Has the tradition of Legacies outgrown its usefulness?

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by itb

That's another problem; a chapter SHOULD be able to contact it's alumni to inquire about a legacy (for good or for bad). And once again, an artificial limit is put in place. Common sense says it's courteous to alumni to talk about little Suzy the legacy, regardless of the subject, and probably best because some of those alumni have experience and knowledge OR INFORMATION that a 18-22 year old or a 'chapter advisor' or 'rush consultant' do NOT have.

That's the purpose of the GLO's legacy introduction form (or whatever each group calls it) and Rec. This gives Grandma, Mom, or Sis the opportunity to tell a Chapter all about little Suzy before Recruitment starts.

Like 33girl said, I have no desire to call Suzy's Grandma to ask her why her sweet princess has the most alcoholic, trampy pix on Facebook I've ever seen or why she only earned a 2.1 GPA with an ACT score of 15. Nor do I or any member of my team have the time to call Grandma and the other 99 legacy PNMs' alumnae that are going through our nearly 1500 PNM Recruitment.

These are the same reasons are why I'm happy my GLO no longer requires us to make those unpleasant calls to alumnae after a legacy is released.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by Zillini

That's the purpose of the GLO's legacy introduction form (or whatever each group calls it) and Rec. This gives Grandma, Mom, or Sis the opportunity to tell a Chapter all about little Suzy before Recruitment starts.

Like 33girl said, I have no desire to call Suzy's Grandma to ask her why her sweet princess has the most alcoholic, trampy pix on Facebook I've ever seen or why she only earned a 2.1 GPA with an ACT score of 15. Nor do I or any member of my team have the time to call Grandma and the other 99 legacy PNMs' alumnae that are going through our nearly 1500 PNM Recruitment.

These are the same reasons are why I'm happy my GLO no longer requires us to make those unpleasant calls to alumnae after a legacy is released.

To be quite honest, why should we have to disclose WHY a legacy was released?

I understand that we should notify the relative of the release, but I totally disagree with having to tell them that "Suzy has questionable grades and has beer pong pics on Facebook."

As far as my sorority goes, THAT is part of Membership Selection. It's very private.

We would never tell any other PNM or her family the exact reason that she was cut, so I fail to see why we should do it for legacies.

[ADqtPiMel]

Originally Posted by Zillini

These are the same reasons are why I'm happy my GLO no longer requires us to make those unpleasant calls to alumnae after a legacy is released.

Can I tell you how pleased I was that they adopted this policy the year BEFORE I became recruitment advisor?

[honeychile]

I knew I had read an article on this very topic, and sure enough, it was from our Adelphean Magazine and is in the public domain. You can read it here.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I knew I had read an article on this very topic, and sure enough, it was from our Adelphean Magazine and is in the public domain. You can read it here.

Honeychile- the Adelphean is lovely. I was impressed by some of the legacy families they listed.

I was curious about one of the legacy policies- "Any chapter not at Total the term before the formal recruitment period must extend a bid to any legacy participating in formal recruitment. Any exception to this must be approved by the District Team Director".

I haven't heard of that policy with any other group.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by ForeverRoses

Honeychile- the Adelphean is lovely. I was impressed by some of the legacy families they listed.

I was curious about one of the legacy policies- "Any chapter not at Total the term before the formal recruitment period must extend a bid to any legacy participating in formal recruitment. Any exception to this must be approved by the District Team Director".

I haven't heard of that policy with any other group.

Since Alpha Delta Pi actually has 9- and 10-generation legacies, we're all about the historical value. That's the best response I can give. Maybe another GLO has something similar?

When I was in school, a 5-generation legacy rushed us. She made it abundantly clear from Open Houses on that she did NOT want to go greek, that her family was forcing her to rush. By the second round, I had to make the call to our DTD and tell them she didn't want to rush, and she in turn called our EO. No go. The next round, it was obvious that not only did she not want to rush, she didn't want us - and frankly, we didn't like her. Long story short, we pledged her, she came to about half of the pledge meetings, got initiated at Convention, and transferred to a school without a chapter of ADPi. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, if she ever had a daughter, she did not pressure her to go ADPi! The better news is that she had a fantastic roomie, who pledged with her and fit in from Bid Day on!

Having said that, I do know of another legacy who was completely obnoxious - her mother, two aunts, and two cousins are all ADPis - but the chapter was luckier with her. A Traveling Counsultant AND the DTD were there during Recruitment, met her, and they made sure that she stayed cut!

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Having said that, I do know of another legacy who was completely obnoxious - her mother, two aunts, and two cousins are all ADPis - but the chapter was luckier with her. A Traveling Counsultant AND the DTD were there during Recruitment, met her, and they made sure that she stayed cut!

@ bolded - it's a shame that chapters aren't trusted to make these decisions on their own. I'm not trying to say anything bad about ADPi specifically - because it likely happens in other orgs, too. But seriously, if it takes this many people (in addition to the chapter members) to cut undesireable legacies, something is wrong. If the chapter doesn't see a good fit with a legacy, then since they're the ones who will have to interact with said legacy, it makes sense to me that the chapter should get to decide whether to bid her.

I think it's awesome that there are 9- and 10-generation legacies (of any org) out there, though. I'm not trying to diminish legacy status by any means.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

@ bolded - it's a shame that chapters aren't trusted to make these decisions on their own. I'm not trying to say anything bad about ADPi specifically - because it likely happens in other orgs, too. But seriously, if it takes this many people (in addition to the chapter members) to cut undesireable legacies, something is wrong. If the chapter doesn't see a good fit with a legacy, then since they're the ones who will have to interact with said legacy, it makes sense to me that the chapter should get to decide whether to bid her.

I think it's awesome that there are 9- and 10-generation legacies (of any org) out there, though. I'm not trying to diminish legacy status by any means.

I think what honeychile meant was more that the TC & DTD were there to make sure the collegians didn't waffle under Obnoxious Ophelia's relatives calling and asking why she got cut. It sounded like the collegians were in agreement on not wanting her skank ass in the chapter. In that case, it's nice to have someone above you back you up.