Five Towson Sororities on Probation (Alcohol)

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

This is why I think in order to apply to be a Rho Chi/Chi Pi/Rho Gamma/whatever you HAVE to have had at least one year on the other side. At Iowa State, I think you had to have both - you had to have gone through formal recruitment and you had to have one year on the other side as an active before you could apply to be a Rho Chi.

I was a little shocked at this myself. I think they have so many counselors (54 with only about 275 PNMs) that they take anyone who wants to do it.

[AOII Angel]

Don't get me wrong...there were some bad things going on at Bid Day. There were chapters that were openly drinking on Burdick Field. The campus has to take a stand, but I have to say that they are not accepting that the University has some responsibility in this mess. The Panhellenic advisor (an employee of Towson) let these obviously intoxicated women run across the field with their NMs...my PH advisor would have sent us home so fast our heads would have spun. He also wasn't the one reporting the activity and presumably watched it happen the year before without addressing the problem. I agree that something had to be done, but I don't agree that it is right to punish an entire chapter for the actions of one sister. Why is it that alcohol infractions are the only ones that get this type of attention? When members break other rules, they get to accept their punishment without affecting their sisters who didn't have anything to do with their activities. Anyway, just because it is "tradition" to celebrate the end of recruitment by drinking doesn't mean they know it is against the rules. It means that they like to drink with their "recruitment counselor sisters" before returning to their real sisters. Further more, this campus is very laid back. I don't think they do recruitment retreats or talk much about recruitment before the event. These are extremely "no-frill" only talk kind of parties. I was really amazed how little preparation and practice went into the week. They don't practice singing. They get to the party about an hour before, throw up some decorations and starting chanting.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Don't get me wrong...there were some bad things going on at Bid Day. There were chapters that were openly drinking on Burdick Field. The campus has to take a stand, but I have to say that they are not accepting that the University has some responsibility in this mess. The Panhellenic advisor (an employee of Towson) let these obviously intoxicated women run across the field with their NMs...my PH advisor would have sent us home so fast our heads would have spun. He also wasn't the one reporting the activity and presumably watched it happen the year before without addressing the problem. I agree that something had to be done, but I don't agree that it is right to punish an entire chapter for the actions of one sister. Why is it that alcohol infractions are the only ones that get this type of attention? When members break other rules, they get to accept their punishment without affecting their sisters who didn't have anything to do with their activities. Anyway, just because it is "tradition" to celebrate the end of recruitment by drinking doesn't mean they know it is against the rules. It means that they like to drink with their "recruitment counselor sisters" before returning to their real sisters. Further more, this campus is very laid back. I don't think they do recruitment retreats or talk much about recruitment before the event. These are extremely "no-frill" only talk kind of parties. I was really amazed how little preparation and practice went into the week. They don't practice singing. They get to the party about an hour before, throw up some decorations and starting chanting.

You've mentioned the Panhellenic advisor many times. While I do agree that he or she should definitely bear part of the punishment (maybe a probationary period to determine if they really are fit for the job) I do not think he or she is the sole person to be blamed.

There's a guy at work who has been doing his job for the past 4 years. And everytime something doesn't work out, he blames it on someone else. "Bob didn't show me how to do it". Screw that. If it was something he needed to know, he should have taken the initiative to either ask someone or figure it out himself.

So let's imagine that there are sophomores joining the Rho Chi group. Regardless of how laid back the campus is or rush is or the Panehellenic advisor, the chapter should TELL THEIR MEMBERS in a meeting or retreat or somewhere (they do have meetings right?) what is and what is not appropriate behavior.

The chapter should take the initiative to nip that sort of thing in the bud because the behavior of all sisters - whether you are wearing your GLO shirt or not- reflects on the ENTIRE GROUP.

I have a feeling that the chapters who got the major punishments will likely do something to that effect in the future.

Instead of throwing an "It's not fair" tantrum, they should be focusing on why things happened and deal with the members who obviously failed to present the group in a positive light.

Lets pretend ABC had a few members who were hazing. The newspaper headlines would not say "Five StateU students were charged with hazing" it would say "ABC members charged with hazing."

