Okay, Okay, carnation's retro rush thread (ie, how not to do recruitment)

[carnation]

The individual room phones were turned off during rush in the PNMs' dorms. Back then, with no cell phones or computers, silence meant silence unless maybe you sneaked out somewhere to use a phone in, I don't know, a fraternity house (then you would have been in double trouble if caught).

[AnchorAlumna]

Carnation, you are such a TEASE!
"The phone rang."
Was it a dark and stormy night?!?

[carnation]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Carnation, you are such a TEASE!
"The phone rang."
Was it a dark and stormy night?!?

No, I'm sure it was a hot and sunny Alabama morning!

We all clustered around the phone. The RC trilled, "Just wanted you guys to know that you all got bids!" Split feelings here: we were glad to know that but she had also told us the phone would ring only if someone had been dropped. Our hearts were still pounding.

A few hours later, we were on our way to the Social Center. Some of you have described the beautiful bids you received; well, all the rushees got the same type of bid. It was (wait for it): A COMPUTER CARD!

And God had smiled on me. My card invited me to become a member of

PI BETA PHI!!

[Low C Sharp]

I knew the ending was happy for carnation, but it's a nice surprise to hear that the other upperclassmen got bids, too. Did they accept them?

I love these little reminders of how much authority institutions used to have.

I know! Some of the old women's dorms at my college still have these special hooks on them. If you had a male guest (which was permitted only during certain daylight hours), the door had to remain open by 12 inches, and the hook held the door open by exactly that distance.
________

[Hopeful_Bubbles]

Originally Posted by carnation

No, I'm sure it was a hot and sunny Alabama morning!

Aww- you went and ruined the great, grainy, black&white scene I had going in my mind! I love stories with happy endings, even if I know they're coming. Great story!

[AlwaysSAI]

YaY for Carnation & Pi Beta Phi!!!

[carnation]

There were about 10 other upperclassmen rushing from my dorm. One dropped out when her group of choice dropped her but the rest got the groups we wanted; I recall that one went Tri Delt and one went KD. Now I do want to say that some didn't get the sororities they wanted in the beginning, it was more like they got what they wanted once all the groups that didn't want upperclassmen had made their cuts.

Let's see, other random memories: the Orange Bowl Queen pledged, after being fought over tooth and nail by all the groups. However, she spent a lot of time partying and flunked out; she was never initiated. The 2 girls in my recruitment group who never smiled once during rush and always looked mad, even in parties, also managed to pledge great groups--?? Maybe they were socially prominent?

One girl in my rush group was the sister of a girl who'd rushed three times to try to pledge a certain sorority and was finally successful the third time. Little sister pledged the same sorority but depledged weeks later.

[UGAalum94]

You tell a great story, Carnation! Thanks for posting!

Originally Posted by carnation

One girl in my rush group was the sister of a girl who'd rushed three times to try to pledge a certain sorority and was finally successful the third time. Little sister pledged the same sorority but depledged weeks later.

Wow. Was this a group that did informal or are we talking about a junior who kept repeating formal preffing but never ranking high enough to get her group? Or dropping out when they cut her and rushing the next year?

At least she wasn't among the people I've heard about who simply withdrew from classes and went elsewhere if they didn't get a group they liked.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by carnation

The individual room phones were turned off during rush in the PNMs' dorms. Back then, with no cell phones or computers, silence meant silence unless maybe you sneaked out somewhere to use a phone in, I don't know, a fraternity house (then you would have been in double trouble if caught).

I love these little reminders of how much authority institutions used to have. Assuming we could rule out computers and cell phones some way, imagine the complaints the university would get from momma and daddy today if they did something similar.

[Sister Havana]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

I love these little reminders of how much authority institutions used to have. Assuming we could rule out computers and cell phones some way, imagine the complaints the university would get from momma and daddy today if they did something similar.

Seriously. IU, like several other schools, had "women's hours" up until the late 60s. In my guidebook, I read that Read Center, which used to be a women's dorm (it's coed now), still has doorbells at the entrances to the wings - the doors were locked at curfew, and if a woman came back after curfew, she had to ring the doorbell to get in!

