Dirty Rushing and Consequences

[UGAalum94]

I didn't realize you could COB over total. I always imagined that the bids went through the Greek Life office and someone kept track, but especially at schools with no Greek Life office, I can see how that would be my faulty thinking.

Please kept in mind that I only know SEC situations, and I recognize that every place isn't like the SEC, but I haven't had experience with how things play out elsewhere.

Based on what I have seen, it seems kind of reasonable to be somewhat flexible in COB situations at campuses where groups can go over total by pledging to quota during formal. It seems a little odd that it's allowed one semester to pledge above, but not the next.

And since at the campuses I know, only the groups who either don't consistently make quota or have trouble with retention are COBing, basically even going up to total keeps them smaller than the groups who always pledge quota and keep everyone. So oddly, a hard COB cap at total "hurts" small to medium sized groups. Or maybe it helps the small at the expense of the medium?

Imagine a group at UGA where chapter total is 170 or 175, something like that, but quota is 50 to 60 each year. A group that hits quota and keeps everyone could have a lot more girls than a group who didn't make quota or lost a lot from year to year*. The smaller group might get to total as it's presently set, but they won't really ever be able to make up what can end up being a pretty big size difference. Why not let them COB a few more if they can?

Maybe everyone could alway be welcome to bid to largest chapter size in COB, rather than average size? (Now, that I think about it, isn't that one of the choices for how you set total? For the first time, I can see its appeal.)

*You'd think that every group had the same shot at retention, and to some degree that's right, but chapters that typically pledge socially prominent, very affluent girls (often the top groups during formal) probably don't have as many girls with financial difficulties, and groups viewed a lower tier groups may not be able to give their members the same social experience as "top" groups, leading to more drops.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlphaGamUGAAlum

I didn't realize you could COB over total. I always imagined that the bids went through the Greek Life office and someone kept track, but especially at schools with no Greek Life office, I can see how that would be my faulty thinking.

I think DBB talked about this before and if I recall it wasn't a screwup on the part of the GL office, it was the sorority omitting/twisting membership information.

The problem is once the girls are given the bids...taking the bids back would penalize the pledges more than it would the sorority. It's not their fault (well, usually) that they got caught up in something shady, so they shouldn't have to pay for it.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I think DBB talked about this before and if I recall it wasn't a screwup on the part of the GL office, it was the sorority omitting/twisting membership information.

The problem is once the girls are given the bids...taking the bids back would penalize the pledges more than it would the sorority. It's not their fault (well, usually) that they got caught up in something shady, so they shouldn't have to pay for it.

Actually, to this day I believe it was an HONEST MISTAKE on the part of the group involved (not my own), because they didn't understand the quota/total rules and exactly how they worked. However, ignorance of the rules is not a defense, in my mind, no more than it ignorance of the law is a defense for a traffic violation.

I was actually the one who found out about it and got our area officer involved, and we weren't out to "get" the other sorority or see them punished. In a COB situation, it was likely they were girls would would have gone to that chapter or not gone Greek at all.

The problem was that allowing it to go unnoticed would set a really dangerous precedent for future situations.