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

You've mentioned the Panhellenic advisor many times. While I do agree that he or she should definitely bear part of the punishment (maybe a probationary period to determine if they really are fit for the job) I do not think he or she is the sole person to be blamed.

There's a guy at work who has been doing his job for the past 4 years. And everytime something doesn't work out, he blames it on someone else. "Bob didn't show me how to do it". Screw that. If it was something he needed to know, he should have taken the initiative to either ask someone or figure it out himself.

So let's imagine that there are sophomores joining the Rho Chi group. Regardless of how laid back the campus is or rush is or the Panehellenic advisor, the chapter should TELL THEIR MEMBERS in a meeting or retreat or somewhere (they do have meetings right?) what is and what is not appropriate behavior.

The chapter should take the initiative to nip that sort of thing in the bud because the behavior of all sisters - whether you are wearing your GLO shirt or not- reflects on the ENTIRE GROUP.

I have a feeling that the chapters who got the major punishments will likely do something to that effect in the future.

Instead of throwing an "It's not fair" tantrum, they should be focusing on why things happened and deal with the members who obviously failed to present the group in a positive light.

Lets pretend ABC had a few members who were hazing. The newspaper headlines would not say "Five StateU students were charged with hazing" it would say "ABC members charged with hazing."

I don't disagree with your ideas, but you are generalizing. All I can speak for is AOII which did inform it's members of the rules, but this happened once the members returned for recruitment. Sure, there needs to be better planning and things should change. I completely agree...the problem is that the actual problems are not really being addressed. Towson seems to be making an example of the greek system to cover its own tail after students were injured at a university sponsored event. It's a public relations and legal nightmare, but throwing the chapters to the wolves like these women started this without help from a lax administration is ridiculous. As for adressing the members involved, AOII has made changes and is holding the actives involved responsible. The university applauded our decision to require them to present an educational conference for the campus about alcohol abuse and placing them on AOII social probation until Spring Break 2008. Hmmm....wonder where they got their sanction idea? The truth of the matter is, the campus created an atmosphere with no authority to police the chapters which are allowed to run around doing what they see fit. Each chapter should be held responsible, but so should the university and panhellenic advisor who have the authority in this situation. Last time I checked, college students aren't always the most informed or responsible humans...I think that's why we have advisors in the first place. Can you place all the blame on the advisees when the advisor didn't do his/her job? In the end, I don't have a personal stake in this...I advise the chapter, but whether or not they have socials this year effects me not one bit. I just find it unreasonable to ruin the first year for the NMs who were punished twice by ruining their bid day with drunk recruitment counselors then ruining their year with probations.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I don't disagree with your ideas, but you are generalizing. All I can speak for is AOII which did inform it's members of the rules, but this happened once the members returned for recruitment. Sure, there needs to be better planning and things should change. I completely agree...the problem is that the actual problems are not really being addressed. Towson seems to be making an example of the greek system to cover its own tail after students were injured at a university sponsored event. It's a public relations and legal nightmare, but throwing the chapters to the wolves like these women started this without help from a lax administration is ridiculous. As for adressing the members involved, AOII has made changes and is holding the actives involved responsible. The university applauded our decision to require them to present an educational conference for the campus about alcohol abuse and placing them on AOII social probation until Spring Break 2008. Hmmm....wonder where they got their sanction idea? The truth of the matter is, the campus created an atmosphere with no authority to police the chapters which are allowed to run around doing what they see fit. Each chapter should be held responsible, but so should the university and panhellenic advisor who have the authority in this situation. Last time I checked, college students aren't always the most informed or responsible humans...I think that's why we have advisors in the first place. Can you place all the blame on the advisees when the advisor didn't do his/her job? In the end, I don't have a personal stake in this...I advise the chapter, but whether or not they have socials this year effects me not one bit. I just find it unreasonable to ruin the first year for the NMs who were punished twice by ruining their bid day with drunk recruitment counselors then ruining their year with probations.

I agree that the Panehellenic Advisor should also be reprimanded if he knew this has been going on and not doing anything to do it.

