Recruitment Disasters

[SWTXBelle]

I remember when Phi Sigma Chi, the petitioning local of Sigma Chi at <Southwest>Texas State, lost the building they were planning to use for recruitment in 1985 (I think). I found out when I came home from class and the entire fraternity was in my apartment (I was married to the president). It reminded me of "Revenge of the Nerds" - but instead of their house burning down, there was a zoning issue (this was in the days of wet - VERY wet - rush). It took some scrambling, but they found another building and had a very successful rush.

[borntobewild]

@exlurker… I’m pretty sure that word leaked and for a short time it was hot super-secret news, but in my opinion damage to chapter status was limited. The chapter had recruited outstanding classes by every measure for many years leading up to that year. Nationals must have given the chapter execs a pep talk because from what I could tell most of the actives sucked-up the faux pas with grace and made the new girls feel welcome just the same; of course there were those who had a hard time with it and acted out in various ways, too. The new girls did pick-up that something was off on bid day, but without knowing the degree to which serendipity had worked in their favor they just ascribed it to actives being overcome with exhaustion as well as their own being naïve to the whole experience.

The chapter made quota that year (no surprise that they stood out as the chapter of choice for those who ended up in the running), and it being a huge flagship state school the pledge class was big. As you would expect under the circumstances, it was an eclectic mix of girls that year --- freshman as well as sophomores and a few juniors, too. Some with borderline GPAs, some with genius GPAs, some pretty but introverted girls, quite a few enthusiastic but plain girls, some from out-of-state and relatively unknown. There was a party girl or two, and some of the girls were legacies by distant relatives. The girl whose biological sister was an active was told by PanHel that the system had a glitch in it and she got to move through recruitment and pledge with the group as well. It was interesting that a few girls who made it through were no-shows at the round one party even though they had honest reasons for missing it, i.e. death in family, wedding of immediate family member, car trouble. Gives you some idea of selection criteria on the part of the chapter if you read all this backwards

It’s a true story to which I can personally attest --- no urban legend here. Sorry I can not reveal how I was in a position to know all of this information as it would compromise my identity to tell and it would really serve no purpose.