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

[DubaiSis]

It's not the recs per se I'm opposed to, it's the MANDATORY part. A girl should be able to get through without them and certainly without 2 or 3 all saying the same thing.

I think recs should be reserved for alumnae who personally know the girls involved. I see this resulting in a "bonus" instead of the lack thereof being a punishment.

[AnchorAlumna]

When my kids were in high school, I knew most of the other kids. But 10 years later, I don't know them. However, I do know their parents and their grandparents. I know people who know them.
Relying on trusted friends and contacts, I think I can write a pretty accurate rec even without personally knowing the girl.
And...there's always a perfect angel in high school who morphs into a college devil. A rec is just a recommendation, not an accurate prediction of what will happen.
As I ask alumnae when I'm searching for someone to recommend a PNM from their community, "How would you feel if you saw this girl at your local mall wearing our letters?"
I do agree that one rec should be enough.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

It's not the recs per se I'm opposed to, it's the MANDATORY part. A girl should be able to get through without them and certainly without 2 or 3 all saying the same thing.

I think recs should be reserved for alumnae who personally know the girls involved. I see this resulting in a "bonus" instead of the lack thereof being a punishment.

I think we get that you don't like this process. What are you doing about it? Are you in talks with your national Council or VP Recruitment/Membership, lobbying to have it changed within your group? Talking with your local campus reps about it? Are you being a vehicle for change? Or are you going to just keep telling us - who have no control over this - that you don't like it?

[MaggieXi]

Originally Posted by Titchou

I think we get that you don't like this process. What are you doing about it? Are you in talks with your national Council or VP Recruitment/Membership, lobbying to have it changed within your group? Talking with your local campus reps about it? Are you being a vehicle for change? Or are you going to just keep telling us - who have no control over this - that you don't like it?

We only know how our respective sororities use recs during membership selection. To start pointing fingers at people and ask what they are doing about it within their organization is not helpful to the conversation.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

We only know how our respective sororities use recs during membership selection. To start pointing fingers at people and ask what they are doing about it within their organization is not helpful to the conversation.

It wasn't my intention to point fingers, so to speak. It just seemed odd that she kept stating the same thing over and over. I just wondered if she had ever talked with an official in her group about it.

I really find all this chatter about recs sort of odd. Many social organizations require recommendations for membership such as country clubs, mens clubs in NYC, some Mardi Gras Krewes, the Boston Club in NOLA, etc. It isn't a foreign concept. And I would venture to guess that many of our founders thought it was a good idea too - hence the requirement today. It was definitely a requirement of Anna, Eva and Mary for us.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by Titchou

I really find all this chatter about recs sort of odd. Many social organizations require recommendations for membership such as country clubs, mens clubs in NYC, some Mardi Gras Krewes, the Boston Club in NOLA, etc. It isn't a foreign concept. And I would venture to guess that many of our founders thought it was a good idea too - hence the requirement today. It was definitely a requirement of Anna, Eva and Mary for us.

I guess that is part of what I am questioning -- this appeal to antiquity.

Little, if anything, about formal recruitment now would be similar to joining a sorority 140 years ago. A personal recommendation likely meant something different then. Certainly the recommendation system in the history of elite clubs has been used as often to exclude people as it has to include others -- and are we really trying to emulate exclusive men's clubs? Think of how legacy status alone has changed over the years in clubs and in GLOs.

A recommendation based on knowing a PNM’s grandmother, for instance, puts us back to “she’s from a nice family.” It really isn’t a personal recommendation based on knowledge of the PNM.

RFM would not exist if no one questioned the status quo. Pre-RFM, the stronger recruiting chapters at Bama dominated, while the weaker chapters struggled – some were forced to close. It was difficult (if not impossible) for a colonizing chapter to be successful.

RFM helps put chapters on a more equal footing. I’m just wondering if a different perspective on our current rec system might do the same for PNMs (and reduce a lot of paper for the chapters too).

I realize that there must be some basis for retaining and releasing PNMs (and due to the numbers, it will not be additional time during rounds). Would a detailed resume submitted online serve this purpose? Instead of mountains of paper in the form of triplicate resumes on PNMs (arranged in a thousand different formats), every chapter would receive the information on every PNM organized in the same format (sort of like scholarship resumes are submitted to colleges – even med schools and other post-graduate professional programs use an online centralized app process). Some online recruitment registrations already ask for some of this info. A transcript could also be submitted for verification of grades, and a photo could be uploaded as well.

Alums who wish to write a personal letter for a special PNM they know could still do so. I feel like this type of letter might be more likely to actually reflect personal knowledge of the PNM (would be difficult to write otherwise), and that these would be far fewer in number. How these are treated, beyond drawing attention to the alum’s input, would be determined by the chapter.

[AnchorAlumna]

This thread now seems like, oh, I dunno:

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Hartofsec

I realize that there must be some basis for retaining and releasing PNMs (and due to the numbers, it will not be additional time during rounds). Would a detailed resume submitted online serve this purpose? Instead of mountains of paper in the form of triplicate resumes on PNMs (arranged in a thousand different formats), every chapter would receive the information on every PNM organized in the same format (sort of like scholarship resumes are submitted to colleges – even med schools and other post-graduate professional programs use an online centralized app process). Some online recruitment registrations already ask for some of this info. A transcript could also be submitted for verification of grades, and a photo could be uploaded as well.

Do you mean submitted to the school's Panhel or submitted to the sorority's HQ?

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Do you mean submitted to the school's Panhel or submitted to the sorority's HQ?

Most schools around here and all the large schools (USC, Texas, etc) all have online registration that includes the resume information. We get that from the CPH. That's not the main purpose of a rec. You can find that in the HS annual.4

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Do you mean submitted to the school's Panhel or submitted to the sorority's HQ?

To the school's Panhellenic -- just like recruitment registration. When my dd registered for recruitment, some of this information was requested, though limited in scope. Just looking around at various sites – I see SMU’s page lists info for PNMs to include (and instructs to upload a photo as well):
https://smu.mycampusdirector.com/register/

Back in the bad ol’ days, the only way a chapter would have these details on a girl might be from a recommendation of an alum who knew her well. If this is no longer (potentially) necessary, then the only purpose remaining would be the check in the box recommending the PNM for membership (which as someone mentioned earlier in the thread -- might be from the PNM’s mom’s dentist’s wife’s aunt or something). And does this result in a “better” pledge class at Big Southern U than at Northern State where this step is not customary?

Alums could still recommend a PNM for membership -- as far as I know, there is nothing to prevent an alum from sending a letter of support for any PNM she is passionate about (whether the PNM requests a rec or not). This would require a lot less paper to manage on everyone’s part – and it might help confine the letters to PNMs who the alum actually knows well.

And similarly, if so inclined, alums can track and ***warn*** chapters of Jezebels and felons -- I don’t really see any need to complete a rec form for that:

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Really and truly, those ***warning*** recs are more valuable than the ones for the (presumably) "good" girls.

Please alumnae...if you know something, alert the chapter! Don't assume that if there's no rec, they won't pledge that candidate!

Personally, I just wouldn’t feel right about agreeing to write recs for PNMs I then threw under the rush bus, unless there was a very compelling reason to do so. I guess girls should remember that when an alum offers or agrees to write them a recommendation, it may not be because the alum plans to write a positive recommendation.