Has the tradition of Legacies outgrown its usefulness?

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I do think that the Legacy question needs to be explored. Let's face it, 100 years ago, not too many people (women especially) went to college. Their children became legacies, and all was good. The same with their children, and the next generation. We once had a FIVE generation legacy go through Recruitment, and trust me, even though she really didn't want to go Greek, and wasn't exactly lovable, we had to extend her a bid - but that's a whole 'nuther story.

However, just like a family tree, legacies started to expand. If (as in my original example) one Greek has two legacies, and each of them have two legacies, and each of them have two legacies - that's eight legacies right there. Now multiply that by the original 30 people in a chapter, and you have 180 legacies - with a quota of 60. Ouch!

I don't have an answer to this, but I think this is an issue that truly needs to be discussed more fully. The number of legacies are only going to increase as years go by, and somehow, they should be offered some sort of courtesy. Granted, many legacies will prefer another house, but I do think we need to discuss how to show courtesy to legacies without hurting anyone else.

Suggestions?

I'm not intimately familiar with campuses and chapters that may have a bazillion legacies going through recruitment, but it seems to me that the typical legacy at my alma mater had connections to multiple sororities (whether they were actual legacies or another relative such as aunt, cousin, etc.) Looking through the current recruitment applications, I see that very clearly. Obviously, there are plenty of cases where a PNM's entire family is from one organization, but that *seems* to be the exception rather than rule (please correct me if this does not apply to some campuses).

Just as you mention the expanding legacy tree, I also see where as it expands, the legacy pool gets diluted, if you will, by other affiliations.
A PNM coming through recruitment today could be made a legacy by her mom (1), step-mom (1), grandmothers (2), great grandmothers (4) and her sisters (unlimited, I guess), and aunts, for those organizations who consider nieces as legacies. That's room for a lot of potential, overlapping, legacy-ness.

So... of those 180 legacies in your hypothetical example, how many might be legacies to other organizations?