[AnchorAlumna]

When I was a freshman at the U of Alabama, I went to visit my boyfriend at a small college, Florence State, and stayed in the dorm room of some of his female friends (platonic!!) who went home for the weekend. We went out for a bite to eat and were headed to a movie when he asked, "You did check out, didn't you?" Well no, I never heard of having to check out of the dorm! We had to race back to the dorm and I had to pull a card and check out...and then check back in at curfew. Talk about dark ages!
Very few rooms in our sorority houses had individual phones...if the girls were rich enough, they could have one put in (expensive! Probably $25 a month...equivalent of about $150 2007 dollars). Most everybody took calls in the "Anchor Room," a 2nd floor room at the top of the stairs that had 2 phones and three couches. That was command central! Lonely? You could go hang out in the Anchor Room and talk to the pledge on phone duty. Need advice on an outfit? Go to the Anchor Room where there were bound to be a few sisters hanging out, ready and willing to voice their opinions in front of the full length mirror in the hallway just outside. There was usually a card game going on...and of course a few sisters taking a cigarette break...one year during exams, somebody left a stack of tacky romance comics there, which we devoured...those WERE the days, LOL!

[FSUZeta]

oh anchoralumna, you really brought back memories.

no one had phones in their rooms during my time-it just never dawned on us. there was a phone on the 3rd floor landing, one on the 2nd and of course, the phone/mail room, where phone duty was carried out. we had 2 or 3 lines-i can't remember.

pledges had to serve as door monitor/phone answerer from 5 to 7 on a rotation basis(because they did not live in the house) and "actives" manned the phone room and answered the door from 7 to 11. executive officers did not hold phone duty. somehow, we all managed to make and receive phone calls with minimal problems, and it was always exciting when the intercom buzzed and the voice from downstairs said, "fsuzeta, you have a call on line
1."

[srmom]

That brings back good memories to me too..

We had a main phone by the front door and it was so exciting when you came in and found that you had a message from someone special!

I remember dancing a jig in the front hall when I saw that a certain someone (who is now my husband) had called after our "blind date."

No cell phones, no instant messages, no webpages, definitely a simpler life!

[aopirose]

When I was in college, small private school, mid-80s, our campus had a very strict curfew for the women. Freshman women had to be in the dorms by 10 PM weeknights and Midnight on weekends. Upper-class women had curfews of Midnight weeknights and 2 AM on weekends. RAs did bed check at 10:01 PM and 12:01 AM.

You could get 2-hour extensions to your curfew, which had to be filled out prior to check out. Freshman got 6 per semester and Upper-class women got 10 per semester. There were four carbons and one of those was mailed to your parents.

We could only have male guests in our rooms once a month on a certain day. It was usually 6 PM – 10 PM on a Friday or Saturday night. You could only have two guests per visit and the doors had to be completely open.

If you were not waiting for your date in the lobby, the front desk would announce that you had a visitor on your floor’s PA system. Nosey girls would call down to the front desk and see who was picking you up. If you looked up at the windows when you were leaving, you could see all the faces peeking out. I was one of the few girls who had a private phone line. Those who didn’t had to use the hall phones.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

oh anchoralumna, you really brought back memories.

no one had phones in their rooms during my time-it just never dawned on us. there was a phone on the 3rd floor landing, one on the 2nd and of course, the phone/mail room, where phone duty was carried out. we had 2 or 3 lines-i can't remember.

pledges had to serve as door monitor/phone answerer from 5 to 7 on a rotation basis(because they did not live in the house) and "actives" manned the phone room and answered the door from 7 to 11. executive officers did not hold phone duty. somehow, we all managed to make and receive phone calls with minimal problems, and it was always exciting when the intercom buzzed and the voice from downstairs said, "fsuzeta, you have a call on line
1."

When I pledged my chapter in 1992, we didn't have phone lines in all the rooms either. (I think perhaps 2 or 3 rooms did have private lines, because somewhere along the line the occupants of the room paid for the installation out of their own pockets. But the vast majority of in-house residents had to rely on the house phone.)

I did phone duty as a pledge, and also as an active. We had a system down for paging someone over the intercom...a "phone" call meant that you had a female caller, a "telephone" call meant that the caller was male. There was a similar system for visitors...if you were being paged that you had a "guest" it was a female. If you were being paged that you had a "visitor" it was a male. Ah...brings back memories.