At the same time, I also agree that college students are not the most responsible or informed people on the earth, and that is why we have advisors. The individual chapter advisors (at least at my alma mater) were the ones who made sure the Exec Board did their job of informing the rest of the chapter about all risk management/Org/NPC rules.

With that said, I realize that Rho Chis have to disaffiliate, but if they were informed of all the risk management/Org/NPC rules and still chose to drink because everyone else was doing it and it was tradition, it is still a violation of the rules, and they are still members of their orgs even if they were disaffiliated.

Those girls let the rest of their Bid Day Sober Sisters down.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

Those girls let the rest of their Bid Day Sober Sisters down.

Exactly. It's why THEY AND THEY ALONE should get the punishment, not the whole sorority. If my whole sorority got put on probation because of something like this, that girl's life probably wouldn't be very pleasant.

[texas*princess]

[QUOTE=33girl;1536833]Exactly. It's why THEY AND THEY ALONE should get the punishment, not the whole sorority. If my whole sorority got put on probation because of something like this, that girl's life probably wouldn't be very pleasant.[/QUOTE]

I'm thinking maybe the University did that for that very reason.

So for the 6 or 7 people who messed up in those chapters, the entire chapter is having to pay for it. While they were "disaffiliated" with their sorority for that period of recruitment, it doesn't exempt them from following NPC rules or the rules of their GLO. I am not aware of any NPC org that allows their group to have alcoholic beverages at recruitment events.

Whether we like it or not, our members and their actions represent the entire chapter even if they aren't wearing shirts with giant 4-inch double-stitched greek letters across their chests 24/7.

If this had been a hazing incident, the entire chapter would likely get punished even if only a handful of members were the ones taking part in it.

The dingbat Panhellenic advisor is partly at fault because it doesn't sound like he did anything to stop it the last few years, and the University finally caught them, but just because the advisor diidn't straight up stop them does not mean it's OK to drink during Rush Week.

I don't know what the chapters there do as far as informing their members what behavior is acceptable, but in this case it seems like the chapter leadership needs to do more to educate their own members because the Panhellenic advisor isn't doing his job.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Each chapter should be held responsible, but so should the university and panhellenic advisor who have the authority in this situation.

Each chapter is being held responsible, hence the probations. And unless you're privy to private discussions amongst the university and its employees, you're probably unaware of what repercussions the panhellenic adviser is facing. It seems, from what little info I have to go on, the university is making a smart move by placing certain chapters on probation. And if the chapters in question were identified (at least in part) because of pictures on facebook, then perhaps these chapters will learn to represent themselves a little more smartly.

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I just find it unreasonable to ruin the first year for the NMs who were punished twice by ruining their bid day with drunk recruitment counselors then ruining their year with probations.

It's unfair for you to hold the university responsible for "ruining" the NMs' experiences. The university didn't force the recruitment counselors to drink. NMs have only their drunk counselors to thank for that (if, in fact, NMs would say that their Bid Day was ruined because their counselors were drunk). Regarding the NMs year being ruined because of probations... well, the probation is in effect until, what?, Spring Break? So, that's roughly five calendar months. One of those months is winter break, so there's really no loss there. So, they're really looking at four months of no mixers/formals. For this kind of infraction, I'm inclined to think that four months is quite lenient.

I understand that it's a bad situation. But until I find out more about what actually happened, and based on what I've read so far, I'm supportive of the university's decision. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, NPC has to say about this.

[Tom Earp]

"If" and I say if this happened then the blame is there for the Advisers and the members, they knew the rules.

If they were in violation then whose fault is it?

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

"If" and I say if this happened then the blame is there for the Advisers and the members, they knew the rules.

If they were in violation then whose fault is it?

I'm Ron Burgundy?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Each chapter is being held responsible, hence the probations. And unless you're privy to private discussions amongst the university and its employees, you're probably unaware of what repercussions the panhellenic adviser is facing. It seems, from what little info I have to go on, the university is making a smart move by placing certain chapters on probation. And if the chapters in question were identified (at least in part) because of pictures on facebook, then perhaps these chapters will learn to represent themselves a little more smartly.



