Why are recs absolutely necessary at some schools, while not expected at others?

[IndianaSigKap]

Recs can often cause more problems than they remedy. For girls like me who came from very small towns, it can be trying and frustrating to locate recs in the first place. If I had had to obtain recs in my town of fewer than 5,000 people I would have been able to locate AXO, ADPi and SK for sure. I only knew about the AXO because she was the mother of dear childhood friends and she is the one who mentioned even joining a sorority. If I had asked around I would have found out that there was a group of women from my hometown who were all SKs together at IU in the early 1970s. I found this out later after I was initiated and was wearing my lavaliere at a local restaurant when a friend of the family told me her daughter was a SK and so were her friends. I grew up near a smaller commuter college and many of my teachers went to school there where the was no Greek life until the later 1970s. The ADPi I also found out much later after recruitment. The closest alumnae panhellenic was an hour away, so none of them would have personally known me.

To get to the point, girls from small towns or who are in remote areas are less likely to find recs and will have a more difficult time. This puts them behind the 8 ball to begin with but it's in no way indicative of their ability to be good members. I find the practice somewhat discriminatory.

[ASTalumna06]

Coming from a school without recs at all, this is what I don't understand:

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

For girls like me who came from very small towns, it can be trying and frustrating to locate recs in the first place.

To get to the point, girls from small towns or who are in remote areas are less likely to find recs and will have a more difficult time. This puts them behind the 8 ball to begin with but it's in no way indicative of their ability to be good members. I find the practice somewhat discriminatory.

Why make it so difficult for someone to join? And let's say you did in fact track down recs to 5.. 10.. 15 different chapters (depending on where you attend school) - you struggled to get them. You found anyone you possibly could, maybe sat with them for a cup of coffee, and this stranger is going to write you a rec, defending your character and putting their own a** "on the line," so to speak?

Here's a question from someone who knows very little (and has never actually seen a rec in her life): What do you think would be more valuable to you as an active sorority member? A rec from an alumna of your sorority from another school, whom you've never met, who may have only met her PNM once? Or a "rec" from a teacher, coach, employer, etc. of the PNM who has seen the PNM work and has spent countless hours working with them and getting to know them?

Personally, if it were up to me, I know I'd choose the latter.