Getting rid of collegians because they don't fit the image?

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by AEPhiSierra

Am I the only one who actually believes image could have played a significant part . . . .

AEPhiSierra, I don't find it too hard to believe; the relatively recent report of DePauw's Greek commission , which is in PDF and can be accessed with a click or two from:

http://www.depauw.edu/univ/greekfacts/

mentions in its section on "Affiliation" (i.e., recruitment / intake) -- page 14 of the report, at least as it showed up on my screen -- that for the seven NPC sororities, the "stereotypes" are "pervasive," the competition among sororities is "intense," and many women are interested in joining only certain chapters. Those who do not get bids at all, or who don't get bids to the chapter(s) they want, "harbor resentment for years." The report mentions that 31 percent of Greek women at DePauw think the recruitment process "is not fair."

So I can imagine that "image" could be a huge problem in that particular Greek system. I'm not saying it was (or that it should be in a perfect world), but I think it could have been.

[seraphimsprite]

I'm not to sure why this is so hard to believe either. I think there are probably some details missing from the story, sure, but I think we all know that a national doing a reorganization because of numbers alone is certainly not unheard of. And if the chapter's national thought that a certain image was what was necessary to rebuild the chapter on that campus then they're only going to keep those members that have that image. The one thing that struck me about his post was that he mentioned that it was a chapter of "independent-minded women." The image issues may not be about appearance but may be just about commitment to the sorority and a willingness to become a more traditional chapter. On a campus with greek life as steeped in tradition as DePauw being the "independent-minded" chapter is likely going to hurt them during recruitment, so yeah, I can definitely see a national organization deciding that they needed more "traditional sorority girls" to rebuild their chapter.

And no, that doesn't mean I agree with the decision, (if that's really what happened) just that I can see it happening.