I miss my sorority

[lyrelyre]

Originally Posted by 33girl

No, that's a Panhellenic rule. They didn't leave campus or transfer, they just couldn't/didn't finish pledging and so are still bound unless the sorority releases them. The thing that is screwy in smile_awhile's scenario is that the girls should NOT have gone through rush again.

Sorry I wasn't clearer. I know Panhellenic bids bind the PNM for a calendar year. In my experience there is not a rule in our organization that requires us to allow a new member to "reactivate" her bid within a calendar year.

Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile

But there was no turning them down, as their bid was still active.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by lyrelyre

Sorry I wasn't clearer. I know Panhellenic bids bind the PNM for a calendar year. In my experience there is not a rule in our organization that requires us to allow a new member to "reactivate" her bid within a calendar year.

But she's still bound to you, unless you expressly release her. That doesn't sound fair.

[Smile_Awhile]

Originally Posted by 33girl

But she's still bound to you, unless you expressly release her. That doesn't sound fair.

But it seems to be a pretty standard Panhellenic rule. Unless Lyrelyre has experienced something different, of course.

In our scenario, one girl did leave the school for a semester. The other was still enrolled. However, they rerushed because we were unsure of the particulars. We decided to be rather safe than sorry.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile

But it seems to be a pretty standard Panhellenic rule. Unless Lyrelyre has experienced something different, of course.

In our scenario, one girl did leave the school for a semester. The other was still enrolled. However, they rerushed because we were unsure of the particulars. We decided to be rather safe than sorry.

The one who left school did need to re-rush - her pledge was broken when her enrollment at school ended. The one who was still in school, however, should not have re-rushed.

[lyrelyre]

Originally Posted by 33girl

But she's still bound to you, unless you expressly release her. That doesn't sound fair.

Originally Posted by Smile_Awhile

But it seems to be a pretty standard Panhellenic rule. Unless Lyrelyre has experienced something different, of course.

I know this is kind of a late response. I’ve been thinking about this issue and I don’t know what I think.

I agree that it doesn’t seem fair that a PNM is bound for a calendar year, but the chapter is not. However, if a PNM doesn’t accept a bid the chapter is allowed to “replace” her by offering a snap bid. At that point, although the PNM is bound by the bid she was offered, there isn’t a spot for her in the pledge class.

Additionally, I come from the perspective of a chapter that only does Recruitment once a year. Once the new member class is initiated in October or November we’re finished until formal fall Recruitment. So, I guess we don’t have a mechanism for a PNM who declines her bid and then attempts to accept it later. I went through my Alpha Chi Omega recruitment materials and was unable to find any reference to a rule like this. I suppose Panhellenic rules could only “force” a chapter to be bound by a bid for a calendar year if they are taking new members.

In my experience, we have had a case like this only once and it was at least 10 years ago. Campus Panhellenic contacted us about a PNM who declined her bid on Bid Day, they said she now wanted to accept the bid. We were given the option of whether or not the bid was still active. We were over total and had received quota additions, so maybe that’s why we were given an option instead of being required to take her.

It’s all very interesting to me. I am intimately familiar with a fully structured formal recruitment, but I have little experience in continuous open recruitment. I am something of a Recruitment Junkie, so I find this all fascinating.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by lyrelyre

Additionally, I come from the perspective of a chapter that only does Recruitment once a year. Once the new member class is initiated in October or November we’re finished until formal fall Recruitment. So, I guess we don’t have a mechanism for a PNM who declines her bid and then attempts to accept it later.

This is probably it. In the majority of your experience, the point is moot. If Zsa Zsa withdrew from pledging in say early October and wanted to repledge in the spring, she'd be in a pledge class by herself. No fun for Zsa Zsa or the pledge educator!

If you're used to having 2 classes a year, repledges and holdovers and things like that are actually somewhat common.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by 33girl

But she's still bound to you, unless you expressly release her. That doesn't sound fair.

As I understand it...

By a woman being "bound", even if she declines her bid and the chapter fills her spot, it merely means she is not eligible to go through recruitment for a calendar year. I think the intent of this policy (balanced by the "guaranteed matching for maximizing options" that many schools have) is for PNMs to really think about what chapters they write down on their MRAA and the consequences of their rankings.

Think about it, if a Panhellenic guarantees a bid for PNMs who maximize their options, but without the NPC "bound for a year" policy, every PNM would rank all of their options, whether or not they intend to join that chapter. This would inflate quota and most likely "less popular" chapters would match quota, but would experience many no-shows on bid day. That only creates a void that needs to be filled while "popular" chapters have an inflated quota of new members, furthering a membership gap.

I could be totally wrong, but this is my guess.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

As I understand it...

By a woman being "bound", even if she declines her bid and the chapter fills her spot, it merely means she is not eligible to go through recruitment for a calendar year. I think the intent of this policy (balanced by the "guaranteed matching for maximizing options" that many schools have) is for PNMs to really think about what chapters they write down on their MRAA and the consequences of their rankings.

Think about it, if a Panhellenic guarantees a bid for PNMs who maximize their options, but without the NPC "bound for a year" policy, every PNM would rank all of their options, whether or not they intend to join that chapter. This would inflate quota and most likely "less popular" chapters would match quota, but would experience many no-shows on bid day. That only creates a void that needs to be filled while "popular" chapters have an inflated quota of new members, furthering a membership gap.

I could be totally wrong, but this is my guess.

I was talking about lyrelyre saying she didn't think they had to repledge someone within that year if they quit pledging before they were initiated. that's what I meant by it not being fair.