It's unfair for you to hold the university responsible for "ruining" the NMs' experiences. The university didn't force the recruitment counselors to drink. NMs have only their drunk counselors to thank for that (if, in fact, NMs would say that their Bid Day was ruined because their counselors were drunk). Regarding the NMs year being ruined because of probations... well, the probation is in effect until, what?, Spring Break? So, that's roughly five calendar months. One of those months is winter break, so there's really no loss there. So, they're really looking at four months of no mixers/formals. For this kind of infraction, I'm inclined to think that four months is quite lenient.

I understand that it's a bad situation. But until I find out more about what actually happened, and based on what I've read so far, I'm supportive of the university's decision. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, NPC has to say about this.

I don't know how the university is dealing with their own employees...that is the problem. For the university to pretend that the chapters on this campus are the only problems in this situation is ridiculous! They have done everything they can to paint these chapters as rogue groups breaking rules that have been strictly enforced which is far from the truth. If they want to publicize this incident, they should publicize the whole truth. This event did not occur in a vacuum. My opinion is that everything that led up to this event occurring should be aired so that it doesn't happen again. The university apparently doesn't care about the bad press to the sororities and their (inter)national groups, but they won't accept the bad press that they deserve as well. As for the NMs, the recruitment counselors were definitely the cause of any ruined bid day experiences, but again, this didn't occur without the knowledge and implied consent of the panhellenic advisor. I think they were all wrong in this event. I certainly don't condone underage drinking or drinking on campus. These women made very poor decisions, but I don't feel their sisters are the cause of this or are guilty of the offense. We don't punish family members for the offenses of their children/siblings, etc. Why is an entire organization guilty for the offenses of a single member? Where does this stop? Are the sisters from another campus to blame as well? The (inter)national organization?

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I don't know how the university is dealing with their own employees...that is the problem.

That really isn't any of your business. If the Panhellenic Adviser is fired, you'll be made aware of it, even if only by seeing the advertisement for his/her replacement. But aside from that, employee discipline generally isn't public, and for good reason.

[FSUZeta]

i wonder if any chapter advisors are present during these festivities? unless the advisors are alumnae members of the towson chapters, it seems that they should have known that alcohol is a no-no during recruitment and bidday.

[SWTXBelle]

Even if the advisors were alumnae of Towson, you'd hope that their training through HQ would mean they would know that drinking was a DEFINITE "no-no".

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by AXiDGirl10

I'm sorry, but please speak for your own chapter or whichever chapter you're familiar with at Towson. My chapter (as well as a few others I know of) had a retreat in the spring to discuss recruitment, and we had a 2-day retreat (each day was about 8 hours long) about two weeks before recruitment this fall. We thoroughly planned our themes, decorations, songs, pref ceremony, pref letters, etc. We practiced everything for hours. During recruitment, I got little sleep because we had to go over everything several times. I'm very offended that you call this "little preparation and practice."

Also, everyone's saying how ridiculous it is that 5 chapters got put on probation because of their Rho Chis. Well, sorry to break it to you, but it was not just the Rho Chis that were drinking. That's why no one's upset at their Rho Chis because it was pretty much a chapter-wide thing. There were pictures on Facebook, and it was pretty obvious that many girls were intoxicated. Everyone is just upset at the whole situation. But NO ONE is upset at their Rho Chis.

We've never had a really strong Greek advisor or administration that really enforced the rules or knew how to enforce the rules, I guess. Because for years things like this have been going on without any consequences. I guess it's good that they're trying to change Greek Life at Towson for the better.

I was only speaking for AOII. I think I said that several times. Since I am not an member of your sorority, I wouldn't know what your chapter put in for rush, so don't be offended by my comments. If you went to a southern school, you'd see the difference in recruitment prep that I speak of. Anyway, I am aware that some chapters were guilty of more than having drunk Rho Chis...but, AOII was not one of those chapters. Again, I said I was speaking for my chapter which was supervised by two alumnae who had stressed to the girls that drinking was not allowed. I agree with you that having a greek advisor that would enforce rules would make Greek life at Towson better. There are amazing chapters at this school, but any group will get out of control if not advised well.