an across the board introduction to all groups for students. Even if they aren't interested in joining, it would be good for students to know about the other groups. I know that my alma mater has a kind of open house for freshmen, but it is all campus groups, not just Greeks. I will note that when I suggested including NPHC sororities in our sorority information session for Murray State we were politely refused by the NPHC groups. That was over 10 years ago, so certainly a great deal has changed.

[PersistentDST]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

My concern has been when percentages are bandied about - if 20% of a student population is a minority, that doesn't necessarily mean that 20% of NPC group members should/could be minority. We need to acknowledge that they may have options in NPHC and multi-cultural Greek organizations, while making sure that NPC groups are open to them as well.

I like Sen's idea of an across the board introduction to all groups for students. Even if they aren't interested in joining, it would be good for students to know about the other groups. I know that my alma mater has a kind of open house for freshmen, but it is all campus groups, not just Greeks. I will note that when I suggested including NPHC sororities in our sorority information session for Murray State we were politely refused by the NPHC groups. That was over 10 years ago, so certainly a great deal has changed.

At my alma mater they currently do a large scale program introducing the fraternities and sororities on campus. Each chapter does an intro and some background information, along with a step, hop, stroll, chant or a song. Afterwards there is a fair. I’m not sure if the program is successful, but Greek Life has been growing rapidly there regardless.

The university I work at also does a similar program every semester and I’ve observed. It looks like an awkward clash of cultures. Most of the POC go straight to the NPHC tables. They wait for their chapter of interest to stroll, say hi to their friends in other organizations and then head out. The NPC/NIC orgs awkwardly watched the strolls and then went back to talking about recruitment with the mostly white PNM’s. I know the formatting will be changed to something more structured and programmatic moving forward, but I still wonder how much it’ll help diversity.

I think the NPC should also think about inclusion outside of recruitment activities. Perhaps chapters make a commitment to meeting, collaborating and supporting diverse organizations on their campus. Not a mandate...but a genuine commitment. Build trust with the campus community outside of the NPC/NIC. It’s about creating the culture. Once others see and feel that commitment, you may be surprised who approaches about joining. Sometimes it’s about learning to be comfortable in those spaces and meeting the diverse PNM’s where they are.